How to Luxe Up Your Guest Bedroom for a Five-star Experience
Elevate your spare room to boutique hotel status with sumptuous touches – the third in a four-part series on spare rooms
It’s not often guest bedrooms are deemed luxurious. While we get busy with the more visible and well-used areas of the home, the spare room is frequently an afterthought: a bed plonked in the middle, a haphazard decorating scheme and odds and ends of furniture that don’t naturally have a home elsewhere.
Your guests most likely won’t mind – they’ll just appreciate having a place to lay their heads following a much-needed get-together or celebratory catch-up. But if you have your decorating head on and feel like treating your friends and family to a five-star experience, why not emulate the look of a chic boutique hotel in your own home? Simply update bedding with new Egyptian cotton sheets and luxurious velvet cushions, or go all out on a more permanent fixture, such as an en-suite bathroom. Before you know it, your guests will be longing to come back for more. Perhaps it’s time to start asking for tips…
Your guests most likely won’t mind – they’ll just appreciate having a place to lay their heads following a much-needed get-together or celebratory catch-up. But if you have your decorating head on and feel like treating your friends and family to a five-star experience, why not emulate the look of a chic boutique hotel in your own home? Simply update bedding with new Egyptian cotton sheets and luxurious velvet cushions, or go all out on a more permanent fixture, such as an en-suite bathroom. Before you know it, your guests will be longing to come back for more. Perhaps it’s time to start asking for tips…
Pick a neutral palette
Some of the best boutique hotels kit out their bedrooms in an easy-on-the-eye neutral palette. It’s a classic look that remains timeless and won’t need redecorating any time soon, but the effortless blend of sable, buttermilk, dove grey and mink can also be layered to remarkable effect, especially in a mix of rich fabrics and plush textures.
Sumptuous, full-length curtains, a buttoned headboard and layers of silk, velvet and cotton are warm, inviting and opulent, while wall-to-wall carpet enhances the luxe factor that little bit more.
Some of the best boutique hotels kit out their bedrooms in an easy-on-the-eye neutral palette. It’s a classic look that remains timeless and won’t need redecorating any time soon, but the effortless blend of sable, buttermilk, dove grey and mink can also be layered to remarkable effect, especially in a mix of rich fabrics and plush textures.
Sumptuous, full-length curtains, a buttoned headboard and layers of silk, velvet and cotton are warm, inviting and opulent, while wall-to-wall carpet enhances the luxe factor that little bit more.
Cast a glow
Now this is a luxury guests will adore. By installing an open fire in a bedroom, your visitors can hunker down for the night and dream of holidays in a rustic log cabin – even if they’re smack bang in the middle of an urban sprawl.
Choose an easy-maintenance gas or electric fire, which will be easier to install, operate and keep clean than the real thing, and let the golden glow cast its magic.
Now this is a luxury guests will adore. By installing an open fire in a bedroom, your visitors can hunker down for the night and dream of holidays in a rustic log cabin – even if they’re smack bang in the middle of an urban sprawl.
Choose an easy-maintenance gas or electric fire, which will be easier to install, operate and keep clean than the real thing, and let the golden glow cast its magic.
Bathe in style
This has to be the ultimate boutique hotel statement. If you have the space and the design know-how, install a freestanding bath within the bedroom and your guests will feel as if they’ve stepped into a five-star establishment.
Remember that cast-iron baths can be heavy, so why not opt instead for a modern-day, curvaceous design in a lightweight composite that’s velvet-smooth and half the weight? Chuck in a bottle of champagne and you might not see your guests all night…
Discover more ways to work a bath into your boudoir
This has to be the ultimate boutique hotel statement. If you have the space and the design know-how, install a freestanding bath within the bedroom and your guests will feel as if they’ve stepped into a five-star establishment.
Remember that cast-iron baths can be heavy, so why not opt instead for a modern-day, curvaceous design in a lightweight composite that’s velvet-smooth and half the weight? Chuck in a bottle of champagne and you might not see your guests all night…
Discover more ways to work a bath into your boudoir
Add an en-suite
It goes without saying that every top-notch boutique hotel room demands a bathroom all of its own. So (space permitting) emulate the look at home with a clean, modern en suite, where guests can freshen up whenever they wish without interrupting the main household. If there’s space but only just, consider a compact wet room instead.
A simple, Scandi-style look mixing open timber storage, neutral tiles and a wide, white basin, as in this scheme, is a sure-fire way to inject a timeless look into daily ablutions. Don’t forget to stock up on fluffy white towels, too, stacked in neat rolls for an extra-special touch.
It goes without saying that every top-notch boutique hotel room demands a bathroom all of its own. So (space permitting) emulate the look at home with a clean, modern en suite, where guests can freshen up whenever they wish without interrupting the main household. If there’s space but only just, consider a compact wet room instead.
A simple, Scandi-style look mixing open timber storage, neutral tiles and a wide, white basin, as in this scheme, is a sure-fire way to inject a timeless look into daily ablutions. Don’t forget to stock up on fluffy white towels, too, stacked in neat rolls for an extra-special touch.
Max out on a big bed
Surely, one of the best aspects about staying in a top hotel (apart from having breakfast made for us) is having the space to sprawl out, horizontally if we so wish, in a luxurious, mammoth-sized bed.
So if you have the square footage available, buy the biggest bed you can find and your guests will love you forever (or just stay in bed for the rest of the day).
Surely, one of the best aspects about staying in a top hotel (apart from having breakfast made for us) is having the space to sprawl out, horizontally if we so wish, in a luxurious, mammoth-sized bed.
So if you have the square footage available, buy the biggest bed you can find and your guests will love you forever (or just stay in bed for the rest of the day).
Hang up a screen
While I’m not a big fan of a TV in the bedroom, when I’m on holiday (even if it’s just 50 miles down the road in a friend’s house), I do love to lie back and channel hop to my heart’s content.
Try not to make a TV the focal point of a guest bedroom, though, as this will upset the overall ambience of the space.
Mounting a flatscreen TV on the wall will keep the technology as unobtrusive as possible. Alternatively, consider a pull-down screen and mini TV projector, or invest in one of those clever TV-in-footboard gadgets, where the screen miraculously rises up from from the base of the bed. Now you see it, now you don’t…
While I’m not a big fan of a TV in the bedroom, when I’m on holiday (even if it’s just 50 miles down the road in a friend’s house), I do love to lie back and channel hop to my heart’s content.
Try not to make a TV the focal point of a guest bedroom, though, as this will upset the overall ambience of the space.
Mounting a flatscreen TV on the wall will keep the technology as unobtrusive as possible. Alternatively, consider a pull-down screen and mini TV projector, or invest in one of those clever TV-in-footboard gadgets, where the screen miraculously rises up from from the base of the bed. Now you see it, now you don’t…
Fit in a dressing table
Make sure your guests can get ready for a night out in a relaxed, uninterrupted fashion by squeezing in a dressing table and stool. A three-way vanity mirror will allow make-up wearing guests to spruce up properly without the inconvenience of propping up a hand mirror on the windowsill or waiting for the bathroom to become free.
Dot the dressing table top with aromatherapy candles, pretty glass jars (filled with cotton wool) and trinket trays, but also make sure you leave your guests plenty of space to spread out their own lotions and potions.
Discover 10 smart ways to fit in a dressing table
Make sure your guests can get ready for a night out in a relaxed, uninterrupted fashion by squeezing in a dressing table and stool. A three-way vanity mirror will allow make-up wearing guests to spruce up properly without the inconvenience of propping up a hand mirror on the windowsill or waiting for the bathroom to become free.
Dot the dressing table top with aromatherapy candles, pretty glass jars (filled with cotton wool) and trinket trays, but also make sure you leave your guests plenty of space to spread out their own lotions and potions.
Discover 10 smart ways to fit in a dressing table
Create sassy storage
Providing a few towels and a single rail to hang clothes is all very well and good, but if you want to up the hotel-at-home tempo, then invest in bespoke bedroom storage to house all of your visitor’s clothes and shoes.
A linen section can be piled high with clean, fresh hand towels and bath sheets for guest use, while the wardrobe can be used all year round to stash your own out-of-season pieces. Simply move your clothes temporarily to another space in the house when you have confirmation of arrival dates.
Providing a few towels and a single rail to hang clothes is all very well and good, but if you want to up the hotel-at-home tempo, then invest in bespoke bedroom storage to house all of your visitor’s clothes and shoes.
A linen section can be piled high with clean, fresh hand towels and bath sheets for guest use, while the wardrobe can be used all year round to stash your own out-of-season pieces. Simply move your clothes temporarily to another space in the house when you have confirmation of arrival dates.
Hang up a robe or two
It’s unlikely that visitors will have space in their travel bags for a plush robe or snuggly dressing gown. So, as a luxurious treat, have a couple of spare towelling bathrobes to hand.
Plump for pure white robes in a few different sizes that can cater for all heights and genders (and remember to wash between guests!)
Now the only problem you might face is that you quite fancy sleeping in the spare room yourself.
TELL US…
Is your ‘boutique-hotel’ guest room in serious demand? Please share your tips, images and thoughts in the Comments below.
It’s unlikely that visitors will have space in their travel bags for a plush robe or snuggly dressing gown. So, as a luxurious treat, have a couple of spare towelling bathrobes to hand.
Plump for pure white robes in a few different sizes that can cater for all heights and genders (and remember to wash between guests!)
Now the only problem you might face is that you quite fancy sleeping in the spare room yourself.
TELL US…
Is your ‘boutique-hotel’ guest room in serious demand? Please share your tips, images and thoughts in the Comments below.
An oversized, super-comfy armchair in luxurious velvet conjures up the idea of a boutique hotel to a T – whether it’s somewhere to throw your clothes at night or simply a place to sit down after a day out with friends.
Layering a spare bedroom with tones of dove grey, silver and touches of refreshing lime green will instil a sense of calm and class to any size of room. Add in wall-to-wall mirrors to create the illusion of space and mirrored furniture for a dash of glamour.
See more in this spare room storage and discover the little touches to ensure your guests feel totally at home