A guest room doesn’t need to be big or fancy. It needs to do three things well: give people a good night’s sleep, somewhere to put their things, and enough light to find their way around. Get those right and your visitors will feel at home, for a weekend or the whole Christmas break.
Here’s how to set one up without overthinking it.
Pick the right bed size
The bed takes up most of the room, so start there.
A queen is the most popular choice for a guest room in Australia. It sleeps two adults comfortably and still leaves space to walk around in an average-sized spare room. As a rough guide, a queen bed works best in a room of around 3.2m x 3.2m or larger.
If your guest room is on the small side, or mostly hosts kids and single visitors, a double or king single frees up floor space. If you regularly host couples and have the room for it, a king is a lovely upgrade, but it does need around 4m x 4m to feel comfortable.
Whatever you choose, measure the room and the doorway before you buy. A bed that doesn’t fit through the door is a very expensive lesson.
Layer the bedding
Good bedding is what guests notice most. Think in layers, so people can adjust to suit the weather and how warm they run at night.
Start with a fitted sheet that actually fits. A queen mattress is around 152cm x 203cm, but mattress depths vary a lot, so check the wall depth before you buy. The queen fitted sheets from Canningvale list the fit depth on each product and come in cotton or bamboo. If your guest bed has a thick pillow-top, look for a deeper-walled option so the corners don’t pop off in the night.
Add a flat sheet. Plenty of Australians skip the top sheet at home, but in a guest room it’s worth including. Some guests like to sleep under just a sheet on warm nights, and it keeps the quilt cover cleaner between washes.
Choose a quilt that suits the season. A mid-weight quilt covers most of the year in most parts of the country. Keep a lighter or heavier option in the cupboard if your climate swings a lot.
Fold a blanket at the end of the bed. It’s the easiest way to let guests warm up on a cool night without having to ask.
Go for crisp, simple colours. White or soft neutral bedding looks fresh, suits almost any room, and makes it obvious that everything has been freshly washed.
Bedside essentials
Think about what you reach for at night in your own bedroom, then make sure your guests have it too.
- A bedside lamp with a switch they can reach from bed.
- A power point or charging station close by. Nobody wants to leave their phone charging on the floor across the room.
- A glass or carafe for water.
- A small surface for glasses, a book and a phone.
If you have room for two bedside tables, great. If not, one table plus a wall-mounted shelf on the other side works just as well.
Storage guests will actually use
Most guests live out of a suitcase, so they don’t need a full wardrobe. They need a few easy places to put things.
- Hooks on the back of the door for jackets, bags and towels.
- A luggage rack or bench so the suitcase isn’t open on the floor.
- One clear drawer or a few empty hangers.
- A small tray or bowl for keys, watches and jewellery.
If your guest room doubles as a study or storage room the rest of the year, clear one surface completely before people arrive. It makes a big difference to how welcome they feel.
Light and window coverings
Guest rooms are often the ones that get forgotten when it comes to window coverings, and they’re usually the ones where people want to sleep in.
Block-out blinds or lined curtains are worth the investment, especially in east-facing rooms where the sun comes up early in summer. Layering sheer curtains with block-out blinds gives you privacy during the day and a properly dark room at night.
For overhead lighting, a warm white globe is much more relaxing than a cool white one. If you can, add a dimmer.
Small touches that make it feel like a hotel
These cost very little but they’re what guests remember.
- A set of fresh towels folded on the end of the bed.
- A spare blanket and pillow in an obvious spot.
- The Wi-Fi password written on a small card.
- A few books or magazines on the bedside table.
- A small plant or a vase of something from the garden.
- A mirror, ideally full-length, somewhere in the room.
Keeping the room guest-ready
The best way to stay relaxed about visitors is to keep the guest room ready most of the time.
Keep a spare sheet set in the cupboard, so you can change the bed straight after one guest leaves and be ready for the next. Wash and dry bedding fully before you put it away, and store it somewhere cool and dry.
Give the room a quick air-out a day before someone arrives, open the windows, check the bedside lamp works, and you’re done.
A comfortable guest room isn’t about how much you spend. It’s about thinking through what someone needs from the moment they arrive to the moment they head home, and making each of those things easy.