My guests usually are my g'kids who come and stay the night. They are happy sleeping anywhere, and I suppose the majority of the time, their bed has been the chaise longues in the gazebo, a sleeping bag in a tent by the pond. I have several spare bedrooms in this big old farmhouse and I give them the "girls" bedroom and the "boys". They sleep in the rooms my children and my husband's children used, and we both had a girl and a boy, so it works out well.

The boy's room is on the lower upper level and it has deep russet red carpeting and old fashioned wall paper. The furniture is massive and very old and dark and it suits the room. A red globe chandelier hangs overhead with crystal dangles like in a bordello, rofl. There is a deer trophy head on the wall, and a gun rack. We bought a new mattress set for the older bookcase bed and I have a calico dust ruffle on it, and a trapunto quilt. In that room my easel is set up and I keep a fruit crate bookcase with volumes of my historical research papers in it. There is also a linen press built like a deacon bench my husband made me for one birthday. A coal oil lamp and some candlesticks, for when we have no electric.

The girls room has ridiculous paisley print wallpaper in it, and I suspect I had some sort of brain fart when I bought it. It's on my list of to-do things and the walls should end up butter yellow this winter. The bedroom suit belonged to my mother-in-law and it was bought new in the 1930s. There is an antique dressing table and my hope chest with spare linens and another older dresser where I keep my sewing notions. This closet is packed with out of season clothes and bins of material for rugs or quilts down the road and my mother's old sewing machine is set up along with the ironin board. It's been a year or two ago, I decided it was going to be my sewing room and boy do I love it. It is the sunniest room in the house and directly located over the old kitchen. The mattress on this bed is just horribly stiff, feels like coils of springs and I'd sure like to replace it when my ship comes in. LOL. It works in a pinch for a child or desperate adult. The room s are large and I used to have an additional daybed in this room for when family traveled and stayed the night. I am going to pull up the carpeting in this room and I think paint the old plank floor and hopefully this is where my first floor cloth is going.

Hmm. Well, it's OK. I work on the theory that if I make it too comfortable, they'll end up staying longer.

Sara the anti-social

Sara, i'm going on the principal that I won't let my guests
sleep in a bed that I can't get a good night's sleep in.

Suzy, Neil and I are of the age that the grandchildren are
grown and in college, we had loads of fun with them as they
were growing up. Your house sounds wonderful.

Our retirement house is small, only 3 bedrooms. One of
those doubles as a computer room with a murphy double bed
that hides away in the wall behind Bi-fold doors. That
leaves the master suite and the guest room. I'm kind of
embarassed with the beds, since i've had GP friends here
ovenight. I'm hoping to get it all sorted out so if they
should visit again, i'll feel like at least the bed will be
comfy.

Oh, I'm joking really. I've slept in our guest bed and I know it's comfortable. Like you, I wish it was a Queen instead of a double though. The linens are good ones, the room is painted prettily, has a Chinese rug which is too precious to use in the sitting room (I spilled wine on it and spent a fortune getting it cleaned) and lovely curtains I made with my own fair hands.

We bought a TV for my MIL's visits, although my parents will never use it. A cousin suggested I add a larger mirror, which was helpful, so I did. There's a hairdryer and hand mirror in the top drawer, a night light, extra tissues, and a basket of toiletries.

It IS is nice feeling when you buy new stuff for the guests isn't it? I was so pleased when I upgraded all the guest towels to big thick fluffy ones.

I can't spring for new towels right now. My coffers are empty.
Sara sounds like you've got your guest room ready for guests,
i'll work on mine as soon as the new stuff gets here.

Jan, my guest room is not too swift. Spare blankets and quilts are stuffed in one closet (it has two) and the other has bits and pieces of stuff, like my fax machine I rarely use and obsolete stereo equipment. The bed is a really good one and fairly new. Just Jude and Dwayne have stayed here and what they liked about it was that the room downstairs and very private and it has its own bath. And a tv. And a phone (although not a separate line).

But, it's much neglected and you have spurred me on to at least paint and get a new comforter. And if I ever get my garage cleaned out I can move some stuff from the spare room to there.

I love our larger guestroom. When himself gets on a snoring jag I go in there,so when I redid it I had me in mind. My entire house is colorful with wooden floors bright rugs etc. When I redid the guestoom I wanted something very quiet and entirely different from the rest of the house. The whole room is almost bare bones with very dark wood and then everything else is shades of beige and white. When the light is right and the breeze is blowing the curtains, it looks like something out of an Andrew Wyeth painting.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:198735}}

Sheila, I went on a garage cleaning jaunt awhile back.
I had it painted, cabinets to put stuff in, new lights.
It lasted just until Neil went back to his old habits of
putting stuff on the floor.
He does so few things to irritate me that I said what the
heck, let him do what he wants with the darn thing.
It's kind of a mess but I pick my battles very carefully
at this stage in our lives.

Marda, your room is lovely and very soothing to look at.
My house is pretty colorful, lots of red. Even the guest
bath has red walls. Sounds pitiful when you think about it.

Oh I am a failure as a hostess. My guest room is ds's (who is at college) room. He has never had matching furniture. No one has matching furniture. It is the mattress and springs he got when he went to the big boy bed. I know it is comfortable, because it is the room I use when I get a cold and hack all night. It has all the house plants in it because if I have them any place else the felines will knock them down. I felt guilty when a frind of the dd's stayed a few night's when her parents were out of town. Fortunately she comes froma house with one cat so maybe the 4 indoor cats weren't too much of a bother. None of the bedding matches. Of course, no one's bedding matches. Oh I am a failure as a hostess. But I feed guests very well. And the room was cleaned. And I got out the new towels for her. I just don't have houseguests too often.

Never had nor wanted a guest room. My relatives lived too nearby (in both senses sometimes!). DH's parents stayed in nearby family-owned motel when they visited. Single friends occasionally were accomodated in my dressing/reading/plant room on a daybed, but it sure couldn't qualify as a guest room, just emergency bed until a better offer from other friends.

An artist friend once sent me an illustrated poem as a "bread & butter" note, complaining about having to fix his own while staying there. Hey, I was working...he was lucky there was bread or butter in the house. I framed it and hung in kitchen to warn others! LOL

When we visited DH's folks I insisted we stay in bed'n'breakfast nearby. I like my own space and privacy. We all enjoyed the visit more...we didn't disrupt their household/schedule as much.

Just another view on guestrooms. I admire those of you who have/enjoy them...I just don't want guests underfoot 24 hours a day. josh

You're my kind of houseguest and host, Josh. I hate putting people out as a guest.

Every time we have company, i have to do a mad cleaning of the guest room to get the junk out of it & make room for the guests. My problem is that the room is really too small for the furniture in it.

I've thought about replacing the double bed with a day/trundle bed & saw a perfect one in the Pottery Barn catalog, but then how comfortable would that be for a couple who came to visit?

However, one would be able to walk in the room without bumping into all the furniture.

Josh and Tibs, I like staying in B&Bs and nice motels when
I go somewhere also, however, there are times when it's nice
to have guests here at the house, and nice to be in a home
close to friends and family. I have stayed in homes where
the guest's rooms were perfect,loved it, i've also stayed
in some not perfect and loved it too. The house or room
doesn't matter to me at all, as long as I feel welcome

The most fun, special time, was in a home with friends that
were readying for a move and no furniture in the bedrooms,
just an air mattress on the floor, it was very comfortable
and the company of friends so special that we could have
cared less about guest rooms. We only went to bed very late
anyway,the rest of the time was spend talking, shopping,
enjoying great food and bonding. To say it was a wonderful
visit would be such an understatement. It was so special
that it is etched in my memory for all times.

It isn't necessary to have a big fancy guest room, nor do
guests expect it, I don't. It's the way one is treated that
makes or breaks a visit. I'm a people person, i'm also a
dyed in the wool southerner, bless my heart, who worries
if the bed is comfortable, if the coffee is too weak, etc.
After trying to sleep in my guest bed, I thought it needed
some changes.
I am of the opinion that your home is YOUR home. If you're
a great or not so great housekeeper doesn't affect me one
way or another, I don't care, it's your place, your life.
If I feel welcome, i'll love being there with you.
If you came to my house and left feeling like you weren't welcome, it would kill me.

Janis, for all my joking, I know what you mean: I ended up with three (count 'em) coffee makers on my kitchen counter-top during a recent visit from my MIL, SIL & BIL: we like fullstrength coffee for breakfast. SIL & BIL like theirs half caffeine, half decaff. MIL only drinks decaff. So, I dug out the French press for her decaff, brought the coffee machine home from the boat for us, and made their half and half in the good machine.

Everyone laughed but I think they appreciated it!

So far we only have 2 coffee makers. One for regular and one for decaf. I can't handle anything else.

I usually drink decaf but when in Rome, I drink whatever is brewing.

We don't have overnight guests often, which is probably good.

My house is big enough that anyone would think we could squeak out a proper guest bedroom, but our layout is so weird that anyone sleeping on the second floor with us would be without much privacy. That's sort of okay for singles, so they can have my room. Pluses, if they don't insist on hyper-masculine digs: hot pink linens, feather bed, down comforter/pillows, lighting by antique crystal chandelier, auxiliary lava lamp for late-night mesmerization, good reading light, unframed but fantastic life-size chalk-pastel painting of Neptune wearing frilly pantaloons and smoking a bubble pipe on the ocean floor. Minuses: no headboard, no door, no rug, not much heat, sparsely furnished, no cable, ugly 20-year-old tv (usually unplugged), shared access to a vintage '20s bathroom. It very much has a "first apartment" ambience, despite those years being far behind me.

If we have couples staying with us, we end up hauling the extra bed down to our first-floor den (or the "billiards room" according to our original survey--it is SO not a billiards room!), which at least gives guests privacy, the tv, and their own bathroom as well as easy midnight access to the fridge.

We're happiest when our guests think that coffee (we grind) and tamales (we buy) from the tamale lady are a fine breakfast, but we are capable of more hands-on attentions as well.

I guess I have it pretty good when I visit my brother and sil. They HAVE a bed and breakfast, lol! If the 'guest' rooms are full, we sleep in the family quarters, but if not....the B&B is open for business for us.

I'm celebrating tonight.
FED-EX actually found my house twice this week.

I had my doubts due to past experiences and when Neil and I
turned in at the Gate and saw a FED-EX package lying there.
We delivered that package to a neighbor but I told Neil I
had a rat's chance in you know where of getting the new
bedding I was expecting.

I had to eat my words when I came home and found a package
on the front porch delivered by none other than FED-EX.
Today another one was left on the porch. Hmmmmnnn, wonder
if they could find all those checks they delivered to the
wrong place?

WOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
FED-EX knows where I live.

Tomorrow i'll start on the guest room. :0)

We FINALLY have a usable guest room. We had a double-sized futon in a room designated as "the guest room" which was actually just piled full of junk and boxes for a long time. Whenever my folks came to visit, we gave them our room (queen size bed) and took the "guest futon". DH and I fit cozily. My mom and 6'4" step-dad would never have made it trying to sleep on a double bed. We finally shuffled enough rooms around that we now have a "real bed" and queen-size to boot in our actual factual guest room. No more cleaning two rooms like crazy for guests. Besides, the guest room is next to the bathroom and near the kitchen. Mom especially likes that. She gets up EARLY and can go get coffee and toast. I would like to fix it up a bit more, but a real bed is a nice start!

It's always best if people can entertain themselves - or at least help. My folks self-entertain, and we usually offer ideas, new restaurants, etc. But they tend to have their own ideas and are quite capable of getting around the city. Same with my xSIL. My MIL is opposite. Doesn't like to shop, eat out, see movies or do tourist stuff - so just sits at the house. We usually end up doing house projects. She seems to like that, but I feel weird putting people to work when they come visit. (Glad you're here, the porch needs painting...) Unless, of course, that's the point of the visit. We've had some great "work parties".