I really love having guests come to stay, and I tend to put a lot of thought into getting the house ready before they arrive. Fresh sheets go on the bed, I make sure clean towels are available, and I try to think about the little things that would make me comfortable if I were staying in someone else’s home.
But one thing I have learned is that preparing a guest room is just as much about what you take out as what you put in. Guest rooms have a funny way of becoming the place where everything without a permanent home ends up. Before you know it, your guests are sharing their room with storage bins, old pillows, paperwork, and half the things you meant to deal with months ago.
You don’t need a perfectly decorated guest room to make someone feel welcome. You do, however, want to give them a clean, comfortable space where they can unpack, sleep, charge their phone, and have a little privacy. Before your next overnight visitor arrives, these are 9 things worth getting out of the room.
Anything You’d Be Embarrassed for a Guest to Find
If you’d immediately apologize for something the moment your guest noticed it, it probably shouldn’t be in the room. That includes laundry, half-finished projects, bags headed for the donation center, or anything else you’ve been meaning to move.
Overflow Storage
The guest room is often the first place we put things we don’t know what to do with. Holiday decorations, extra bedding, off-season clothes, unopened boxes, and random household items can slowly turn the room into a storage unit with a bed in the middle.
Move as much of that overflow elsewhere as you reasonably can before guests arrive. If the room has to double as storage, use closed bins, under-bed containers, or a closet section so guests aren’t surrounded by your stuff.
A Closet Packed With Your Clothes
You don’t necessarily have to empty the entire guest room closet, but your visitor shouldn’t open the door and find no room for a single shirt. Clear a section of the hanging rod and leave several empty hangers so they have somewhere to put their clothes.
The same goes for dressers. If possible, leave at least one drawer empty, especially when someone will be staying for more than a night or two.
Related: Before Donating These Bedroom Items, Check If Thrift Stores Still Accept Them
Old, Worn-Out Bedding
The guest bed shouldn’t become the final destination for sheets and pillows you no longer want to use yourself. Stained sheets, flattened pillows, scratchy blankets, and bedding that has been sitting untouched for months can make an otherwise nice room feel neglected.
You don’t have to buy expensive hotel-quality linens. Clean sheets, comfortable pillows, and freshly washed blankets make a much bigger difference than fancy decor.
Too Many Throw Pillows
A beautifully made bed covered in decorative pillows looks great until your guest stands there at 11 p.m., wondering where they’re supposed to put them all. Five or six pillows that have to be removed every night quickly become more annoying than welcoming.
Keep the bed simple with sleeping pillows and perhaps one or two decorative ones. Your guest gets a comfortable bed without having to rearrange the room before climbing into it.
Personal Paperwork and Important Documents
Bills, tax paperwork, financial documents, mail, and other personal papers don’t belong in a room someone else will be using. Even when they’re tucked into a desk or sitting in a basket, you’re putting both your privacy and your guest in an unnecessarily awkward position.
Move anything personal or confidential somewhere secure before visitors arrive. It also frees up the desk or tabletop, so your guest can actually use it.
An Excessive Amount of Family Photos
A couple of family photos can make a room feel warm and personal, but an entire wall of family portraits can make a guest feel like they’re sleeping in someone else’s private bedroom. This is especially true when the guest room used to belong to a child or another family member.
You don’t need to strip the room of personality. A few neutral prints, thrifted artwork, landscapes, or simple decor can make the space feel like it belongs in your home without making your guest feel like they’re borrowing someone’s bedroom.
Broken or Forgotten Furniture
That chair with the wobbly leg or dresser drawer that hasn’t closed properly in three years might not bother you anymore because you’ve learned to work around it. Your guests haven’t.
Repair or remove anything broken, unstable, or difficult to use. You’d rather discover that loose bedside table yourself than have your guest find out when they put a glass of water on it.
Related: 10 Places That Will Take Your Furniture Donations
Too Many Knickknacks
Decorative objects have a way of accumulating on nightstands, dressers, shelves, and desks, especially in rooms we don’t use every day. The problem is that every decorative object takes away a little more space your guest could use for their glasses, wallet, toiletries, keys, or phone.
You don’t have to make the room bare. Just leave some surfaces intentionally empty, particularly beside the bed and on top of the dresser.
