How to Turn Your Guest Bedroom Into a Luxurious Retreat

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When Serena & Lily approached me with an invitation to refresh my guest room ahead of the holidays, I couldn’t believe how perfect the timing was. Not only is Serena & Lily my favorite home decor brand because of the beautiful variety of decor, linens, and furniture that they offer, but also because of how luxurious and high-quality everything is that I own from them. Our living room, bathroom, and about half of my home office is from Serena & Lily, and not only do we receive lots of compliments on our home decor, but our linens and decor have also lasted much longer than any other brands we purchased when we were first married.

My husband and I had just been discussing the schedule of family visits beginning in a few weeks when they reached out to, and so I am thrilled to partner with them to share my tips on how to prepare your guest room for visitors. Each holiday season, we rearrange and freshen up our guest bedroom, giving it a thorough deep clean, stocking it with the things our guests may need, and making improvements year after year. Here are the 5 things we focus on each year, to turn our guest room into a relaxing retreat for our loved ones.

Guest Room Design Tips and Inspiration with Serena & Lily Guest Bedroom Refresh by Annie Fairfax

Just so you know, Serena & Lily’s bedding and beds are up to 30% off now until 10/28 during The Sleep Well Event, so you can easily stock up on essentials for your home and guest room, before the busy season of family and friends visiting begins!

Deep Clean

If you’re like us, and guests only visit for extended periods of time during the holidays, you may find that a dust bunny or two has moved in under the bed in your guest room. Be sure to do a deep clean at the start of each season to keep your guest room fresh, inviting, and tidy. Doing so will take away the stress of having to rush to prepare a room when guests show up, and ensure that everything is perfect for your guests.

Make Your Guests Feel at Home

Create an extension of your home in the guest room by extending the color palette of the rest of your house, in our case blues, neutrals, and lush, green plants, to the guest room. We aim to make our guest room feel like it’s own little oasis, so that our guests would have everything they need in their room, like extra pillows, blankets, and towels, a hamper for their laundry, a place to dress in the morning, a large mirror to get ready if they’d prefer to do it in the privacy of their own room or bathroom, a fan and space heater, and other amenities so that they would have everything they’d normally have at home for their comfort and convenience.

When it comes to the guest bathroom, keep decor to a minimum, and ensure that your guests have room for their belongings, toiletries, and beauty products so that they can seamlessly transition from their home to visiting yours. My husband and I have a basket of products we know our family members love, and we set those out for them whenever they come to visit, otherwise we clear off the counter top to create more room for our visitors.

Focus on Comfort

The most important aspect of a guest room is ensuring that it’s comfortable for your visitors. We like to offer a few different firmness levels in the pillows we put on the bed so our guests can find one that suits them best. We also like to include 3-5 layers of luxurious linens, cozy quilts, and easy-to-care-for duvet and comforters on the bed, so that our guests will always have the perfect amount of blankets, no matter the weather. We bought the Serena & Lily Goose Down Starter Set recently for our gust room, which includes a mattress pad, 1 duvet insert, 2 standard pillow Inserts, 2 standard pillow protectors, 2 euro inserts, and it was a great investment for us and our guests because it’s so versatile.

Some of my favorite bedding layers from Serena & Lily include the Sutter Linen Quilt, Solana Sheet Set, Carlyle Coverlet, Goose Down Starter Set, and the Westwood Quilted Shams. For the holidays, I have the stunning Sutter Velvet Quilt in Midnight Blue or Evergreen on my wishlist. By mixing up textures and playing with colors, you will delight your guests and create a memorable, relaxing, and luxurious guest experience for them.

One of my favorite aspects of Serena & Lily is that you can continue to build your home on with their products, or refresh with the changing of the seasons, because the quality is consistently excellent, and they use similar color palettes so that you can easily find new items to coordinate with decor purchased in previous seasons. It makes decorating and shopping online a dream!

Keep Decor Minimal

Keep decor to a minimum to avoid overwhelming your guests, and focusing on both form and function when selecting pieces to decorate your guest room. You’ll be able to present a perfectly edited, clutter-free space for your guests to relax, unpack, and enjoy themselves after their travels.

A few of my favorite decor elements from Serena & Lily are this versatile Teak Ladder which can be used to hang clothing, extra quilts, blankets or throws, or even towels, this stunning natural rattan mirror, shown above and below, and this Dip-Dyed stool, perfect for dressing or setting a suitcase on.

Storage is Key

Invite your guests to unpack their belongings to make them feel more at home by providing them with an empty dresser or closet stocked with hangers in which to store their clothing. If you’re short of space, consider adding a storage chest at the foot of the bed, which can either be used by your guests or for storing extra linens, blankets, and pillows. A catch-all tray on top of a nightstand helps your guests keep their keys, jewelry, or other small trinkets in an easy-to-reach place.

If your home has ample storage, consider adding an end of bed bench to make getting ready in the morning easier for your guests. They also are great for sitting and relaxing or reading as well.

What tips do you have to prepare your home for guests? Let me know in the comments below what makes you feel most welcome and at home when you visit loved ones, and let me know what tips you have for creating the perfect retreat for your guests.

I’d like to extend a sincere thank you to Serena & Lily for partnering with me on this post. They are a brand that I have loved and used in our home for years, and I’m so thankful for the chance to collaborate with them and share my favorite home making tips with my readers. As you know, I only ever share brands that I personally use and love, and Serena & Lily is my favorite place to shop for home decor, furniture, linens, and furnishings. I truly can’t say enough good things about them, and I am confident that you’ll love and enjoy their products in your home like I do.