Our Forever House: Welcome Guests!

We are very excited that our forever house has a designated "guest room". No longer do we need to kick our son out of his room when family or friends come to visit. This weekend my Mom is coming to visit us for a month! We are very excited to have this time with Mom and Grandma and wanted her room to be extra comfortable and welcoming.

My husband and I have seen many articles regarding how to make a guest room extra special for visitors and have taken inspiration from them. If you are interested, there are some great tips here, here, here and here. Here is what we have created.

The Palette
We went with a soft, beachy palette in our guest room. The walls are painted with a soft greenish beige that just so happens to be a $5 gallon of "oops" paint from Lowe's. (When we moved in we painted EVERY wall in our new home and we found some awesome paint bargains in the "oops" bin at both Lowe's and Home Depot. We used these paints in the guest room, laundry room, downstairs powder room and our garages. If you are willing to take a little risk you will be amazed at what you can save.) We are going with pale green, blue, beige and white in this room and it looks fantastic. Very relaxing and calm - I am certain our guests will enjoy their time in this room. The artwork in the room is simple with the paint chip wall art that I shared with you last week and a coffee filter wreath that was really simple and inexpensive to make with a wreath from the Dollar Tree and a package of inexpensive white coffee filters.

The Linens

We have included my old queen size bed with the headboard that my dear father made for me when I moved to Chicago many years ago. I purchased some soft, crisp white sheets and used a pale blue comforter on the bed giving it an airy quality. I love how the soft blue works with the pale green walls. I have also included a special afghan that my Mom made for me many years ago in case our guests are a bit chilly. Fluffy white towels again give a feeling of a luxurious hotel. Much of what we read encouraged the use of white linens as they give everyone a feeling of freshness. You can't hide anything with white linens.

The Essentials
We have included a basket with some essentials for our guests. When you stay at a hotel, they always provide you with soap, shampoo and lotion. We took this a step further and included everything a guest may need during their stay. I placed a bottle of water and a glass on a small tray by the bed. I also included a fuzzy robe on the back of the door. The door also has a hook so that our guests can hang their towels after they are used.

A Retreat
It was important to us that our guest room felt like a retreat to our visitors. We included a comfortable rocking chair (that we used to rock our kids when they were babies). We also placed a small television in the room, a great book and a few magazines on the nightstand. When our guests are looking for a little quiet time (with 2 young children in our house, quiet is not a term that get used often) they can find comfort and peace in their guest quarters. I have an idea to create a writing desk next to the bed so that our guests can set up their computer to check emails or do a little work if necessary. I saw a great idea how to create a simple desk like this sawhorse desk using two old stools (here) and will do this when I find the right stools at the right price of course.

The Space
We are blessed to have nice size bedrooms and therefore have given our guests a beautiful room to spread out and enjoy. I have added a full size mirror behind the door and cleared the closet so that our guests can hang clothes and feel at home. I also hope to find a used luggage rack to allow our guests a place to prop their suitcase during their visit (rather than just having it on the floor).

This room is a work in progress but we are very excited to have my Mom come and stay this month. I know that she will enjoy our Arizona temps after enduring the bitter cold of the Midwest the past couple of months. This will be her first visit to Arizona in the past several years and the first without my Dad (who we miss dearly).