When you have friends or family stay with you for a night or two, you may put them up in your guest bedroom, but when’s the last time you spent a night in your guest room?
What we mean by this is, if you haven’t experienced the sleeping conditions firsthand, you might not know how to adequately prepare the room for guests. This way, if there’s a draft, if it gets too hot, if there’s a chirping bird that sits in a tree outside your window, you’ll be prepared to make accommodations.
House guests typically don’t sleep as well during their first night in a new environment and are more likely to wake up feeling groggy and lethargic the next morning. There’s this “first-night” effect that hinders the quality of sleep one might experience compared to sleeping at home in their own bed.
When sleeping in a new environment, our minds remain on active alert, making it harder to fall asleep and stay asleep. Luckily for your house guests, this should only last one night. After the first night’s sleep, your mind and body can adjust to the new environment and reset your sleep cycle.
However, taking a little extra time to prepare the guest room before company arrives can make all the difference in how well they sleep. If you haven’t checked out your guest room since last year, follow these simple tips to ensure your guests sleep soundly.
Pillows and Blankets
Of course, you’re expected to provide plenty of soft and fuzzy pillows and blankets for the guest bed, but if you know your guests prefer a certain material or texture that you don’t already have, suggest they bring their own bedding materials. They might have a favorite pillow that reminds them of home, so this could help them achieve better sleep.
Choosing the right linens is another important aspect of comfortable sleep. This will depend on the season in which you host visitors, and it will depend on the type of mattress. If your guests are visiting for the cold and rainy holiday season, flannel or cotton sheets are best this time of year. If your guest bed is an air mattress, you’ll want to use a deep fitted sheet if the mattress is inflated extra-high.
Keep it Cool
Our body’s internal temperature rises at night during slumber, so if you hope to sleep soundly, turn down that thermostat a couple of notches and keep the bedroom nice and cool.
If you’re blasting warm air to heat your house and combat the cold weather outside, remember to turn down the temperature at night. Even if it feels nice and cozy during the day, that extra few degrees can lead to restlessness and a night spent with legs kicked out from under the covers. If you experience a chill in the guest room during the night, your best bet is to set out an extra blanket for your guests to grab.
Turn Down the Volume
Nothing says the holidays like a house full of loved ones—and while we all cherish a visit from our dear Aunt Bethany and old Cousin Eddie, it can be hard to sleep with the entire family living in such close quarters. Unless everyone has the same bedtime, there’s bound to be more than enough ruckus to keep everyone awake at night.
Our suggestion would be to provide your guests a white noise machine or a small Bluetooth speaker if they need gentle, calming music to help their body unwind naturally. If the guest room has a ceiling fan, be sure to suggest they turn it on to help drown out any noise or conversation taking place downstairs. Those family game nights can get awfully rowdy!
Fresh Scents
If your guest room hasn’t been used in quite some time, you may discover a musty odor coming from the room. Luckily, the holiday season introduces all kinds of fresh scented candles, essential oils, and aromatherapy plants to help give your guest room a refreshing spritz of clean air. Scents like lavender have been known to lower both heart rate and blood pressure, which can help your guests to feel a sense of calm and relax more easily before bed.
Bonus: Mattress and Bedroom Furniture
You probably thought we forgot to mention the most important part of a guest room—the bed! The mattress should be the focal point of any guest room to introduce an inviting and welcoming environment. Even if it’s not a 5-star hotel, a well-made bed will still catch the attention of your guests and introduce a place of comfort and relaxation.
If you don’t want to shell out big bucks for your guest room mattress, you could always transfer your old mattress into the guest room and get a new mattress for the primary bedroom, or you could invest in a mattress-in-a-box for your guest space. Bed-in-a-box mattresses are the most affordable option if you need an easy-to-install bed with proven comfort and quality. You can order online, ship it straight to your home, and have the bed made before your guests arrive.
And be sure to do one quick check of the bedroom furniture. You won’t want your guests living out of their suitcase, so be sure the dressers are empty, there are plenty of coat hangers in the closet, they have a lamp or nightstand close by, and you've provided anything else they would need to feel right at home.
We Can Help
If your guests are on their way and you need help furnishing your guest room, give us a call or visit our store to shop our entire collection of mattresses and bedroom accessories. Be wary—with mattresses this comfortable, your house guests might try to move in.