Is your holiday guest list long, but you’re short on extra bedrooms? Here are some tips on how to make the most out of the small spaces in your castle, and help your company feel more at home.
- Turn Kids’ Rooms into Guest Rooms. Store your child’s Hello Kitty andThomas the Train bedding in the closet for now and quickly transform their space into a grown-up guest room. Add sophisticated bed linens, a luggage rack, plus a vase of fresh flowers and a lamp on the nightstand to make your grown-up company feel more at home.
- Dress Up Sofa Sleepers. Turn your sleeper sofa into a cozy bed by adding an inexpensive foam mattress topper, comfy pillows, and blankets. Clear off an end table next to the sofa to use as a nightstand; add a few good books and a reading lamp.
- Camping Out in the Family Room. If your kids have to give up their bedrooms to accommodate holiday guests, make it more like an adventure than a chore for the little ones. In the family room or recreation room, use sleeping bags or even build a sheet tent, plus leave time to tell an old-fashioned campfire story before it’s lights out. Include a big basket of your kids’ favorite toys and books in their temporary space, so they feel more at home in their make-do accommodations.
- Sharing Bathrooms. Have you lost count of who is sharing the only spare bathroom? Put a holiday guest basket filled with travel sizes of toiletries on the bathroom counter, plus include common medicines such as aspirin and an antacid. You can also leave towels and washcloths where your guests will be sleeping so they know which linens are theirs to use.
- Kitchen Away from Home. If you have a midnight snacker or early bird on your guest list this year, leave a help-yourself goodie basket on your kitchen counter and set the timer on your automatic coffee maker. Reminding everyone to make themselves at home in the kitchen before you go to sleep at night might help you catch a few extra ZZZZZs in the morning.