8 Simple ways to create a luxury guest room

The key to making your guests feel at home is to create a luxurious experience in your guest room—an experience that will make them feel well and truly looked after. Small, inexpensive touches can transform an ordinary, overlooked room into a relaxing and inviting environment for guests. On top of standard guest-room essentials such as towels, a mirror, clean sheets and good bedside lighting, consider adding the following touches to ensure your guest knows you’ve thought about their every need, and you’ve gone out of your way to give them an enjoyable stay.

Supplying a personal bottle of mineral water with a glass beats an old, water-stained tumbler by the side of the bed. If you know your guest’s favourite snack, consider getting in a bite-sized treat to leave out for them.

Decant small amounts of your own toiletries – shampoo, conditioner, body wash – into small bottles. You can gather these from hotels or buy travel-sized containers from Muji or Boots. And don’t forget the eye mask for an instant lie in!

If your guest room wardrobe is stuffed to the brim with old clothes, bed linen and toys the kids haven’t looked at in decades, consider having an epic clear out to make sure your guests have enough room to unpack into. Extra hangers and ample space will make guests feel like they can spread out and feel at home.

Investing in some over-door hooks is an inexpensive way of providing your guests with much-needed hanging space for handbags, coats, scarfs and towels. This is especially useful if the room is too small for a wardrobe, or if clearing out your existing one is impossible.

Fresh flowers instantly lift any space and create a fresh, welcoming atmosphere. Flowers such as Gladioli or Sunflowers are excellent options as they are cheap but make eye-catching, impressive displays. For an option that costs nothing at all, simply cut blooms from the garden and arrange in a small glass or jam jar.

A huge pile of squashy cushions is the pinnacle of indulgent luxury, so the guest room is the perfect place for all those old mismatching cushions you’ve kept in the back of your cupboards for years. Take an inexpensive piece of fabric that matches the decor of the room – the same colour as the curtains works well – and make new cushion covers for each one and scatter on the bed for an easy and thrifty solution to transforming the space.

If the room is big enough, putting an old, inexpensive chair in the corner of the room will not only provide somewhere for guests to sit and relax, but also doubles up as somewhere to lay their clothes and accessories. If the chair is really old and battered, put a blanket or throw over it—or just pass it off as antique!

Guests will really appreciate having clear, flat surfaces to put their belongings on. If you don't have a spare night stand, make one out of a pile of old books so guests have somewhere to put personal items they might like to keep close to them, or a morning cup of tea.