35 Decor Ideas for a Luxurious Guest Bedroom

Whether you welcome guests almost every weekend or just a few times a year, it’s a true pleasure to be able to offer them a luxury guest room stay. The holidays are a popular time of year for visitors, so Fall is the ideal time to give your guest room an upgrade before life gets too busy. Even a simple guest room can have a resort-luxury interior design vibe with a few of the right touches. We’ve gathered some tried-and-true guest room decorating principles and added some of our favorite creative ideas too. To give your overnight guests a luxurious retreat, check out our favorite guest room design tips:

Invest In a Quality Guest Bed & Bedding

Even a sparsely-furnished guest room will feel luxurious if the bed and bedding have hotel-inspired comfort. Start with a queen-sized quality mattress; memory foam mattresses are quite affordable, and they provide plenty of support as well as sink-in softness to spoil your guests. Top the bed with a plush cotton mattress pad, and provide both down and synthetic pillows in a mix of firm and soft so your guests can choose a pillow that feels like home. Choose cotton sheets for a crisp, cool feeling – polyester blends are hot to sleep on. If you have four seasons, you’ll need both a winter and a summer blanket.

Dress the bed in layers so your guests can sleep comfortably. For most of the year, the ideal bedding combination is a light blanket, a thick comforter, and a large throw for napping. Make up the bed with the sheets and blanket, and fold the comforter at the foot of the bed. A cotton blanket is perfect for warmer weather; if you live in a cold climate or it’s winter, use a wool or polar fleece blanket. Keep your extra blanket handy in the closet; some people find comforters too heavy or have allergies, so it’s nice to give them another option. Duvets and comforters are plush and warm, but many of them need to be dry-cleaned. Invest in a washable duvet cover for your comforter so it’s always clean for guests.

Finally, make sure your guest room bed is sturdy! Fragile antiques or rickety hand-me-downs won’t be relaxing for guests to sleep in. There are solid, inexpensive platform beds available online; add a cushioned headboard to the wall for affordable luxury style.

Create A Calm, Modern Guest Room With Texture

Neutral shades and soft colors are the perfect start to a calm, relaxing guest room. If you’re going for a neutral look, break up the monotony of white bedding by layering textured bed linens on the bed. Choose a tone-on-tone duvet cover and shams, and add some throw pillows with dimension:

Accessorize with natural woven baskets and weathered wood for a Minimalist look, then add a Bohemian touch to warm up the floor with a patterned, textured rug:

Minimize Guest Room Clutter

It can be difficult to maintain a separate guest space; many families need home office space or extra storage, and the guest room is a tempting spot. It's tempting to go overboard while adding that personal touch, but too much personal clutter can make your guests feel like they’re intruding. Declutter your guest room as much as possible and eliminate random home decor to create the calm, neutral space you find in a hotel room. If you must use the room yourself, corral your hobbies into an armoire or trunk, and store your office files out of sight. Try to keep half the closet empty for hanging clothes. Avoid filling up the bed or seating with too many throw pillows, and keep table top accessories to a bare minimum. Remember, guests appreciate a spot to retreat from a living room full of people. Pendant lamps are back in style, and they’re the perfect way to keep bedside tables clear while providing plenty of light:

A Modern Guest Room Needs Practical Lighting

Speaking of lighting, try to provide practical lighting for your guests to relax or get some work done. If you have room, each side of the bed should have its own lamp. Table lamps with a three-way bulb are ideal for reading; just make sure they’re at least 27″ tall. Hanging pendants, sconces and wall-mounted lights are great space-savers. Choose a light that swivels or swings for comfortable reading in bed and check that the switch is easy to reach. Modern wall lights like these require a simple DIY installation:

A small lamp on the chest of drawers can be used as a night light if you add a low-watt bulb. Make sure overhead fixtures have working bulbs to light the entire room. Replace the ceiling fixture with a modern light or a classic chandelier to add character to the bedroom. If there’s no overhead light, plug a lamp into an outlet that connects to a wall switch so guests won’t have to hunt for a lamp in the dark.

Let Guests Sleep In With Blackout Shades

Restful sleep while traveling can certainly feel like a luxurious touch! Help your guest adjust to time zone changes or sleep in late by installing blackout or room-darkening window treatments in your guest room. If you’re on a budget, the simplest roller shade will do the trick. Add a blackout shade underneath your existing curtains, or upgrade to blackout-lined curtain panels. Your guests will appreciate it – especially if they have small children who need to nap!

Luxurious Guest Room Amenities

The most luxurious guest rooms keep their guests’ comfort in mind. Decorating the guest room isn’t just about the way the space looks; luxury amenities help create a space that's even nicer than your master bedroom! A bedroom design should include furniture and accessories that make it easy for guests to settle in and relax. Even in a small guest room, it’s important to provide a small chair for setting down bags or putting on shoes. A long bench is the perfect place to set a suitcase too. Set a bench or trunk at the foot of the bed or along a wall; if you don’t have much space, a folding luggage rack is the perfect solution.

Another luxurious touch is a charging station for your guest’s phone, tablet or laptop. Simply mount a charging strip to the wall just above the nightstand and provide a few cables. You can also find table lamps that have built-in USB ports for charging. A small picture frame with your wi-fi password is a chic touch.

Guest room amenities in hotels usually include mini-toiletry bottles. In fact, anything guests may forget to bring (like toothpaste, shaving supplies, or lotion) is thoughtful to have on hand. Spoil your guests with their own resort-style shampoos and lotions, like these from Beekman 1802:

If you have space, providing coffee, drinks and snacks in the guest room makes mornings really special. Guests appreciate not having to rummage around a strange kitchen looking for a snack. Your “room service” can be as simple as a tray with water bottles and a few nibbles, or as elaborate as a kitchenette. We love this designer’s clever guest room service bar; it’s loaded with mineral water, extra towels, breakfast pastries and fresh flowers.

Even if you don’t have a bar area or kitchenette, it’s easy to convert a piece of furniture like a dresser to a breakfast bar. Just add a small coffee maker and a tray with coffee and tea, bottled water, and some fruit or muffins for the morning. True luxury is having a relaxing light breakfast in the guest room, not having to rush and get dressed to go out to the kitchen.

Guest Bedroom Nightstands With Hotel Style

When possible, each side of the bed in your guest room should have its own nightstand or bedside table. Accessorize with an alarm clock, water carafe, or some reading material, but leave storage space for your guest’s personal items too. If there’s no visible outlet, provide an extension cord or charging strip that’s easy to spot.

If space in your guest room is tight, you can improvise a small bedside table by repurposing a stool or plant stand to give your guest a side table for a book or a drink.

Create A G

Guests who are staying more than a night or two will really appreciate a quiet place to work. A small writing table is just the right size for a laptop. If you don’t have room for a desk, use a taller table with legs on one side of the bed (instead of a nightstand) to create a small desk area. An old dining chair provides seating without taking up a lot of space.

You can also place a writing table at the foot of a four-poster bed, or tuck one into a dormer window to create a private workspace. Provide a charging strip, pens and pencils, a book on the local area, and a few local postcards they can send home.

Comfortable chairs for reading or a small sofa for napping are found in the most luxurious guest rooms. By carefully arranging your floor plan, you may be able to create a small guest room corner for friends to relax or catch up on work on a laptop. Take advantage of light from a nearby window or add a floor lamp and some reading material. A clean-lined, modern chair and ottoman with airy legs keep this corner from feeling crowded:

Resort-Inspired Guest Bedroom Paint Colors

One of the best ways to create a luxury guest room experience is to take design inspiration for the color palette from hotels and resorts. Take your decorating cues from seaside getaways with blue-green paint colors and coastal accents:

Calm neutrals and the palest pinks invoke the calm of a quiet sunrise:

Warm, creamy white and aqua, and a coordinating painted ceiling help this traditional guest room feel serene:

An accent wall is another trick hotels use to create drama and add a sense of luxury. A bold wallpaper behind the bed really makes a statement:

Painting your own mural is a budget-friendly way to create an accent wall; this Boho-chic bedroom has a serene circle painted in pink:

Inspire Guests With A Gallery Wall

Need a place to hang your art collection? One of our favorite guest room ideas that adds a personal touch is creating a mini-gallery of wall art. Create a theme, or mix travel photos of loved ones with thrift store finds – art doesn’t have to be high end to make a room feel luxurious. Your guests will appreciate the attention to detail.

Paint your gallery wall a bold color like Benjamin Moore’s Fan Coral to pull your art collection together.

Creative Small Guest Bedroom Ideas

Not every home has a large extra bedroom that can be spared as a guest room. If your home has limited space you can still carve out a guest area with a little creativity. A twin bed is perfectly comfortable for a single traveler; choose a stylish bed frame and dress the bed with luxurious linens and pillows. A daybed that doubles as a guest bed is the perfect solution for a home office. A rich color like Bricktone Red from Benjamin Moore creates a cozy elegance:

Children are easy to accommodate, but you can give little ones a luxury guest experience too. This home office has a pretty daybed or settee that’s just big enough for a small guest. Airy, light blue walls and classic checks create a classic French Country look.

A spare bedroom can serve double duty with a little creative problem solving. Bunk beds in a former closet allow a home office or playroom to become a guest room when needed. Curtains add privacy and hide the bunk beds when not in use. You can also use canopy beds to create a room-within-a-room, giving kids a private spot for quiet time between house guests.

Take advantage of a basement remodel or a bonus room to build in extra beds; they’ll make perfect everyday reading nooks.

What’s Your Favorite Guest Bedroom Decorating Idea?

Our roundup of guest bedroom decorating ideas has advice on the best bedroom paint colors, guest bedroom furniture, window treatments, and amenities. While you may not be able to use all of them in your guest bedroom, making a few improvements during your bedroom makeover is sure to leave your guests relaxed and happy to visit you again. Plus, you'll end up with some great ideas for DIY improvements in the rest of your home.