Organizing Your Home for Guests


Welcome guests to your home with a comfortable place to stay while visiting. Whether it’s a spare bedroom or a home office that doubles as a guest room there are things you can do to always be prepared for planned visits and last minute guests.


With families the guest room will often be in the same room as the home office, so we’ll provide tips for a home office guest room.


Let’s be honest, having guests stay in your home is stressful. There is the kind of company that will stay for two days or more and some that will only stay overnight.

But regardless of how long they will be staying, a good host you must be – and what better way than to be prepared. Making your guests comfortable is important to keep your family life running smoothly.

Being prepared and getting organized for guests can take care of their needs ahead of time and you can welcome them without all the stress.

Making the Home Office a Guest Friendly Space

One thing to do is keep a guest basket ready, make sure there is closet space available for their clothes, plan your office furniture so you can quickly go from office to guest room.

Hopefully you have advanced warning that company is coming. Three days prior to their arrival start transitioning the space to guest room.

1) Pay bills in advance so you don’t have your personal business papers lying about and so you won’t have to barge in the room to take care of household bills. File paperwork and shred papers you don’t need.

2) If you have a wireless router in your home and a laptop, you can move the laptop to another room and take your bills out of the room to pay later. If you have a desktop computer, create a log on account for guests. If they need computer access they can do so without accessing any of your private information.

3) Vacuum and clean up the room. Make sure there is space in the closet for hanging their clothes and some shelf space for other items and keep a basket in the room for their dirty laundry.

4) Use baskets for organizing supplies your guests will need. Put these together and store them on a closet shelf and cover them to keep the dust off. The day before guests arrive take out the basket. The basket can contain:

a. bath towels and wash cloths
b. unopened soap
c. toothbrush and toothpaste
d. shampoo, conditioner, q-tips, and lotions
e. keep a note on top letting them know where additional supplies are kept.

5) Keep a small TV with a DVD player in the room and have movies and music out so they can relax and maybe watch one before bed.

6) Most home offices contain a bookshelf. Make sure to have a variety of books on the shelf for reading. On another shelf keep a few extra blankets they can use to get comfy at night.

Leave Things Out in the Kitchen

Do you have a midnight snacker in the family? Chances are one of your guests will be a snacker too. So they don’t feel uncomfortable getting up in the middle of the night and rummaging through your cabinets, keep things out on the counter, at least for the first night.

Keep a rectangular basket lined with a towel on the counter, keep a couple of drinking glasses, napkins, silverware, a bowl and plate, a box of crackers, chips, or cookies and again leave a note telling them where other food items can be found.

Keep the Furniture Functional

When you know your office will also be a guest room, pick furniture that is functional like a couch that turns into a bed, a shelving unit that has a locking cabinet, and don’t get a desk that is too large for the space when the bed is extended.

Choose a side table that has a drawer and storage space below for keeping keys, jewelry, phones, etc. Hang decorative hooks on the wall where they can hang towels, bathrobes, and clothes.

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