A Gracious Guest Bedroom

Visiting friends or renting a vacation house can be a lot of fun but the experience of the guest bedroom can often be… lacking.  Uncomfortable bedding, too little furniture and storage, or feeling cramped with nowhere to sit but on the same bed you have to sleep in can all make for a less than magical experience.  But, with the right attention to detail, the guest room in your house or rental property can raise the bar, leave people talking and have them asking to come back for more!

                There are a number of factors that make a guest room a great experience for me. High up on the list are comfort, privacy and convenience. A guest room should always offer comfort, both physical and emotional. I am also big on privacy and when you are staying in someone else's home, or in a rental with a group of friends or family, you should always have a bit of a retreat into something that feels "yours," even if it is only temporary. Convenience is also a huge factor in a successful guest room and often translates into decent storage space for clothes and luggage as well as more than just the bed to sit on during time spent in the room.

A not so gracious "before" guest room floor plan

The "before" guest bedroom shown here lacks just about all of these key factors. That isn't to say it has nothing going for it. It is a guest room at the beach, so that is a great place to start. It also has its own bathroom steps from the bedroom door and is isolated on the first floor with only a hallway and garage for companionship. So in terms of comfort its a quiet retreat from the main house. But that is about as far as things go for this guest room. The layout is awkward in that in offers way too much storage space for a temporary occupant at the cost of usable floor space for other amenities. The location of the closets and windows don’t leave many great options for bed placement and leave just about no room for any additional seating or furniture options. To make things worse the two window walls are painted concrete masonry units (CMU) with not electrical outlets!

Design Layout for a Gracious Guest Room

The goal for this design concept is to rethink the space to meet its function as a guest room at the beach by providing comfort, privacy and convenience for short term stays. Specifically the design aims to:

• allow for enough electrical outlets to make the space usable (not to mention up to code)

• create an entry / dressing area with the correct amount of storage for short term guests

• provide multiple seating options for comfortable down time spent relaxing the in the room

• create a sense of Wonder and Imagination in Everyday Living

First up is to address the creation of an entry space that also functioned as a dressing / storage area since I knew from the start that the existing closets needed to go.  The plan extends the original wall that the door opened onto while also mirroring it on the other side of the room, giving some added privacy by blocking the view of the room from the doorway, and providing space to build in a wardrobe for some appropriate sized storage. The plan also provides a much needed sense of balance in the space.

With the structural redesign settled it was time for the decor to come together to support the overall mission. I am not shy about loving an historic reference as a jumping point and this room allowed me to start with two spaces that I have adored in photos but have yet to see in real life, the Narcissus Hall and the Arab Hall at Leighton House, London. A quick google search will reveal the spaces in no way resemble a bedroom nor do they exude a sense of coziness or comfort as we are used to experiencing it. What I aimed to take from the rooms was the overall sense of drama provided by the colors and materials as well as the sense of being transported from the everyday experience of most western inspired design. In essence I wanted to infuse this guest room with the sense of wonder and imagination the the Narcissus Hall and the Arab Hall give to me when I look at them.

The Narcissus Hall, Leighton House, London

The Arab Hall, Leighton House, London

Also important is that while this guest room was located at the beach I don’t want to go the expected route of many beach house spaces with lots of white, light blue and overtly beach themed decor but I still want to give a nod to its location and main use. The deeper, moodier blues, golds and warm whites as well as some of the natural materials and finishes do this by bringing to mind the more mysterious, sensual side of the sea and seafaring life.

The entry / dressing area serves double duty by first providing a place to drop your bags, a bench to sit down on to take off your shoes and a small side table to set your keys or iced coffee and second by providing a smaller but more efficient built-in wardrobe to store clothes and luggage. The wardrobe and the wall are to be painted in a rich blue with black baseboard. The pill shaped mirror serves to reflect the rest of the room and the window opposite to enhance the sense of space within the relatively small room. The wardrobe itself provides 3' of linear hanging for short terms stays, two 10" deep drawers for clothing and an open lower area for luggage and things.

Entry / Dressing Area

The bed itself is set in a recess to provide privacy and also a bit of balance and structure to the room. The dark black / grey cerused finish on the bed gives a weathered, aged vibe you might find in an old ship while the decorative rope detail, meant to mimic the ropes that would have been used to support the mattress on an historic bed frame, support the sense of being near the ocean by calling to mind the rigging of a ship or a bit of rope netting. The side tables have a great weathered, patinated finish and their visual texture helps elevate them from the expected. Granted they have no storage, but this is a guest room for short term occupation so intense bedside storage is not a main priority. To save space on the table tops, articulated wall mounted sconces were chosen to provide bedside light. The wall behind the bed is to be painted with thick horizontal stripes alternating a rich, warm gold and the warm white of the main area. 

Bed Recess

With the space that would be gained by removing the closets and recessing the bed I am able to make use of the wall opposite the bed to provide space in the design for a small but comfortable reading chair and drinks table along with slim wood desk for reading, snacking or using a laptop. The desk itself gives a sense of campaign furniture with its rectilinearity and brass details while the rich blue upholstery on the chair makes reference to the ocean. The walls here are to be painted a warm white to brighten the space and act as a foil for the rich colored dressing / entry area and bed wall. In that way each space can stand out without having to compete.

Reading / Working Area

The redesign of this space into a gracious guest room addresses a number of details intended to provide comfort, privacy and convenience in the overall layout. The decorative scheme provides a sense of getaway and of Wonder and Imagination in Everyday Living (and traveling) while stepping out from the more expected decor elements of a beach house. These elements used still make reference to the beach setting but in a richer, moodier and more sophisticated manner.  Who is ready for a beach weekend?!