Getting ready for Guests

We are from Utah so we have a lot of family and friends there. We are currently living in Connecticut and have been for almost a year and a half. We are lucky enough to get a lot of visitors. We live about an hour away from New York. We have had a few friends who had a trip to New York planned and made sure to stop and see us and we get to pretend to be a little Bed and Breakfast. That is honestly my dream, to own a Bed and Breakfast. The last time we had visitors was in February and there were six of them, and only one was a child making that ten people in our little 1200 square foot cape. But surprisingly everyone had a bed and there was plenty of room.

I thought I would share how I get our home ready for guests and my tricks for making everyone feel comfortable. When guests come it is a great excuse to buy fresh flowers, one of my favorite things to do. I try to put a little in every room to freshen up our home.

I  change out my center piece on our dining table to a tray filled with healthy snacks. That way anyone can grab something when they are hungry and not fill awkward going through our cupboards. Because no matter how often you tell people to “help themselves” they still feel weird doing it, I know I do.

I bought these famous doughnut holes from a popular grocery store. They are one of Bobby Flays favorites. Try to find a yummy treat that your area is famous for or that everyone has to have when they come into town.

I don’t normally buy bottled water. But I do when have guests and I fill my fridge with it, making it easy for everyone to help themselves as we are walking out the door or to put by their bed at night.

This might seem like a silly tip, but I always clean out my silverware drawer. We all remember to clean the toilets, dust and put things away but we might not remember the sneaky spots. Go open your silverware drawer and see all the crumbs that make there way into the drawer. I wipe down my fridge too. Any  spot that guests would be opening or going to frequently needs a good cleaning.

Another thing I don’t normally buy is paper towels, I use rags to clean. But I make sure to put a roll in the bathrooms along with my homemade cleaning solution so guests can clean up if they make a mess in the bathrooms. I also buy room spray and keep that by the toilet. I do pick up paper plates, napkins and plastic silverware for those nights we keep it casual and I would rather spend time with my guests than cleaning up after them.

I have this closet in our upstairs bathroom that our guests mainly use. I make sure it is stocked with extra toilet paper and towels that are labeled for guest. I like to buy the disposable face wipes and leave them in the bathroom too, that way they don’t feel bad if they get the face towels dirty with makeup.

I also have a basket in the bathroom and I label it for dirty towels. That way I can come up and grab it and throw a load of towels in the wash.

I have THESE hooks on the back of the door for extra towels to hang to dry. I also have a towel rack that we keep nicer towels on.

When I started to buy furniture for our new home I made sure to buy pieces that could serve two purposes and were nice quality and comfortable.  THIS is a very comfortable sofa and also a really nice sleeper sofa. I wanted one that guests wouldn’t fill a metal rod through their back. I keep extra sheets, blankets and pillows for it in the closet in this room.

This is a little sneak peek of our babies nursery, who is due May 1st. This room used to be a guest room with a queen bed and big TV in it. So when we started to switch it over to get ready for our baby boy I knew it had to be able to sleep guests. I did THIS trundle daybed from Wayfair. It is also a great spot to hang out, since we will all want to be where the new baby is.

It also has a pull-out trundle. I did a twin mattress from Tuft and Needle that they sent to me to review. It was important for me to have a mattress that was very comfortable for our guests. Not a blow up mattress. I like that Tuft and Needle mattress does not need to be used with a box spring, like many mattresses do. This mattress can lay flat on the floor or in the trundle frame that I have. We actually had a little sleepover in this room when we finished it. I slept on the Tuft and Needle mattress and it was very comfortable, so I knew my guests would enjoy it.

I love that we can easily move this mattress around and put it in our daughters room if we only have one extra guest staying or a guest that is close to the girls age. It is actually not too heavy. I like that the cover can be taken off and washed. I still use sheets with it and a mattress pad to keep it clean. But I like that the actual mattress stays clean. It also has a cooling system, that is important for us in the summer when it can get really humid in Connecticut and I want our guests to stay really comfortable. It actually draws heat out of your body, I want it for our bed! It has over 2800 amazing Amazon reviews you can shop their mattress HERE.

One of my favorite things to have our guests do is write in our guest book. I have not been too diligent at always getting everyone to write in it. Last time we had guests I took it out to breakfast with us and had everyone write a little something that we did or their favorite part. I am going to start setting it out when guests come so I don’t forget to have them write in it! Make sure to read my favorite breakfast to make for guests HERE.

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