Skip to main content

Hospitality for the Rest of Us: Guest Room


Can we talk about your guest room? If you don't have one, that's okay, you offer a couch or floor, people know exactly what they're getting into. But you get offered a guest room, there's no telling what you will end up with.

First of all, would you sleep there? Maybe I should say can you sleep there? People often have junk rooms with beds in them with the grand idea that it could be a guest room. If you can't go in and put sheets on the bed with 24 hours notice, it's probably a junk room. I like junk rooms, they're great! But don't put the stress on yourself of saying it's a guest room. Because then you're not just adding the work of hosting someone over night in your house, an entire room of stuff is displaced in your home and there's more pre-work that has to be done. Just tell folks you have a bed in the junk room you can clear off, it's honest and they understand or stay at a hotel instead.

Okay, you can sleep in there. Do you use the room on a daily basis for some other purpose? Is it your home office? I seen that so often on home improvement shows, they take a home office and add a futon and call it a guest room. Would you take your guest to your regular office and let them sleep there? Probably not. And then there's the whole tidying. If your home office is like any of the ones I've had, it's a paper pile the size of Montana. Takes fifteen boxes just to hold it all. You don't need that kind of stress in your life. Either you're going to be throwing papers in random boxes and looking for them for months to come or you're going to go through Facebook and solitaire withdrawals, both are ugly. Tell folks you have a bed in your office they can use. Once again it's honest and sets up realistic expectations.

You can sleep there, there's no other day to day purpose for it. Who has these rooms? Honestly, give me some of your extra cash, I have some junk I want to buy and put in my junk room office. We do have a junk room office, but it's contained to a junk closet and a power strip to charge devices at night, which find other plugs when guests arrive. We have a few things in our guest room that make them cozy for us, so I'm going to assume they're cozy for others. The room is small, barely holding a full size bed, but it's the comfiest bed we could afford for the space. We have two sets of sheets, cotton for summer and flannel for winter. There is a plethora of pillows, including a husband pillow (the ones from the 70's so you could sit on the floor and read AND has armerests). There is a chair, just one of our dining room chairs, but a place to sit. There is an old child size table, I would prefer a different piece of furniture, but it's excellent for holding towels and large pieces of luggage. We have a clothes hamper in there. It's a generic mesh hamper but does the job of holding clothes for people. It has its own television, hooked up to a Roku and HD antenna. People love the ion channel :-) It's where our library is housed so, tons of books. I keep a little collection of shampoos and soaps in the room. And last of all, a clock. It's loud, but it has an alarm function and can glow in the dark.

Those are creature comforts I like, so I supply them. At the end of the day, it's just a place to lay your head. But it has also become a space to heal, giggle, cry and find rest. Not just physical rest, but soul rest. If you provide the ability to do one, the other will occur naturally.

So, go take a look at your junk room office and decide what it's purpose could be. Really think about what would bring you the most joy. I found for us, rest was better than stuff.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hospitality for the Rest of Us: Long Distance

People are moving more and more. When I was a youngster, it was a rare instance for a friend to move away. Now it's me that moves away. We've moved a lot, especially when we first got married. It was something like five addresses and three states in the first four years of our marriage. We've slowed down a bit. In the midst of all that moving, we've made some friends along the way. I try to keep an open line in case of times of grief and celebration. One of the best tools I've found for keeping in touch with loved ones far away is Facebook. As much time as I could spend doing other things instead of checking it, it's the best thing I've found. It allows me to communicate with others, without having to call. I know calling is amazing, hearing people's voices, but for introverts, there are no body language clues for us to pick up on that help make our conversations easier. It's also why we prefer to video chat :-) Back to Facebook, some etiquette.

Stories from the Kitchen: Taste and See

I celebrated my birthday last weekend. It was wonderful and the leftovers left me with a question or two. Find out what they are and how I'm currently answering them in this week's podcast. Stories from the Kitchen Season 2, Episode 2: Taste and See Notes from the episode: Taste and See by Margaret Feinberg Dad’s New York Cheesecake (from the back of a Philidelphia Cream Cheese package) 1 ⅞ cups graham cracker crumbs ¼ to ½ cup butter, melted 1 cup sugar, divided 2 lbs cream cheese (4 packs) 2 large eggs (lightly beaten) 1 tsp vanilla 2 tbsp cornstarch 1 cup sour cream Preheat oven to 450F Mix well graham crackers, 2 tbsp sugar, and enough butter that the mixture holds together. Reserve 2 tbsp for garnish. Press mixture onto bottom and sides of a greased 9-inch springform pan. Chill in the freezer while preparing the filling. Mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth and light. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and cornstarch until just blended. S

Threadbare Knees

I feel sure that you've heard the saying "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade."  Well, recently I picked up a pair of wool cashmere blend slacks from Salvation Army and upon further inspection at home, the knees were threadbare, practically holes.  Easy enough to miss, when your knees don't fall in the same spot as the previous owner.  They were inexpensive, so it wasn't a big monetary loss, but I felt like it would be a shame to toss such nice fabric and so I searched the internet to see what I could do.  I found this cute little purse pattern, for free!   You can go check it out by clicking here . It is a great little pattern and I was able to make the entire purse in one rainy day!  Here are some pictures of my threadbare knees purse. Don't you just love those little pleats? And there's even a little pocket inside.  I'm so impressed with myself! Time to fill it up with my keys and such non-sense! And remember, when life gives you th