Make a Guest Bed Your Guests Will Love!

Making the perfect guest bed is something of a work of art. Like any good art, it starts with quality materials that complement each other and the masterpiece works up from there.

Whether you're preparing your guest room for someone you're so excited to see or preparing your AirBnB to really impress, you too can learn the unique art of making a beautiful guest bed.

The Essentials

• The Bedframe and Mattress
• Beautiful Sheets
• Huge Collection of Shapely Pillows
• Light Summer Blanket
• Luxuriously Fluffy Duvet
• Flattering Duvet Cover
• Decorative Coverlet Bedspread
• The Shoe Strip
• The Tuck
• Little Extras

The Bedframe and Mattress

Your mattress should be firm and fluffy. Go for a medium-firm mattress with a cushiony pillow top. The taller the mattress, the better up to about 12 inches.

Your bed frame should also be solid and flattering but doesn't have to be anything special; that's what the bedding is for!

Beautiful Sheets

Your bed sheets need to be simultaneously crisp and soft, ideally in a light complementary color. White is always a safe choice but if you're going for style, pale blue, yellow, or a dusty rose can make a real impression.

Bedsheets need to feel amazing on the skin the moment your guests give them at test-touch and luxurious when they slip between the covers at night.

Sheets quality matters so much in great first impressions.

Huge Collection of Shapely Pillows

What is the one thing that hotels have that many home guest beds do not? A huge mountain of pillows of various sizes, shapes, and firmness. So, build your collection!

Get body pillows for snuggle, sleepers, fluffy pillows for back sleepers, squishy pillows for stomach-sleepers, and then arrange them into an artistic mountain at the top of the bed as the cherry on top of your bed making a masterpiece.

Light Summer Blanket

On top of the sheets, pick a very light blanket just in case your guests sleep get hot but don't want to go sheets-only. A knit blanket or a light quilt are ideal for this layer.

The color should blend with the sheets rather than contrasting in most bedding designs, as this blanket is almost an invisible layer just for the convenience of guests who kick off the duvet and then happily discover they have one more layer for summer sleeping.

Luxuriously Fluffy Duvet

Speaking of the duvet, this is your secret weapon for great bedmaking. Duvets have two very important features.

One, they are luxuriously fluffy and make any bed look like it's made for royalty. And two, the duvet has a washable cover so that even if guests kick off all the sheets and sleep with the duvet alone, it's easy to wash without damaging the stuffing.

Flattering Duvet Cover

For the duvet cover, pick something smooth like the sheets but impactful and flattering for the room's design. The duvet is your default top layer and so the cover needs to be both comfortable and an essential part of your room and bed design.

Have a stack of extra duvet covers like extra linens hidden in a nearby closet for your own convenience.

Decorative Coverlet Bedspread

Your last official layer is another light and airy blanket known as the coverlet or bedspread. This is actually your primary decorative piece and will make beds look picture-perfect when guests arrive.

Though most guests toss the coverlet onto a nearby chair when sleeping and may even use it as a chair-blanket during their stay. Choose a highly decorative or subtly flattering coverlet depending on the design of your room.

The Bed Runner

If you want an extra touch of hotel-quality flair, throw on a bed runner for good measure. The bed runner is that colorful, often semi-gloss, strip of fabric along the bottom of the bed balancing the sheet-overlay after the tuck.

Incidentally, it also protects the coverlet when guests flop onto the bed immediately after arriving with their shoes still on.

The Tuck

The tuck matters so much to a beautiful bed. You can't just throw on the essential layers and expect it to be beautiful. The way you tuck the bed is like the way a painter wields the paintbrush.

Decide if you want the bed to look tight and perfect or fluffy and inviting. Always include a fold-down, which is where the stack folds over just under the pillow layer to make it easy for guests to climb into bed which also shows off your sheets. Then pile the pillows on in your most artistic fashion.

Little Extras

Finally, decide on any little extras you want to add. Mints on the pillows, special feature pillows that are fuzzy or shiny, or even a little stuffed animal or towel-swan to greet guests and make them smile. These small but profound touches simply add to your guest experience.

Much success!