Design Hotels

Getting into a smooth clean comfortable bed is one of the joys of staying in a top class hotel. Why not recreate that experience every night at home.

1. Choose a quality mattress

Hotels would not survive for long if their beds had the reputation for giving guests backache. A firm mattress is best. If you prefer a softer mattress add a mattress pad which molds itself to your body for comfort.

2. Keep Your Mattress in Good Condition

If you have a good mattress but it hasn’t been flipped or cleaned in a while then now is a good time to do that. To clean the mattress sprinkle it liberally with baking soda (you may need more than one pot) leave for a few hours and then vacuum up the baking soda. Spray the bed with fabric freshener to freshen it up too.

Flip your mattress every few months so that it wears evenly. Mattresses are designed to last about 10 years – but not if you leave them on one side all the time.

To protect your mattress and keep it clean get a mattress cover – they are quite cheap to buy and can be laundered in the washing machine (far easier than cleaning your mattress).

3. Smooth Clean Sheets

Most hotels don’t go in for fancy bedding ensembles but they always have quality sheets. These are the kind made of super fine cotton with a high thread count which feels smooth to the touch. Only quality sheets can survive the high temperatures of commercial laundries and come out looking good wash after wash.

Make sure your sheets are fresh, crisp and smooth – launder as soon as they lose their crisp fresh feel and make sure you iron them nice and smooth. (more…)

The guest bedroom is an interesting situation, because it is a room that you will not use. Nobody will use it really, until such time as a family member or friend comes to stay. Then it will be their temporary home, within your home, until they leave again.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when you set out to decorate a guest bedroom is that you are not creating a second bedroom for yourself. You have a room, this is a space that has to be accommodating for just about anyone. As such, you are relatively limited in your decorative choices.

Basically you don’t want to be too bold. Anything which could be offensive, or make the room uncomfortable for a guest should be avoided. Try to use neutral tones when selecting colors. Anything which is too bright could be annoying, making your guest feel antsy and agitated. On the other hand dark colors can make the atmosphere morose and depressing, leaving them with a negative impression of their stay in your home.

There are a few essential furnishings that any good guest bedroom should have. The bed is of course the main necessity. Many people choose to use a futon which folds out into a bed, in order to double the functionality of the space. You should also include some sort of a night stand, or bedside table next to whatever bedding arrangement you have set up.

As far as accessories, an alarm clock is useful for just about everybody. Some people need the extra push to get them up in the morning, but even if they don’t, they might still like to know what time it is. Adding a second
wall clock or mantel timepiece couldn’t hurt either. In a way clocks are the perfect innocuous decorative piece, they won’t offend almost anyone, and they make the space more functional. (more…)