Welcoming family and friends to spend Christmas with you is sure to bring your first-class hosting skills to the fore. And it is important to prepare in advance to make your guests feel part of your Christmas and enjoy your home at this special time of year. You are probably under control with menus, aperitifs, gift-wrapping and country walks, but don’t forget that providing the cosiest guest bedroom will show that your talent as a host is second-to-none.
A Five-star Guest Room
Take a fresh look at your guest room and imagine yourself sleeping there. Does it need up-dating, or something added to make it more comfortable? Do you need a bedside table to hold an extra lamp, a comfy armchair, or stool at the end of the bed? Does the lighting create the right mood and still provide essential levels for reading and dressing, and would a deep-pile rug create that five-star bedroom atmosphere?
Lamps and rugs can be picked up from Holloways in store, and you can move an occasional chair, or a side table from another room, but if you want to buy a new piece of furniture Christmas deadlines need to be considered now.
The Best Guest Bed
Crisp white linen, layers of pillows, a soft throw and scatter cushions piled high – all so welcoming for Christmas guests. Choose good quality high thread-count Egyptian cotton bed linen. It is the softest and most luxurious and will give your guests the best night’s sleep. Pillows and duvets filled with natural feather and down look lofty and feel sumptuous, helping to create the boutique hotel feel.
Dress the bed with both a blanket and a throw in colours that blend with your room, to keep the midnight chill at bay. A soft mohair throw plus a woollen blanket is the ultimate in luxury. Scatter cushions in faux fur, or red velvet, add a seasonal look and should be piled high on the bed.
These details can be added up to the arrival date, and we have an enormous selection of cushions and throws in our new Holloways Interiors room for these last minute improvements. You will see the full range if you visit.
Deck the Halls (and the Guest Room)
You have decorated the tree, hung mistletoe, created a Christmas living room and made a Lapland fantasy on the dining table, so now make your guests feel at home by adding a few Christmas touches in their room too. It should feel prepared just for them, like home from home. A place to spend a little time away from the noise and bustle of your Christmas, to gather thoughts, dress for dinner, wrap a last minute present, or read a newly-gifted book.
The Gift of Luxury
There are lots of small touches that will make your guests have a special Christmas. Why not fill a china bowl with little luxuries such as home-made fudge, miniatures of craft gin or single malt, add Christmas ribbon and gift cards and hide some sellotape, just in case. Leave cool bottled water and glasses on the bedside tables and burn tealights in safe holders on the windowsill.
A Calm Retreat
As an additional Christmas gift for your guests, fill a seagrass basket with luxury toiletries, a real sponge, spa slippers, a new white flannel, olive oil soap and a fresh pine sprig. And write a personal label with heartfelt, welcoming Christmas wishes.
Place a delicate room scent diffuser, such as Branche d'Olive's Confite d’Orange, or a Christmas scented candle from Canova Candles, to bring peace and calm and a good night’s rest after a busy and active Christmas Day. Use Branche d'Olive's Pillow Spray in Feather fragrance and light the candles just before bedtime. Leave some note-cards and a fountain pen for last minute correspondence and handwritten thank-yous on the dressing table.
And then, look forward to compliments — to be told that they had the best night’s sleep, the room was beautiful and comfortable beyond belief, and could they stay another night..?
So, time to get started preparing your five-star guestroom! Call us if you are concerned about Christmas deadlines for small furniture, and visit us to see our full selection of soft furnishings, seasonal decorations, home scents, candles and last minute luxuries.
