Convert Spare Rooms into Guest Rooms with Furniture Essentials

By Nia Lawrence


You can afford to hold back on furniture pieces for your guest rooms, especially if you're only setting these up for unexpected company. Converting spare rooms into guest rooms is a good way to maximize the available space in your home, especially when your children have outgrown their bedrooms and moved on to colleges or families of their own. The rooms must first be furnished with the staples, and you can choose to add other niceties afterwards if your budget and the room's floor space can afford these. Since you'll likely put away the old stuff and store these in the attic or basement, your new furnishings should start from scratch, offering the bare necessities in comfort and function. Furnish your guest rooms like these were rooms at a motel; you can then add extra furniture once you've covered the essentials.

You'll have to start out with the most comfortable bed you can afford. Even if your children's single or twin beds offer enough room to squeeze in an adult, these are probably well-worn through years of use. Besides, the accommodations will be awkward for visiting couples; you can push two single beds together to provide extra elbow room, but this is still inches short of a proper double bed. It's best if you upgrade to a larger bed, preferably a queen size one. Invest in sturdier bed frames made from hardwoods. The mattress should also be comfortable, luxurious if possible; guests can't sleep in a lumpy or lopsided bed, especially if they're staying in an unfamiliar room.

You can substitute other furniture for the bed if you're worried a queen size won't fit in the available floor space. Consider a daybed or a futon for its versatility; the former comes in handy if you want to convert your guest room into a small living room during the day, since its mattress folds up into a comfortable sofa cushion. You can even triple the available bed space if you opt for daybeds with pullout trundles.

Provide ample storage space for your guest's personal stuff. These usually involve sundries that fit in a small carry-on, so a desk of drawers should do. A luggage rack should also ensure your guest don't use the foot of the bed as a dresser. If the limited space can't afford a proper dresser or wardrobe, then you can put up clothes rods instead.

The essential furniture pieces should help you budget your renovation costs. Maximize the comforts with plenty of pillows, linens, and towels. Unless you're actually running a bed and breakfast, then the comfort and function essentials should be enough.




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