4 Things to consider when planning a guest room

Need some extra space for guests or family? Here are four things to consider when planning your new home or cottage:

When planning to design and build a home or cottage one of the first things you’ll need to consider is how many bedrooms you need. In addition to the primary bedroom and any kid's rooms, you may want to consider a guest room.

If you don’t have people visiting often, a dedicated guest room may not be warranted. In this case, you may want to have another room double as a guest room. However, if you enjoy entertaining and have out of town guests or family visit on a regular basis, a dedicated guest room might be on your “must have” list.

If you are planning to stay in your new home or cottage long-term, consider how things might change in the future so you can easily account for them later on.

Here are 4 things to consider when planning a guest room for your new home or cottage.

Location

One of the benefits of designing and building a custom home or cottage is that you get to determine how rooms are laid out and situated. When it comes to a guest room, you may want to consider locating it in a separate area of your home for privacy.

If you’re designing a bungalow, perhaps you put it at the opposite end of your home away from all the other bedrooms. If you’re designing a two storey home, perhaps you put it on a different floor from the other bedrooms. Perhaps you have a guest room above a detached garage, or even a separate guest house.

When deciding where to locate your guest room, it’s important to consider how your guest room fits within the overall flow of your home and your lifestyle. 

Accessibility

Consider who will be using your guest room most often. If they are older aged guests - perhaps your parents - consider any safety and/or mobility issues. This may not be a consideration that is top of mind today, but it may be something you’ll need to consider down the road.

You may want to consider an exterior entrance for your guest room. This allows guests to come and go as they wish without potentially disturbing the rest of the household.

You’ll want to plan any accessibility features while determining where to locate your guest room, as accessibility considerations may impact where you can and can’t situate your guest room.

Bathroom

Guests will need a bathroom. The question is do you want to provide them with their own ensuite bathroom or a common bathroom located outside of the bedroom? Like all of these considerations, there is no right or wrong- just a personal choice.

While having an ensuite bathroom will surely be appreciated by any guests who stay with you, you'll have to consider the additional cost to build the bathroom and maintain it. If it’s not going to be used that often, it may not be worth the expense and upkeep.

If you don’t think you’ll benefit from an ensuite, have a common bathroom located near by. If your guest room is on the main floor, a simple solution is to convert a traditional two-piece powder room into a three or four-piece bathroom with a tub and/or shower.

Closet

If you have guests that stay with you on a regular or extended basis you may want to consider providing them with an upgraded closet. Instead of a common single or double door closet, perhaps you’d like to provide them with a walk-in closet. This is a feature that guests will appreciate, but depending on how it’s designed, it can also double as extra storage space for the household.

Takeaways

While there are many items you may want to account for when planning a guest room, we’ve covered four of the main things you’ll want to consider.

Planning a guest room is just one of the many areas of your new home or cottage that will require your careful consideration. If you have questions or want to gain more insights into planning your new home or cottage, schedule a consultation with Spotlight Home and Lifestyle. We’re here to help.