Advice for Guest Bedrooms and Hosting Guests

After commenting myself on this WaPo Live Chat, I decided to better organize my thoughts and write this post based on my recent experience staying with family out-of-state. This advice is particularly applicable if some of your houseguests will be children.

1. Air Mattresses - If you have one, make sure they it does not have a slow leak by testing it over the course of 3+ days before your guests arrive. No one wants to wake up on top of a deflated air mattress.
2. Wardrobes and Dressers - If you have one in your guests' quarters, make sure it is completely empty. If it's full, it just takes up space where your guests are going to want to put their luggage.
3. Infants and Sleep - Have your guests bring their pack-and-play from home, or have one on hand yourself. They are relatively inexpensive and easily fold up for travel or when not in use.
4. Kids and Sleep - Consider investing in a cot that can be folded up when not in use. Alternatively, if the child is age five or under, you could use an inexpensive crib mattress that can be placed on the floor, and stowed under a bed when not in use. As a third option, consider a twin bed or a twin air mattress. A fourth option would be pull-out chair or sofa, though that would be the most expensive of these options.
5. Fans - Especially if you do not have a ceiling fan, consider placing a fan in the room. Guests like being able to control the temperature of their room, and some also enjoy the white noise and / or air flow that a fan can provide.
6. Hooks - Consider installing hooks that your guests can hang their bath towels (or wet swimsuits) on. Install the hooks in either in the bedroom or in the guests' bedroom, depending on where you have space. These hooks could also be useful for winter coats and sweaters when the weather changes.
7. Simple, Layered Bedding - Opinions will vary widely on this, but personally I prefer doing only a fitted sheet (no top sheet), one to two bed pillows per guest (no throw pillows and no bed skirt), a freshly laundered duvet (as opposed to a comforter or quilt), and a folded blanket at the foot of the bed (or stowed nearby). The absence of a top sheet and throw pillows will make it easier for your guests to easily make their bed in the morning (cramped spaces always look better with a freshly made bed). The absence of a bed skirt will make it easier to spot guests’ items that have inadvertently rolled under the bed. Further, both throw pillows and a bed skirt can collect dust which may irritate some guests' allergies. A duvet is easily machine-washable (unlike a comforter or quilt which may be too large or heavy to launder at home, and bulky to store when not in use). The addition of a blanket will help guests if using a duvet is too warm or not warm enough (depending on if the blanket is used instead of, or in addition to, the duvet).
8. Room-Darkening Curtains - Consider installing light-blocking curtains or blinds - some guests may not care, but others cannot sleep with mere sheers on the windows.
9. Waste Basket - Provide a small, freshly-emptied waste basket.
10. Limit Occasional-Use Furniture - Unless you have a lot of space in your guest bedroom, do not provide a large-scale reading chair because guests can always read elsewhere (e.g.: in bed, in your living room, or in a smaller chair). Also, try to choose smaller-scale furniture for your guest bedroom which will allow for maximum flexibility in terms of how guests use your space. For example, if you are going to include a reading chair, consider choosing one without arms. Note that all too often, a guest bedroom can become a dumping ground for furniture that should be discarded (or placed in storage), rather than merely relocated / relegated to the guest bedroom. Personally, I’d prefer a small bench (to sit on when putting on my shoes) or a folding luggage stand (to place my suitcase upon) over having a chair in a guest bedroom.
11. Toiletries - Consider providing travel-sized toiletries for your guests. Just the basics will do, and just one of each product is sufficient (shampoo, conditioner, bar soap, and a sealed travel-sized pack of Kleenex). Also, you may want to provide a couple of other new items too in case your guests forget to pack theirs (a fresh toothbrush and razor are sufficient).
12. Electronics - Consider providing a power strip (and / or a USB outlet) near the bed, and a sign with the Wi-Fi network name and password information (blank templates are available online for free, or you could make your own).
13. Water - Leave some bottled water (two bottles is sufficient) on the nightstand - it’s much hard to inadvertently knock over than a carafe.
14. A Small Refrigerator - If an only if you have sufficient money and space to purchase and keep one, consider having a small fridge in the room that can be plugged in whenever you plan to have guests. It’s great to have for storing anything your guests need to keep cold: milk (for kids or babies), orange juice for the morning, or leftovers.

In addition to the items above, I wanted to add a note regarding communicating your feelings to your guests. If you have a problem with something your guests are doing (lifestyle, etiquette, habits, or anything else), consider bringing it up as soon as possible - waiting until the end of the trip gives your guests no time to adjust their behavior, nor does it provide them any time to make alternative lodging arrangements for the duration of their trip if the behavior cannot be helped. Any group of people living together is going to eventually hit bumps in the road, and stewing about it helps no one. Keep your tone constructive rather than adversarial, and keep your comments as focused to the specific issue(s) at hand.

Buyers' Remorse

Inspired by this post on Design*Sponge, I started thinking about my biggest purchasing regrets. They are:

• 85% of all the shoes I've ever owned
• A pressure cooker
• A rug for my office

First, the shoes! Women's shoes never seem to fit my feet, which are wide at the ball of the foot and narrow at the heel, so 98% of all women's shoes are uncomfortable for me (except for tall boots, which somehow fit me). Other than my boots and my wedding shoes (some gloriously impractical steel blue high heels), I regret all of my shoe purchases because they never, ever fit. I'll try on everything in a store, none will fit, and then I'll convince myself that one of them did and go home with it. This includes running shoes - I've bought ones that are a size small and a size big to try and get something to fit and none ever do. Shoes I've regretted.

Second - the pressure cooker, which I registered for as a wedding present (technically I did not buy it) - I have never, ever used it. I'm too afraid to operate it and injury myself, yet I feel too guilty to donate it since it was a present and since I hope that someday I will muster up the courage to try it (probably while wearing safety googles because I'm still a scaredy-cat).

Third, the rug for my office - it sheds like crazy and it's probably too small for the space. I still like its design and colors, and I did get it for a good price on sale. But, I will never again buy a rug that is less than 7 feet in any direction - it's just not practical if you don't want to keep stepping on the ridged rug-to-floor transition area every 5 minutes.

Cross Stitching (This is why I cross stitch)

I am going to be doing more cross stitch lately. Why?

1) I noticed that I spend a lot of money on gifts for friends and family, and being a new parent, I do not have a lot of money to spend. DIY gifts are from the heart and affordable. Currently, I'm making a caterpillar project for my sister-in-law's (SIL's) new baby. When it's finished, it will look like this:

Design and kit by Whistling Doe on Etsy.

2) I enjoy cross stitch, and I would like to get faster (and I will get faster the more often I do it). I have done several cross stitch projects in the past, and I find it relaxing and almost meditative. Here is my progress on my current caterpillar project after three days:

3) I have decided to focus on only the crafts that I love right now. For me, that means paper crafts (like handmade or hand-stamped cards), watercolors, and cross stitch. Although I have done many other types of crafting in the past (wreaths, fabric projects such as sewing, floral arranging, yarn projects such as crochet), right now I'd like to focus on being a specialist, rather than a generalist, and doing that means narrowing down my scope of projects, at least for now.

Stop the Plank Wall Trend in the Name of Fire Safety

Wood Planked Wall, Image and Project on Cape27 Blog

Recently, it has become popular to install wood planks (boards) on top of ordinary dry wall. It adds aesthetic warmth and visual texture and interest. The problem is that wood is not as fire-resistant as ordinary interior walls (i.e. dry wall).

Fireplace Plank Wall, Image from Design*Sponge, Rita Brownstein; See Note Below Regarding Fireplaces

I worry about all that wood making the room more susceptible to fire. This especially worries me when any of the following are true:

• The planked walls go on all four sides of a room
• A planked wall is anywhere near a fireplace* or stove
• A planked wall is anywhere near electrical work
• The wooden planks are dry, e.g. old barn wood that is left untreated

Plank Wall, Image from Do-It-Yourself

My web research has shown that the items in a room (furniture, curtains, etc.) are more likely to encourage a fire to burn than either dry wall or wood. However, when you compare wood to dry wall (apples to apples, one wall covering to another), I would think that the wood is less resistant to fire than ordinary dry wall / gypsum.

See this Flame-Spread Ratings article, excerpt below:

Flame-Spread Classification Flame-Spread Rating or Index Class I (or A) 0 - 25 (Good) Class II (or B) 26 - 75 (Medium) Class III (or C) 76 - 200 (Poor)
Material/species	FlameSpread Rating	Flame-Spread Class
Hardboard siding panels	<200	III
APA Wood Structural Panels (includes APA 303 Sidings such as T1-11)	76-200	III
Birch, Yellow	80	III
Brick	0	I
Cedar, Western Red	69	II
Douglas-fir	90	III
Fiberboard, Medium Density	167	III
Gypsum Wallboard	10-15	I
Gypsum Sheathing	15-20	I
Fiber-cement exterior materials	0	I
Hemlock, West Coast	73	II
Idaho white pine	82	III
Inorganic reinforced cement board	0	I
Maple	104	III
Masonite	<200	III
Oak, Red or White	100	III
Oriented Strand Board (OSB)	150	III
Particle Board	116-178	III
Pine, Lodgepole	98	III
Pine, Ponderosa	115	III
Plywood, Fire-retardant-treated construction	0-25	I
Plywood, Oak	125-185	III
Plywood, Pine	120-140	III
Spruce, Engelmann	55	II
T1-11	76-200	III

However, that being said, maybe you could coat the wood with layers of fire-resistant polyurethane? Or, why not use barnwood-look tiles like in the image below?

Tile Wall, Image from Houzz Article by Travis

Other tips to reduce fire-susceptibility:

• Install double-pane windows
• Use thicker gypsum, i.e. 5/8-inch thick gypsum

See this Fire-Resistant Details article.

If you are still interested in doing a real wood plank wall, The House of Smiths website does a nice tutorial.

Image from Tutorial by The House of Smiths Blog

*Note: If you are doing a plank wall near a fireplace, make sure you have at least a 6-inch separation, or whatever the building code in your area directs.

Quote to Live By

I created this quote in response to something that painter Louis Morris said about modern art - he was trying to persuade Americans to view modern art as the future instead of being stuck in the mindset that the only good art is conservative and traditional. I'm not sure if this black-and-white font effect (created in Adobe Illustrator) is cute or annoying.

Twelve Design Trends that We Can Do Without

How is that for a dramatic banner? Before I begin, let me stress that if you like it, then it is not a trend to you, and please continue using it throughout your home! Trends fade but your personal style is forever. Do not feel pressure to do something, or not to do it, just because of what other people say. The trends I am commenting on below are things that appear again, and again, and again on Pinterest. Not everyone who claims to love these things can - if there is no way for ten people to agree on pizza toppings, then there is no way that all ten of them like chevrons ;).

1. Chevrons - It's a zig-zag, let's move on
2. Ombre - I liked it too, once, before it was everywhere
3. White ceramic animals - Especially true if they're in bust form
4. Branches - Both faux and real, e.g. metal hooks and tiebacks shaped like twigs
5. Bad or ambiguous grammar - i.e. the For Like Ever poster and its variants
6. Owls - I still like these and I'll admit it
7. Mason jars - I like these, but there is no way that any item has 1,000 uses, despite Pinterest claims to the contrary
8. Pallet furniture - Pallet wood is extremely low quality, and who likes getting splinters?
9. Ikat pattern - Not bad on its own, only the trendiness makes it so
10.Origami tattoos - These are only slightly better than YOLO tattoos, although if I had to get one I'd want the one shown above
11.DIY Spray-Painted Chandeliers - It's a messy project with hit-or-miss results
12.Chinese Garden Stools - Because you can't fit anything on top of them

Products shown above and photo credits: Chevron Pillow (by Zazzle), Ombre Curtains (by Target), Gazelle Bust (by ZGallerie), Tree Branch Jewelry Wall Hanger (by Urban Outfitters), For Like Ever Print (this version is by Plum Prints), Owl Cookie Jar (by RetroPlanet.com), Mason Jar (Ball Jar as sold by Ace Hardware), Pallet Coffee Table (by Dohler Designs, available on Etsy), Ikat Rug (by Burke Decor), Origami Crane Tattoo (by Mewlitt on Deviant Art), White Chandelier (Apartment Therapy, DC Edition), and Chinese Garden Stool in Sage (by Bronson Design).

What didn't I have the heard to put on the list? Brass finishes, chalkboard paint, not to be confused with the equally ubiquitous chalk paint, distressed paint finishes, emerald or Machalite-colored anything, quatrefoil shapes, and white Saarinen tables... There are a ton of all of those things on the Internet right now too, but I either felt like I wasn't sick of them yet, or that they might stand the test of time.

The above items were presented in no particular order. And let me stress again that if you like it, then you should keep enjoying it. Once it stops being a trend for the masses, it can become even more of a signature element in your personal style.