Getting Guest Ready: Sunburst Style

Back in April, I introduced our basement guest room in this post.  Not much has changed in this space, except for a little furniture rearranging in one corner and one big wall addition.

For a quick refresher, here is our guest room:

This is the view as you walk in the room.

Here is the view of the wall you see while on the bed:

Nothing too special was going on here.  

With the help of Janell's sunburst mirror tutorial (Isabella and Max Rooms), a couple bundles of sticks (one was from my mom when she sold her house last year and one was a Target clearance bundle for under $2), a $2.48 Target clearance mirror, some spray paint and my hot glue gun, here is what I ended up making:

I wish I had more before and during pictures of the project, but if you guessed that I lost them in the great photo card tragedy of 2011, you were right.  So here are some more after shots:

It was really an easy project, but it was a bit time consuming.  I'm not sure the mirror will stay white for long, I'm thinking a nice grey may look nicer in the space against the yellow walls, but for now, it works!

Project Cost

Mirror $2.48

Sticks $1.48

Spray Paint $3.24 (Primer on hand already)

Total Cost: $7.20

General Ideas to Get A Spare Bedroom Guest Ready

And while I was in the guest room yesterday getting the room ready for my parents, I thought it would be nice to do a quick post about what I like to do to make sure guests are comfortable while staying in my home!  Here's the run down:

1. Write a welcome note:

This may seem a little silly, but I love doing it!  I think it sets the tone for a nice visit, and lets people know that you really want them to be comfortable and enjoy their stay!

2. Leave water and a few snacks:).  Our guest room is in the basement, and since we don't have a bar area set up on that level currently, I like leaving a few snacks and some water.

3. Magazines/Books

I know I love reading a bit before bed, and it's easy to forget night time reading material when you travel, so I like to leave a few magazines in our guest room.

4. Lots of Towels

We have towels out on a bench at the end of the bed, in the bathroom and spare towels in the closet as well.

5. Closet

Our guest room closet has two sides.  One side is not camera ready.  It's full to the brim with our suitcases, camping gear, etc.  The other side is all about our guests.  There is hanging space for clothing and a shoe rack.  

There are spare sheets, towels, blankets and pillows.

There are also spare toiletries in a bowl, as well.

6. TV and Computer Access

In this corner of the room, we've moved our sun porch television in for the winter.  An in room TV is always a nice bonus in a guest space.  We also have a computer station for our kids and guests that is set up in our basement.

Other general ideas include having an area for guest suitcase storage (think a dresser top, a bench or a suitcase rack) and also a nice mirror (bigger than my sunburst mirror ideally) so that a guest can get 'ready' in their room if they so choose.

One area of our guest room that I would have really liked to address before our holiday guests arrive is this:

...our curtain is still the make shift shower curtain that we have had up for about a year:(.  The good news is we've decided on and ordered permanent window treatments for the entire basement, including this room.  The bad news is that they won't arrive until later in the week, which means they won't be installed before Wednesday.  Sometimes progress is slower than we'd like...but we'll get it done nonetheless!  

Window treatments aside, here's hoping Oma and Opa enjoy their room for the long weekend!

Linking up to Finding Fabulous.

Linking up to Thrifty Decor Chick.