company is coming, did i declutter too much

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company is coming, did i declutter too much

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Started 1 year ago by susique
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susique
Member

hubby's family lives 2,000 miles away from our home and his family has recently expressed an interest in visiting. yah! not concerned about having enough room, but did i declutter too much. was i becoming minimalist to a bad degree. seems like so much has been removed from our home i decided to look at it from a new perspective-recentyly removed pillows from the guest beds, really how many pillows do you need on a bed. but, looking around we still have really neat original local paintings/sandstones/etchings which surprised me, i have tossed so much recently i thought our home was minimalistic. it is now just comfortable with room to move. i still have a takeout bag which i donate weekly, nice to have a place to stash things and think about it for a few days. it seems i have something to put in the bag daily because always looking for ways to organize and then things get eliminated.

having guests really does get you in gear. hubby is responding and painting the gate (hoping for that for a year).

thank you all for your posts, you keep me inspired!

Posted 1 year ago #
lazycow
Member

@susique, I think it sounds like you've struck the right balance for your needs: uncluttered yet comfortable. Just remember, that you could always borrow stuff from friends and family temporarily if you need extra stuff for overnight visitors:)

Posted 1 year ago #
Sophie
Member

I would leave 4 pillows on the guest bed. Recently I decluttered and only left two on our queen size guest bed. My mother came to stay and quickly announced she was going to buy us some more pillows. She didn't realise there were (many) more in the cupboards!

Posted 1 year ago #
mugwump
Member

I second the 4 pillows on the guest bed. I like to read in bed, and the extra pillow comes in handy. Also, older folks sometimes like to have two pillows. I like to put out pillows in different sizes, and let guests choose which they like best.

One thing I have noticed as a guest, (and I probably don't need to mention it with this group), is that it is really nice to have empty table and dresser tops so there is room for my stuff. Lots of people take the decorator thing too far, and clutter all the available space with cute things, but then there is no room for my stuff.

Posted 1 year ago #
irishbell
Member

Extra pillows, extra blankets, fan, lamp - all extra essentials for guest room.
(I get a crappy nights sleep if don't use *3* pillows, and if I'm too cold or too hot, if it's too light in the room etc etc) then again I'm pretty particular with my sleep habits...

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

All I would add is, based on a memorable recent experience as a house guest, DO declutter your air! My hostess (an adorable, lovely lady) had house perfumes of every variety (potpourri, scented candles, scented crystals, plug-ins, etc.), in every room, inescapable without opening all the windows which wasn't really an option since it was 35 degrees outside. To someone who habitually uses no scent at all, it was like being in a chemical factory.

Posted 1 year ago #
susique
Member

thank you all, excellent ideas. made sure top shelf of nightstand was clear and have nice sturdy table for bags. do have extra pillows and will offer to guests. we also do not like heavy scents in our home, occasionally use lightly scented soy candle though in the living/dining room.

now-love to cook, plan a great menu!

Posted 1 year ago #
cjhaab
Member

I agree that furnishing the guest room is one place to allow a few items to remain even though for your own comfort they may not be necessary. Having 2 pillows per person is really nice. Extra blankets of a couple different types is helpful to sleep in an unfamiliar space. A bedside table cleared of all but a clock and a small lamp, clear dresser top, an empty foot of closet rod, and a small chair are really great additions. If you can dedicate space and furniture for a guest room, these are not really cluttery items.

Just a couple of other tips on guest rooms: if you can afford it, get some new pillows, pillowcases, and washcloths. You can buy pillows for 2/$10 sometimes, and other linens at outlet stores for really low prices. It is tempting to put your old, wornout items in the guest room, and it always "looks" nice. But from the perspective of a guest who slept on flat smelly pillows, it's not that welcoming.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i've slept in some horribly cluttered, uncomfortable guest rooms in my time.
i mostly prefer to just get a hotel room these days and meet my friends for meals.

i don't have a guest room of my own, but we do have plenty of guests.
they sleep in latex comfort on a daybed, with new pillows and linen that is only used on the daybeds.
it's simple, but it's comfortable. and there is lots of room.

Posted 1 year ago #
STLMom
Member

You are only "too" uncluttered if you make your guests feel bad for bringing their own stuff into your house.
I remember staying with neat-freak relatives who were upset that I would leave a diaper bag near the front door. Apparently I was expected to keep all of my belongings in the guest room, and was expected to run upstairs to my room every time I needed something.
To me, a benefit of uncluttering is to have room not only for guests, but the things they bring with them.

Posted 1 year ago #
susique
Member

the grandkids stay in the guest room on twin beds when they visit and during their last visit had a pillow fight destroying two of the extra pillows, those were the two recently removed. after reading all the posts i realized i needed to purchase two more really great pillows to go with the ones on the bed for guests who want to prop and read. will store them on the recently decluttered double closet shelf for guests. thanks for the suggestions for making guests comfortable. also put in a nice clock/cd/radio (grandkids also love that). this is all added stuff, but i think useful.

Posted 1 year ago #
RebeccaL
Member

Another nice touch for a guest room is a magazine tote or box, or a small bookcase with some of your favorite reads- one of my friends does this, and I love being able to read magazines I don't get myself.

Posted 1 year ago #
Rozzie
Member

Be careful! Sometimes it's easy to justify keeping clutter in the name of keeping guests comfortable or happy.

For some people, just having a guest bedroom might be clutter. How often do you have overnight guests? WHO do you have as an overnight guest? Do you have something else that you'd rather use that room for? Do you want a guest room that's used a few nights a year or would you prefer a different function for that room that you use several times a week, or even every single day?

If there is a way that you would use that room daily, instead of maybe 15 days a year, then a guest bedroom is CLUTTER.

So, what to do for the guests if you decide to declutter having a guest bedroom?
1) Send them to the nearest hotel. You can volunteer to pay for it, or not, as you choose.
2) Invest in a rollaway cot or two, or camp cots. I have a rolling cot (hotel style) and two camp cots. All get used multiple times each year BUT live in the basement when not in use.
3) Buy air mattresses and a pump to inflate them. I have 3. All get used multiple times each year.
4) Possible have a Murphy bed, Futon, or daybed in the guest room instead of a full bedroom set up. Each of these will allow the room more versatility.
5) Sleeper sofa

One thing: If you have elderly guests you will need to be careful that they have something they can sleep on. In our case, one older guest actually prefers the big, double thick air mattress over a regular bed. However, we also have a daybed in the back bedroom and my teen can give up his room if needed for guests, as well. (He clearly has plenty of other sleeping choices!)

(Just to give you an idea: I can sleep up to ten adult guests in my house without putting anyone on the floor. Yet, I don't have a guest bedroom. Guests will be comfortable, but not so "overly" comfortable that they will overstay their welcome. I have a couple of additional pieces that "could" be used for a child to sleep on, if needed -- a couple of chaise style chairs.)

Posted 1 year ago #
pkilmain
Member

We don't have a guest room either. We do have a sort of entry room/den that was created when we added on to our house 12 years ago. It's where you enter the house and you either turn directly right from the door and go upstairs to the main living area, or you go straight ahead, down two stairs, cross a rectangular shaped room the long way, then turn right and go down 4 stairs to the "daylight basement" (sorry, don't know what the Brits, Aussies among us call this). This room has our coat/boot closet and a fold-out couch with a table and lamp. (There's also an alcove with the freezer and a door into a closet under the stairs). Guests can sleep on the fold-out couch, or on a 4 inch foam mattress on the floor (we have two, which we use in our pickup truck for camping). Having slept on the fold-out myself, I recommend the mattress. :)

About 6 years ago we had a couple come to stay for 5 weeks! We knew this space would not do for them. So we emptied out our barn - some stuff to the outdoors as it was summer, and some to the neighbor's carport - and made them a guest cottage. It has electricity, and we added a "bed" made from concrete blocks with plywood on top and a blowup air mattress on top of that. Also put up a rod for hanging clothes and a place for fold-up ones. A chair and a mirror completed the "room." They still had to come in for the bathroom, but it gave us all the privacy needed for such long-term guests. We've also had guests who've arrived in campers/RVs and parked at the house, using our plumbing and kitchen as a nice break from the confines of the camping vehicles.

So I keep extra bedding and pillows on the high shelves of my linen closet, but that's it for guest equipment. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
cjhaab
Member

@Rozzie - Yes, it would be a form of adding clutter to acquire guestrooms that are seldom used, but we have had the rooms in our house ever since we bought it. They were once used as bedrooms by our children who are now grown and gone. We "decluttered" our monthly expenses by paying off our house, which is still a very good fit for our life by location and affordability as well as other factors.

So when our children and their spouses and little ones come to visit we have guestrooms to hold them now, as well as other relatives who live out of state. The rooms are fairly sparsely furnished since we don't have a lot of stuff stored in them other than the furniture and bedding, a bit of off-season clothing, luggage and the table leaves for the dining table. So in that sense they are pretty clutter-free.

Posted 1 year ago #
chacha1
Member

I almost wish we had guests more often, as then our home office/guest room would very likely not be the catastrophe that it is today. :-)

Posted 1 year ago #
irishbell
Member

Susieque: It sounds like anyone of us would be very comfy staying in your guest room! Good job.
The main reason we haven't downsized after 3 of our kids moved out is the grandkids thing. I always want to make sure there is room for them to come and sleep overnight if need be and for my long distance daughter's family to come stay for a week or long in comfort!

Posted 1 year ago #
Trish
Member

I love entertaining and having houseguests, and I love our spare room. I don't think having a spare room set up for guests is clutter. It's when you have a multiple-function room that stays trashed and too cluttered for guests to stay there, that it becomes a problem! :) This is why I am very strict with myself about keeping craft supplies out of there!

I'm that room every day, as I do my ironing there, and it's also a very peaceful place to read. My husband's clothes are in that closet. (He gets up very early, so he prefers to get dressed somewhere where he can turn on the light without provoking my sleepy protests)

I read in Good Housekeeping magazine that you should stay in your guest room for a few days to see what it's lacking. This really helped me create the space!

For fun, here's my little list of comforts that I used when designing the space:

super soft, high quality cotton sheets and towels.
blankets in multiple weights and textures.
robe and slippers
6 pillows (some soft, some firm, some down, some down-alternative)
bedside table equipped with facial tissue & pretty stationary/ stamps/ writing utensils
small welcome basket with toiletries and chocolates
hooks and hangers for clothes, empty clothes basket
empty drawer in the nightstand (no dresser in this room)
collapsible Luggage rack
local tourist guidebook
books that I love to share with others ("Voluntary Simplicity," "The Artist's Way," and "Sabbath" plus others tailored to my guests' interests)
ipod docking station/ alarm clock
accessible electrical outlets
bottled water
teddy bear

All of the "extras" fit into a tiny space on the closet shelf when there's no guests present. :)

Posted 1 year ago #
javamonster
Member

Ah, guest rooms. When I've stayed at my father's house, I'd stay in the extra room (that wasn't designated to one of my half-sibs). When I checked the dressers in the room (I think there were 2) every single drawer was packed with stuff. There wasn't room my stuff at all, and the surfaces were covered with little doodads, too. I couldn't believe it; they have a huge house, and there wasn't room for one bag of clothing in the space I was in! *is boggled* The house itself looks neat and taken care of, but every single storage space within is crammed with stuff-even their "guest house" is crammed with junk behind a hidden door-no guests could stay in there.

Posted 1 year ago #
bandicoot
Member

i want to move permanently into trish's guest room....it sounds beautiful and a real haven!

Posted 1 year ago #

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