Firstly - great video Justin! Thanks. I really need this tip because I have no space for my guests to put their stuff away - just a luggage rack. I currently have folded-but-yet-to-be-put-away laundry on my guest bed :-\

Great Tip!

Yeah but...

I craft. I sew. I have STUFF.

Guests I might have five nights per year, and that's on the high side. There is no way I'm dedicating that real estate 100% to occasional random visitors! (Also, when they stay one or two nights, they don't need a lot of space to unpack!)

How timely! We cleaned out our guest room just yesterday... and now all the 'junk' is in our living room, waiting to be dealt with. But the guest room has lots of space! :)

In our guestroom we have a couple of empty drawers and a section of closet with empty hangers at the ready. Most guests don't bring more than that, but this way they don't feel like there's no room for them. I do realize that not everyone has this luxury, but I'm never comfortable staying where I have to remember not to trip over my suitcase in the middle of the night (because the only place for it is on the floor around the bed).

Thank you! My otherwise lovely MIL has every nook and cranny in her guest room filled and I can never put away clothes. As a result, things sometimes get strewn around.

I love that he called his company the OCD experience and has found a positive way to harness that need to perfect into helping others and making a business from it.

I often think it must be very annoying for people with people with clinical OCD to hear other people say 'OMG I know what you mean I have to eat all the orange M&Ms first!' He must be very gracious about that.

Love it, Justin!

I wish I could watch you work or shadow you or something.

As for the guest room, I wish that was an option for me. One day, I'll be rich enough to afford an extra room for someone other than myself unless I get too greedy and need another walk-in closet. I look out my apartment window and see the house across the street - there's a bed on the patio in the backyard with an awning over it. LOL I wonder if that's their guest room. Anyhow - I believe in multi-functional spaces that can serve as a craft room/etc. and still make company feel welcome. Thanks for the tips, all good to know!

My 'guest room' is just a room we use for other things. However, we have an over-the- door hanger with plenty of hangers on it.

http://www.bedbathandbeyond.com/product.asp?SKU=40131917

We also have a large trunk we use for bedding and other junk, but the top provides a perfect surface for opening a suitcase.

I have Ikea "skubb' organizers that fold flat for storage, that guests can use to unpack into. I can create 'drawers' by putting these into shelves in a bookcase (which I do have to empty into boxes and store elsewhere for the duration).

I put out a basket of travel sized products shampoo, soaps, creams, sewing kits, shower caps,toothbrushes and tooth paste tc. (things I've collected from hotels, cosmetic companies give aways etc), plud some kleenex, nice bottled water and flowers.

None of these things detracts at all from my constant daily use of the room, none of them is expensive or hard to store, but they do turn the room into a welcoming space for guests.

Amen to this. Whenever I go home to visit my parents, I find that the entire closet and every single drawer is crammed absolutely full of old clothes that my mother no longer even wears. There's never so much as a spare hanger for my stuff. I have to get a few hangers from the laundry room and just leave my folding things in my suitcase. No guest expects or needs full bedroom storage, but leaving a little closet space and an empty drawer helps your guests can feel like they're staying in a home instead of a hostel. And frankly, if you need a total spare room for your crap, you probably have too much crap.

Everyone makes GREAT points!

Some people double their guest room as their "craft room" or "hobby room" which is great and can be effective, BUT make sure that there is SPACE available for your guests when they come to visit. Just because you are using your guest room for an active room in your home doesn't make it excusable when every area is jammed packed with stuff.

Once again, thank you all for such positive and supportive feedback. Please stay as involved as you like!

Justin

My guest room has plenty of storage, a private bath, and room service.
It's called a hotel.

If the room used for guests is just a catch all for stored stuff and junk, then that's the main room that is due for a major organizing, decluttering and purging; not to the point of being 'for guests and only guests', but certainly more manageable and hospitable.

I finally got rid of our guest room a couple of years ago. 4 people, 3 bedrooms = no guest room. You can stay at my sister's 5 bedroom house!

I'm with you, AzureSong; now that we're a family of four in a 3 BR house, I'm on the verge of selling our queen-size guest bed and fantasize about the playroom/schoolroom into which we could make that room over (kids share a bedroom)...but then I think about putting our 73-79 year old parents on an air mattress or making them commute from a hotel, even for two weeks a year, and balk. Yeah, yeah, sofabed/futon - these are *old folks.* They need a real bed. *Sigh.* At least they have closet space.

Whenever people complain about the quality of someone's guest room I wonder why they don't opt to rent a hotel room instead.

great video but great points by sherry and others...they are visiting for a few days, i use the space all year. Something I found helpful was to have a fold down secretary desk with pens and paper available (my family are all compulsive listers), which both I and they can use. I do have space in the closet and extra hangars, which NO ONE EVER USES.

I do try to make it appealing and cozy with art and books, but organized to be restful. There can be a balence between your guests needs and your own. One of the key things I think people should do in their guest room is have some open space for them to set their things. If they are only staying a few days they may not want to completely unpack, but don't have pictures and knick knacks over EVERY surface so they don't have to put their stuff on the floor. I really hate that when I visit someone else I have to move their things (which I might break or put back in the wrong place) just to set my glasses or water next to me while I sleep.

We have pets. As far as they're concerned, they're the innkeepers and we're all guests. :)

Really nice to have a cha ir and reading lamp, too. Tha t way, a little respite from constant conversation improves everyone's mood. Never foget: after three days, guests and fish...

OK, an update! (Since my original reply was five months ago!)

I still craft, sew and use my guest room for storage. (Maybe I DO have "too much crap", but that's my life and my choice!)

My guest room has what amounts to a private en-suite full bathroom. Personally, giving guests their own bathroom seems to me to be miles ahead of dresser drawers! (It is stocked with shampoo, soap, towels, tissues, toilet paper, blow dryer, tooth brushes and toothpaste samples, a carafe and glass for bedside water, etc.)

The guest room closet is full of fabric and related items, the armoire has my paper crafting materials, and the dresser drawers are largely full of gift boxes for the jewelry I create. This stuff needs to be somewhere, and since our basement is finished, I don't have dedicated storage anywhere else.

But when I have guests for more than one night, there are two dresser drawers free (OK, one has a spare blanket in it, but that's easily tossed elsewhere.) Two nightstands with lamps and an alarm clock. There are over the door hooks to hold hangers of clothes. And a chair and footstool for reading and putting on shoes... There is floor space or dresser-top space for suitcases. And any other needs can be figured out.

I don't WANT guests to move in! A few days is all any of us is comfortable with. So this works for us. If something unexpected came up and we needed to provide a room for long-term use (like once when we discussed fostering a nephew) I'd find a way to deal with my stuff -- probably sell it or rent storage. But that isn't the issue, so using the mainly unused room in my home for the materials I fill happy hours working with is entirely reasonable to me! And guests can manage for a few nights just fine!

I'm gonna leave space in my guest room for Justin!