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The 1 thing you should do when creating a guest bedroom

Hosting overnight guests can be the best of both worlds. It's (often) a blast to have company, but it can be a headache to set up that guest bedroom.
/ Source: TODAY

Hosting overnight guests can be the best of both worlds. It's (often) a blast to have friends and family in town, but it can be a headache to figure out how to make your home a haven during their visit. Fortunately, Charles MacPherson is here to help.

The butler recently released the book "The Pocket Butler", a detailed guide on manners, etiquette and entertaining. He's sharing an excerpt with TODAY.com covering how to create the perfect guest bedroom, which includes one piece of advice you absolutely cannot miss: sleep in the guest bedroom yourself before letting other people stay the night.

(Clearly food blogger, cook, and Carson Daly's fiance Siri Pinter is on the secret: she posted her guest bedroom on Instagram after taking a nap in it.)

Read on to find out why it's important to snooze in your guest bedroom and more helpful hosting tips!

Sometimes while entertaining, you are called upon to house a guest for the night. In the event that someone asks to stay over at your house unexpectedly, there is no reason why you can’t be prepared (though I would caution you to try and avoid imposing on your hosts if you are a guest in someone else’s home, if at all possible). The comfort and style of the guest bedroom is part of your visitor’s overall experience and should reflect that of the rest of the house. You want your guest to be able to relax there and get a good night’s sleep.

A word of advice: I learned from a former employer that sleeping in a guest bedroom yourself for one or two nights is the best way to notice the little details that can be improved. You can’t imagine the things I have noticed by doing this.

Provide the following to create the perfect guest bedroom:

  • Extra blankets and pillows
  • At least one electrical outlet for cellphones and computer chargers
  • An alarm clock
  • A phone
  • Notepaper, a pen and sharp pencils beside the phone or in another convenient spot in the room
  • Internet access
  • A good reading light beside the bed
  • A radio and/or television
  • Light reading material (magazines or favorite books) and/or playing cards
Random House of Canada

Excerpted from The Pocket Butler. Copyright © 2015 Charles MacPherson. Published by Appetite by Random House, a division of Random House of Canada Limited a Penguin Random House Company. Reproduced by arrangement with the Publisher. All rights reserved.