Guest-Ready in 3 Steps: The Holiday Season Guest Room

You can make a guest room ready for the holiday season in three steps: a sheepskin rug by the bed, a sheepskin hot water bottle under the duvet and a sheepskin cushion at the headboard. Add a short night-before list and a few finishing touches, and a spare room becomes the room your guests talk about all the way home. Every piece below is from our own collection, priced from £55 to £159. Prices are correct at the time of writing.

Holiday guests will be walking through the door in just a few weeks. The menu is planned and the good glasses are down from the top shelf. Then there is the spare room, quietly holding the ironing pile and the boxes from the loft.

Beyond Fresh Towels

You want their room to feel like a real welcome. Not a spare room with a fresh towel folded on the end of the bed. A room that feels like someone was thinking of them.

The good news is that it doesn't take a redecoration. We turn cold houses into warm homes, and in our experience three soft things do most of the work. They warm the three moments a guest remembers: climbing into bed, climbing out of it, and sitting up with a cup of tea in between.

All in place in one afternoon. Save this one for the weekend before they arrive.

Three Soft Things

1. Nestled Bedside

Picture it. A frosty morning, bare feet, and instead of cold floorboards, deep wool.

Lay the rug on the side they'll climb out of. It is the first thing they feel each day, and the detail they'll mention over breakfast. Our Sheepskin Rug – Cream (£79) is about 95 x 60cm with a 70mm deep pile, and each skin is hand-picked for its texture and tone. For a wider landing, the Double Sheepskin Rug – Cream (£159) runs the length of the bed. Natural sheepskin is made to last, so it will stay soft for many winters to come. See every shade in our sheepskin rugs.

2. Cold-Night Companion

Nobody sleeps well in somebody else's cold sheets. This is the one that quietly fixes it.

Fill it as they head up to bed and tuck it under the duvet, halfway down. By the time they have said goodnight, cold sheets have turned into a warm welcome. Our Sheepskin Hot Water Bottle – Cream (£69) is premium New Zealand sheepskin at 37 x 27cm, with the water bottle included. It arrives in our complimentary signature gift box, so it can go home with them. Prefer a shorter, velvety pile? Try the Shearling Hot Water Bottle – Cream (£69), or browse all our sheepskin hot water bottles.

3. Cosy Pillow Talk

Pillows are for sleeping. One cushion is for leaning on, with a book, a cup of tea and the late-night conversations that only happen when everyone is home for the holidays.

Prop it at the headboard. Without a word, it says stay a while. Our Sheepskin Cushion – Cream (£69) is handmade in England, with a natural wool cover of 100% New Zealand longwool and a Re:Down® recycled feather-down inner, at 45 x 45cm. More colours in our sheepskin cushions.

Night Before List

Worth a screenshot. Three small jobs for the evening before they arrive, each taking a few minutes:

• Clear half a drawer and leave six spare hangers. Living out of a suitcase is the quickest way to feel like a visitor.
• Put a lamp on a timer, so they arrive to a glow. A lit room on a dark winter evening is a welcome before you have even opened the door.
• Leave a water carafe, the Wi-Fi card and one good book by the bed. It saves them asking, and makes the room feel like theirs.

Then fill the hot water bottle, and you are done.

Finishing Touches

Once the three steps are in place, these are the extras that make a guest room feel finished rather than borrowed.

A Second Sheepskin

A second Sheepskin Rug – Cream (£79), thrown over the bedroom chair, turns the place where the suitcase usually lands into somewhere to sit and pull on socks.

Tasselled Herringbone

The Selsey Herringbone Throw – Grey Cloud (£135) is 100% pure wool, 200 x 145cm, with a tasselled fringe, woven in a British family-run mill dating back to 1953. Fold it across the end of the bed for the guest who always feels the cold. Find more colours and weaves in our throws.

Toes, Sorted

A pair of cashmere bed socks (£55) left on the pillow is the kind of gesture guests remember. Ours are 100% Mongolian cashmere in a rib knit, one size, in women's and men's cream.

The Parting Gift

The Hot Water Bottle + Cashmere Sock Gift Set – Cream (£110) puts a sheepskin hot water bottle and cream cashmere bed socks together in one box, wrapped in tissue and ribbon, with free delivery. Leave it on the bed with a note that says "yours to keep".

Remember the Room

They'll forget the menu. They'll remember the room.

Every piece is chosen by hand, natural and made to last, so the welcome you build this year is waiting for next year's guests too. Order now, and it will all be in place before they arrive.

Ready the Guest Room: shop the full Guest Room Edit.