My childhood home was a chocolate box cottage in the grounds of the retreat & conference centre that my Dad ran. Ever since I can remember I was answering the reception phone and helping to lay the dining tables. Every Sunday we’d eat roast dinner with the guests staying at the main house and the little me would chat happily to strangers more than ten times my age.

As a teenager this became my first place of work, I changed bed sheets at speed and became an expert at operating a catering size dishwasher, but that wasn’t all I learnt. A lasting lesson from my life there was the importance of hospitality, to always welcome people into our home without question and to treat those people with an extra level of care and attention. My Dad was frequently bringing someone down the garden for my Mum to produce a meal for, and though she wasn’t always thrilled about it at the time she would never have let on. They always left with a full stomach, and probably late at night, having been engaged in conversation over a glass of whisky or a box of chocolates.

I was taught that guests are sacred, and for this reason it’s always been important for me to have a guest room. Of course this isn’t always possible, but until our girls insist on having separate bedrooms we’ve got a room to spare. I wanted it to be an unfussy and restful space, which I think we’ve achieved.

Our guest room is the second largest bedroom, and the good size is helpful as we have inherited furniture from my Grandmother which fits perfectly. We’ve made few changes to this room, other than stealing a little space for the ensuite on the other side of the wall.

The furniture has touches of pink to it, but I wanted to avoid an all pink room so decided on blue as an accent colour. The curtains pick out the tones in the pictures above the bed but otherwise the scheme is fairly neutral.

For similar accessories:

Asinara White Matt Pendant Light

Hoppvals White Cellular Blind

Wilko Picture Frames

Next Plain Dye Bedding in Natural

I hope we’ve managed to create a restful room in our humble home, and that our guests feel welcome here despite the usual chaos that surrounds them as soon as they set foot through the door. Most of our visitors have to read a bedtime story or two in exchange for their bed and board, but at least there’s somewhere comfy to retire to at the end of it all!