Creating a Sweet Guest Suite

This Ranch House- Guest Suite

Adding a guest suite to an unfinished basement, not only adds livable square footage, but also provides privacy and comfort for overnight ranch visitors.

Challenges

A guest suite in the basement is not ideal, especially in our basement, but we’re making the best of it. Recent water damage, caused from ground water seeping through a crack in the wall, required some repair and replacement. The carpet was removed and replaced with vinyl flooring. Trim boards and closet doors were also replaced. The room received a quick facelift, and also got a thorough cleaning.

The basement location also makes it easy to turn the bedroom into a “catch-all”. With no guests for a period of time, the room often becomes a home to storage-room-overflow.

Advantages

The lower level location also has it’s advantages. The suite opens up into a larger living space including a reading nook, a bar, and sitting area. Guests can spread out, while continuing to have privacy.

The Essentials

A guest suite, located anywhere in the home, is better than none at all. Remember theses Guest Room Essentials as you plan your space.

Overhead lighting: important, especially in a basement or any poor-lit area.

Lamp Lighting: have lighting options that are accessible from the bed.

Night Light: an unfamiliar space can be hard to navigate, especially if it is very dark

Sitting Area: Give the guests a place to sit, or put their gear. A chair, bench or stool work well depending on the amount of space you have available.

Bed: a necessity, of course, but make sure it is comfortable enough for at least a night or two of good sleep.

Other Furniture: a vanity or dresser are also great, if there’s room. Guests can use the space to unpack a bit

A Few Extra Amenities: Full length mirror and Extra pillows and bedding

Guest Bathroom Essentials

Towels and Toiletries

Additional supplies in a logical place

Extra room for hanging

Proper lighting: again, also very important in a space lacking natural light
Mirror

Any special instructions

Be sure to communicate with guests. We have a dehumidifier just outside the guest bathroom. Instead of intruding daily to check or empty it, I simply asked the guests to keep an eye on it and empty it as needed. It isn’t complicated, but is something that needed attention. We also have a toilet that will run if the handle is not reset properly. Accommodation- fail, (not having properly working plumbing), but it really works fine as long as the special instructions are followed.

There are many limitations when it comes to our guest accommodations. We’d love to have a guest house or bunk house, but nothing like that yet. For now a basement guest suite will have to do. Plus we don’t want it to be too nice that guests don’t ever leave, wink-wink.

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