Pillow talk

Carol O’Callaghan says preparing a room for an overnight guest at Christmas need not involve expensive redecoration

IN a moment of seasonal beneficence, did you invite overnight guests for Christmas? So now, on top of an already busy workload of preparations, you have to make time to turn a messy or shabby room into guest accommodation. First of all, stay calm and console yourself with the reminder you don’t need to decorate if there’s no one to take on that particular chore, and doing it yourself fills you with dread. Little B&B-style touches will transform a room in a few hours and you might actually enjoy the process.

Before contemplating what you might need to buy, deal with the very basic practicalities. If space is tight and you can’t empty an entire wardrobe and chest of drawers for your guests, free up a few hangers’ width of space and at least one drawer, and clear the surface of the chest of drawers for their personal effects.