Create That Bed and Breakfast Ambiance in Your Own Home

by Jane Leisteiner

If you love the ambiance of a quaint country inn and want to create the same kind of hospitality for your own guests, these four tips will help make your home into a bed and breakfast retreat.

At the Casa Laguna Inn & Spa is seaside Laguna Beach, California, the innkeepers fill their rooms with plenty of amenities. Guests enjoy fluffy robes, CD and DVD players, and beds topped with soft, hypoallergenic linens and bed coverings. Create your own cozy guest room with room with a beautifully made bed and a basket of thoughtful toiletries. Add some interesting books, CDs and a selection of DVDs and your guests are sure to feel right at home. Fresh flowers or lightly scented potpourri are another welcoming touch.

The guest bath is another important spot to consider. Guests at Beazley House, a Napa inn with plenty of amenities, enjoy baths stocked with luxurious Turkish towels and specialty bath products, as well as practical items such as a hair dryer. While you don’t have to spend a fortune, keep your guest bath stocked with fresh shampoo, conditioner and maybe some bath salts or bubbles. Adding some interesting wall art or perhaps an antique glass for a toothbrush holder are other easy options that make a big impact.

Breakfast, is of course, the center of any good B&B stay. You don’t have to train at the Cordon Bleu to impress your guests. At Fairthorne B&B in Cape May, New Jersey, the innkeepers set the table with fine linens and china to create a special atmosphere. Freshly squeezed juice and homemade breads and muffins are an easy first course, and can even be purchased and heated in a warm oven. At Fairthorne, in addition to the home-baked goodies, guests are treated to a special daily entre. You can do the same by preparing pancakes or a breakfast casserole. A buffet with fresh fruit, toasting breads and muffins, served along with coffee, tea and juices is another option.

If you really want to impress your guests, consider the opulent addition of an afternoon tea. At the Captain’s House Inn in Chatham, Massachusetts, inn guests are treated to a cream tea either in the dining room or on the patio. The special afternoon teas at this Cape Cod inn include a selection of gourmet teas, as well as freshly baked scones, cookies and cakes. For your in-home tea, consider using china and offering several kinds of loose teas. If time is a consideration, purchase some goodies from a local bakery. Other easy options include offering some freshly baked cookies with iced tea or lemonade or perhaps some wine and snacks in the early evenings.

For more ideas on how to transform your home into a bed & breakfast-style retreat, visit iLoveInns.com. You’ll find listings for 19,000 boutique hotels, country inns and B&Bs, as well as informative travel articles and even hundreds of innkeeper-tested recipes. If you are searching for a great, easy gift idea, iLoveInns offers printable gift certificates, which can be used at the inns in this article, as well as thousands more.

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