How to Create the Perfect Preppy Coastal Guest Bedroom

Last Updated on January 12, 2025

Get easy tips on how to style a classic preppy coastal guest bedroom.

I absolutely love being the hostess with the mostest! When guests are coming to stay with us, my prepping nature goes into overdrive. I want to create a warm and welcoming space for our guests to feel totally comfortable.

How to Make a Bedroom Look Coastal

Our home is decorated modern coastal, but our guest bedroom definitely leans more classic traditional coastal. It’s super easy to make a bedroom look coastal. Read below for easy tips to style a classic preppy coastal guest bedroom that your guests will obsess over!

Coastal Guest Bed

Coastal is such an easy and versatile style that can be achieved using so many differently styled furniture. From organic materials like cane or wicker to upholstery, wood, or metal, you can pretty much make any bed look coastal with the right bedding and decor.

I bought this oil rubbed bronze metal bed almost 10 years ago. It used to be mine and my husband’s bed until we upgraded to an adjustable bed frame. Now, this king-size metal bed is our guest bed. It’s held up really well over the years and that includes withstanding multiple moves!

I love metal beds so much, I also put one in our basement. Any metal bed color will work great with coastal style, so choose the color you like most. I am actually planning to spray paint ours white!

Pair your coastal bed with a neutral or blue rug. I chose an ivory braided rug from Rugs USA. It’s identical to our primary bedroom rug (just a different color!).

Coastal Guest Bedding

There are so many different directions you could take the bedding in your coastal guest bedroom. I really love crisp classic white bedding. It creates the perfect neutral palette to dress up with decorative pillows and a throw. 

Always choose the softest, highest quality sheets for your guests. We have Boll & Branch signature sheets on our bed, and we have them on our guest bed too. Boll & Branch has sales all the time, so there’s no need to ever pay full price. Their sheets are pricey, but they are so worth it!

If you read my dreamy coastal bedroom design post, I talked about how much I love an oversized comforter. Standard king duvet covers and comforters were just too short for our beds. I found the perfect oversized down duvet and duvet cover on Amazon. They’re long and oh-so-comfy! If you like oversized comforters, go for these. 

For decorative pillows, I chose 3 Euro pillows with solid white cotton shams. Place sleeping pillows at the head of the bed stacked on top of each other. Put your Euro pillows evenly in front of them.

I brought in color and contrast with 2 solid blue 20×20 throw pillows. They sit directly in front of the Euro pillows. Finish the look with a lumbar pillow centered in the very front. I found the perfect striped cotton lumbar cover on Etsy. Stripes bring in a classic and preppy aesthetic to any style!

For a bolder look, you can flip flop the hierarchy and do a fun coastal printed comforter and complement with solid throw pillows. 

White Coastal Nightstands

I found the perfect white coastal nightstands from At Home for an incredible deal. If you’re looking for affordable furniture, At Home is definitely somewhere you should check out. 

My Wayfair table lamps are sold out, but I found some very similar ones (also from Wayfair). Go for clear glass table lamps if you want a classic coastal look that never goes out of style. 

I framed our WIFI login info in a blue picture frame. Make sure your WIFI is accessible to guests. It’s pretty much the first thing our guests ask for when they walk in the door!

White Coastal Bookcase

Since I started on my solid wood crusade several years ago, I’ve never looked back! I wanted a solid wood white bookcase for our guest room. This would not only finish out the room design but also give me a place to store books (since I don’t have good book storage in our house, and I love to read!). Guests can enjoy the books too!

I got this adorable bookcase at Target pre-COVID (now sold out!), but I found a similar one on Houzz.

Coastal Curtains

For window treatments, I considered doing a classic striped curtain, but I opted for these indigo/off-white windowpane printed linen curtains. They add the perfect coastal touch to this guest room. They’re also really good quality! Amazon says they’re blackout, and they definitely do darken the room (but still let a little light in), making it perfect for your guests. 

Coastal Art Above Bed

For the art above our guest bed, I hung some beautiful pictures from my recent vaca to Laguna Beach, CA. It’s one of my husband and I’s absolute favorite places to visit! Check out Ikea for the perfect frames. They have an amazing selection, and they’re super affordable. I bought these frames in silver for our bedroom too!

Guest Room Must Haves

In addition to making your guest room look cute, you want to make sure your guests are as comfortable as possible. 

1. Invest in a high-quality mattress.

Nothing is worse than your guests waking up with back pain from an uncomfortable bed! Our mattress is a Sealy memory foam mattress. We also added a cooling mattress topper for ultra-comfort, and our guests love it! 

2. Always have an extra blanket available.

I keep a knit blanket at the foot of the bed just in case our guests get chilly. We also have extras in the linen closet that our guests can grab if they need.

3. Get a BedJet.

A what you ask? A BedJet is the single best investment we’ve ever made for our bedroom. We have one in our primary and guest bedrooms. A Bedjet is a portable heating and cooling unit for your bed that significantly improves sleep quality. I wrote a whole post about the wonders of the Bedjet! Read The Ultimate Bed Cooling System & Hot Sleeper Solution You Need Now

4. Have good window treatments.

Have window treatments that function and not just look pretty! I am all about function over style all day long. Your guests probably don’t want the sun blaring on them at 5:30am (like it does all spring and summer where I live!). Make sure you have light blocking window treatments, so your guests have a nice, dark room.

5. Put a sound machine on the nightstand.

Not all guests will use it, but almost every single one of our guests have! I keep a sound machine on one of the nightstands in our guest room, so our guests can sleep more peacefully.  

I hope this post gave you some helpful coastal guest bedroom design ideas as well as tips to be the best host for your guests. Happy hosting!

Discover similar posts:
→Dreamy Coastal Bedroom Design
→How to Style a Coastal Daybed
→How to Hang Wall Art Above Bed
→The Best Coastal Headboard Ideas
→The Ultimate Bed Cooling System You Need Now

This post is about coastal guest bedroom.