Spaces for gracious entertaining are the hallmarks of a luxury home. A red carpet welcome starts with a good floor plan: a sweeping foyer, a grand dining room and comfortable outdoor lounge areas. These days, homeowners are putting the same thoughtful design into overnight accommodations, in some cases creating guest quarters that rival master suites.
Carol Dean Davis, Buckhead Office, REALTOR®
In the “upper price points” of the residential real estate market, dedicated guest bedrooms with en suite bathrooms are “must haves,” says Carol Dean Davis of Atlanta Fine Homes Sotheby’s International Realty in Georgia. It’s not enough to annex a child’s bedroom when a guest drops by. And using a convertible sofa as a makeshift bedroom is definitely out. Homeowners want their overnighters to feel like they’re staying at “The Four Seasons. They want to make their guests feel special,” Davis says. Being able to carve out full-time space for part-time guests is an indulgence in square footage, which makes such residences particularly attractive. It’s something agents like Davis zero in on when listing properties since it enhances a home’s resale value. “We’re always looking for that. That’s a real plus,” she says.
One would be hard-pressed to find a guest room that doesn’t serve another function — an office, den, library — in space-challenged urban markets like New York, London or Paris. In Milan, where owner-occupied apartments outnumber single-family homes by a wide margin, only rarely does a home come on the market with dedicated guest space, says Lorenzo Mercolini of Milan Sotheby’s International Realty in Italy. And that rarity is reflected in the price. Mercolini has a listing for a luxury villa with guest space on its own separate floor. The villa is priced above €10 million. “Some properties have what were originally servants’ quarters,” later repurposed for guests, he says. Outside the city, typically in Tuscany, Mercolini says villas have dependances, small houses separate from the main residence intended purely for guests.
The greater the separation, the better.
Norma Lynn Fox and her husband loved the layout of their California home so much that when they decided to relocate to Maryland, they flew their architect out to the West Coast so he could take design guidance from it. Their new residence, located in an equestrian development in Potomac, is in the Arts and Crafts style with a full master suite taking over the upper floor and two full guest suites on the lower level, each with doors that open up to terraces. Fox says she and her husband were clear on what they wanted, and Jim Rill of Rill Architects in Bethesda, Md., tweaked their ideas. As an example, the lower level suites are adjacent to Fox’s home office, a lovely space featuring a stone fireplace, sofa and TV. “Jim helped us to refine how my office could also function as additional space for guests,” Fox recalls. When visitors stay over, Rill suggested the office could be used as their living room, allowing guests to unwind in their own private entertainment area.
To design the right kind of guest suite, homeowners need to ask themselves the right kinds of questions: How do you entertain? And who do you entertain? Guest quarters designed for grandchildren are very different than those designed for elderly relatives where stairs may be a factor, for instance.
In designing the new home, Fox says she was mindful of its appreciation possibilities. Guest suites have resale appeal because they’re seen as adaptable spaces. The guest suite for one homeowner can be used as an in-law suite for the next owner. Her husband’s office is a huge room above the garage with lots of built-ins. “It could easily be converted into an au pair apartment. We were paying attention to flexibility at the same time as accommodating ourselves,” she says.
Many of Jim Rill’s high-end residential projects have guest suites, wings or cottages. He describes a “wonderful guest experience” as a mini suite that has strong natural lighting, beautiful views and a private entry. Privacy is the operative word. “When you get up to take care of the kids in the middle of night, you don’t necessarily want to put on your robe in case you catch somebody in the hallway,” he says. “You want to meet them in the breakfast room or the rec room instead.”
The only caveat in creating a perfect guest suite? “You’ve got to be careful it’s not too wonderful,” jokes Atlanta broker Carol Dean Davis. Guests may never leave.
By Iyna Bort Caruso for Sotheby’s International Realty