Guest Bedroom with Sage Green Tufted Headboard

That tall unit is a display cabinet with arched, ribbed-glass doors set in slim brass frames, lit softly from inside. The frosted ribbing lets you see the shape of what is on the shelves without every item being on show, so it stays tidy-looking even when it is not perfectly arranged. The warm internal light turns it into a glowing feature after dark. Arched fronts soften what would otherwise be a boxy run of doors.

The corner opposite the bed is a small reading nook, with two cane-backed chairs and a round side table on a wallpapered wall. A metal sunburst mirror hangs above them as the centrepiece, and a couple of floating shelves hold books and a clock. It gives a guest somewhere to sit, read or have a coffee away from the bed. The subtle patterned wallpaper marks the corner off from the plainer walls.

The television hangs on a plain cream wall above a white, glossy floating console with drawers. Keeping the console white and wall-hung lets the marble floor show underneath and keeps the busy side of the room light. The ribbed-glass cabinet sits right beside it, so the media wall and the display unit work as one composition. A big curtained window next to the TV brings in daylight during the day.

Beside the bed hangs a brass pendant with a round globe, dropped on a slim cord rather than standing on the table. Hanging the light frees up the bedside surface for a book or a phone, and the warm globe is soft enough to read by without lighting the whole room. The brass ties in with the frames on the glass cabinet. It is wired in, so its position is fixed.

Sage green works well in a guest room precisely because it is gentle. It brings in colour and personality without being a strong shade that a visitor might find too much, and it sits happily next to neutrals and wood. Being a muted, earthy green it also does not date as fast as a bright trend colour. If you ever want to cool it down or warm it up, you only need to change the throw and cushions, since the green itself is a calm base to build on.

Ribbed and frosted glass hides fingerprints better than clear glass, which is a point in its favour, but the grooves and the lit shelves do gather dust. A dry microfibre cloth run down the ribs every week or two keeps them clear, and the internal lights mean any dust shows up, so you notice when it needs doing. Clean the shelves when you rearrange what is on them. It is a display piece, so it rewards being kept tidy.

Most of this scales down to a smaller guest room with a few cuts. The headboard and the bed are the parts worth keeping, since the green panel is what gives the room its character. In a tight space you would drop the reading nook and the tall display cabinet, which need floor and wall room, and keep just the bed, a slim console and the TV. A single accent chair in a corner can stand in for the full nook.