Modern guest bedroom with soft bedding, landscape mural, and cozy decor inspiration for interior design ideas

The Block Week 6: Guest Bedroom and Ensuite Week

September 15, 2026

This week, The Block returned to the private areas of the home, with each couple delivering another guest bedroom and ensuite.

A successful guest suite is not simply a beautifully styled bedroom attached to a bathroom. It must consider comfort, privacy, storage, lighting, and the small everyday functions that help someone feel genuinely accommodated.

Across the five houses, we saw everything from restrained, highly marketable rooms to bold colour and full-wall murals. Some couples carried their design language successfully through from the bedroom to the ensuite, while others selected beautiful individual elements that did not quite connect as a cohesive suite.

We also saw why function cannot be sacrificed for symmetry or styling. Bedside tables must be reachable from the bed. Storage should be prioritised during cabinetry design. A desk or refreshment station only adds value when it suits the room and does not reduce more useful storage or circulation.

The strongest rooms this week were not necessarily those containing the most features. They were the spaces where every inclusion had a purpose, and the bedroom and ensuite felt connected without becoming exact copies of one another.

Let’s look at what each house achieved, what could be refined and how a few considered changes could transform the way these guest suites look, feel and function.

House One: Bold Colour, Strong Cohesion and a Clear Design Identity

House One delivered a bold but beautifully cohesive bedroom and ensuite this week. Adam and Jolene have committed to their colour palette, and that confidence has paid off.

The bedroom feels warm, considered and connected to the rest of their home. The combination of soft blush pink, deep plum and warm timber gives the room personality without making it feel overly themed. The textural wall treatment behind the bed creates interest, while the darker bedding grounds the lighter palette and prevents the room from feeling too sweet.

The timber bedhead and integrated floating bedside drawers were also a strong choice. They provide practical storage while keeping the floor clear, which helps the room feel more spacious and considered. The dark timber ceiling fan connects back to the bed and provides enough contrast against the otherwise soft room.

I also think the artwork's scale works well above the bed. It serves as a clear focal point without competing with the wall's texture.

If I were changing anything, it would be the bed styling. The deep plum is beautiful, but the bed feels slightly flat and structured compared with the warmth created throughout the rest of the room. I would add a little more softness through layered pillows and a relaxed throw, possibly in a muted blush or warm neutral, to break up the large block of plum and make the bed feel more inviting.

I would also remove the small decorative flowers from the plain wall beside the curtain. They feel slightly disconnected from the room's more refined elements and do not contribute enough to justify their placement. Sometimes editing one small detail allows the stronger design choices to stand out.

The ensuite continues the palette beautifully. The terracotta-pink tiles, pink basin, warm timber vanity, and aged brass details all connect naturally with the bedroom without creating an exact replica. This is what cohesion should look like: the rooms feel related, but each still has its own identity.

The change in tile creates a strong visual distinction between the bathroom's upper and lower sections. Ordinarily, several different finishes in a smaller room could become overwhelming, but the limited colour palette keeps everything connected.

Functionally, the vanity provides useful drawer storage, and the frameless shower glass preserves the sense of openness. My main consideration would be the mirror. It feels slightly undersized relative to the vanity's width and the amount of visual detail surrounding it. I would make it marginally wider and ensure it serves as a recessed shaving cabinet, providing the room with additional storage without introducing another visible element.

I would also reconsider the grouping of decorative brass discs beside the mirror. The bedroom already uses a pair of these pieces successfully, but the cluster in the ensuite competes slightly with the patterned tile. Removing them—or simplifying the arrangement—would allow the tile, basin and timber vanity to remain the heroes.

Overall, House One delivered a confident and cohesive result. The architecture, colour, and material selections are strong, and the few changes I would make primarily concern editing and softness rather than correcting the design itself.

This room does not require a conceptual mock-up. The design is already resolved, and the minor styling adjustments would not create a meaningful enough transformation to justify one.

House Two: Quiet, Cohesive and Highly Marketable

House Two delivered a calm, warm and beautifully cohesive bedroom and ensuite. It is a much quieter design than House One, but quiet does not automatically mean boring. In a property designed for resale, there is considerable value in creating rooms that feel elevated while still allowing a future buyer to imagine themselves living in them.

The bedroom has a soft, restrained palette of warm beige, cream and timber, with the deep plum cushion providing a subtle point of contrast. The full-height curtains soften the room, while the textured wall finish creates depth without overwhelming the space.

The custom bedhead is the strongest feature. Its gently curved upper edge introduces an architectural detail into an otherwise simple room and gives the bed a sense of identity. It is understated, but it stops the neutral palette from feeling entirely predictable.

The room is also beautifully connected to the ensuite. The colours, finishes and materials transition naturally between the two spaces, making them feel like one considered suite rather than two rooms designed independently.

However, the bedroom could benefit from slightly more visual weight. The rug feels undersized for the bed and does not extend far enough around it to properly anchor the sleeping zone. A larger rug would give the room a stronger foundation and make the bed feel more proportionate within the space.

I would also add another layer to the bed styling. The relaxed linen is appropriate for the room, but the bedding feels slightly unfinished. A more substantial throw or quilt folded across the lower third of the bed—possibly in a soft taupe, muted plum or subtly patterned textile—would introduce depth without compromising the calm palette.

The bedside table is beautiful, but it appears small compared to the width of the bedhead. In a bedroom of this size, I would prefer slightly wider bedside tables with practical drawer storage on both sides. Bedside storage is not simply decorative; it supports how the room functions every day.

The ensuite continues the same restrained design language. The large-format stone-look tiles make the room feel open and uninterrupted, while the warm timber vanity prevents the neutral palette from becoming cold. The brushed brass tapware and shower fittings add warmth and understated luxury without demanding too much attention.

The large mirrored shaving cabinets are an excellent inclusion. They provide substantial concealed storage, reflect light through the room and visually increase its width. The frameless shower enclosure also maintains clear sightlines, helping the bathroom feel larger than it is.

My main considerations are privacy and the relationship between the bathroom and the bedroom. From this angle, the shower is directly visible from the bed when the door is open. While the ensuite forms part of a private suite, I would still want to ensure the door can be closed easily and that the layout does not leave someone feeling exposed while another person uses the bedroom.

The shower itself is generous and functional, although I would carefully check the door swing and circulation around the vanity. In a compact ensuite, beautiful finishes cannot compensate for a door that interrupts the path of travel or becomes awkward during everyday use.

Overall, House Two is simple, warm and highly marketable. It may not deliver an immediate dramatic moment, but it feels calm, functional and consistent with the home they have created.

The changes I would make are primarily related to scale and layering rather than the underlying design. A larger rug, slightly more generous bedside storage and an additional layer of bedding would elevate the bedroom, but they are not substantial enough to warrant a complete conceptual mock-up.

House Three: Strong Individual Ideas That Need Better Connection

House Three contains several beautiful individual elements, but this week the bedroom and ensuite do not feel as resolved as they could have been.

Lisa and Rosco have chosen a warm palette of blush, rust, natural timber and muted blue. The colours work beautifully together, creating a guest suite that feels softer and more personal than a conventional neutral bedroom.

However, successful design is not only about selecting beautiful elements. Those elements must also work together functionally and visually. This is where the suite begins to fall short.

The bedroom has a warm and inviting foundation. The soft blush wall finish introduces depth without overwhelming the space, while the rust-coloured bedding and muted blue accents create a cohesive, earthy palette.

The oversized curved bedhead creates a strong architectural moment and gives the bed visual presence. Its width is not necessarily the problem. A wide bedhead can be used successfully to frame the entire sleeping zone and make the room feel more considered.

The issue is the relationship between the bedhead and the bedside tables.

Because the bedside tables sit beyond the bedhead's outer edges, they have been pushed too far from the mattress. Although they provide valuable drawer storage, they are not positioned within comfortable reach of someone lying in bed.

A bedside table must support nighttime routines. You should be able to set down a glass of water, reach for your phone, turn off a light, or access the top drawer without getting out of bed. Here, the desire to create a symmetrical wall composition has compromised that everyday functionality.

I would retain the generous width of the bedhead but integrate the bedside tables within its overall footprint, bringing them closer to the mattress. The bedhead could continue behind the tables or be designed as a series of upholstered panels that visually connect the bed and storage into a single composition.

The wall lights should then be repositioned directly above the bedside tables. This would allow them to function as practical reading lights rather than sitting disconnected from the furniture they are intended to serve.

The bed itself has a good colour foundation, but it needs more volume and softness. Fuller pillow inserts, additional height behind the decorative cushions and slightly more relaxed layering would make it feel more inviting. The white textured blanket works beautifully against the rust bedding, but the overall arrangement needs to be fluffed and softened to balance the bedhead's scale.

The artwork complements the palette and introduces several of the colours used throughout the room. However, it could be marginally larger to create a stronger relationship with the generous proportions of the bedhead below it.

The integrated joinery is beautifully finished, but personally, I would not have included the desk area.

In a permanent home, I would prioritise full-height cabinetry and maximise the available storage across the entire wall. Storage needs to be considered at the beginning of the design process because it is not always simple or cost-effective to add later.

A desk is relatively easy to introduce elsewhere if the future owner genuinely needs one. It can be added as a freestanding piece, incorporated into another room or adapted to suit the way that particular household works. Sacrificing built-in storage for a fixed desk assumes that every future owner will want to use the bedroom in exactly the same way.

Continuing the cabinetry along the full wall would provide additional space for clothing, linen, luggage, and other belongings while creating a cleaner, more streamlined elevation.

The current workspace also appears narrow and slightly disconnected from the rest of the bedroom. The fabric draped over the chair softens it for reveal day, but it does not make the desk feel purposeful or particularly practical.

For me, the long-term value of additional concealed storage would outweigh the benefit of this small desk area. In a home of this scale, storage should remain at the forefront of the planning process rather than becoming something the future owner must solve later.

The bedroom does not need an entirely different design identity.

House Four: A Guest Suite Designed for More Than Sleeping

House Four delivered a warm, sophisticated and highly functional bedroom suite. Courtney and Sev have considered how someone would actually use the space, rather than treating it as another bedroom that simply needed to look beautiful for reveal day.

The bedroom has a relaxed, intimate quality. The soft clay and muted blush tones are warm without feeling overly feminine, while the deeper plum rug grounds the room and connects with the darker decorative cushions. The combination of linen, boucle, timber and textured plaster creates depth without relying on excessive styling.

The wall-to-wall upholstered bedhead is a strong design choice. It gives the bed architectural presence and helps visually widen the room. I also appreciate that they included proper bedside tables with drawer storage. A bedroom—particularly one intended for adult guests—needs functional storage beside the bed, and these tables are appropriately scaled without overwhelming the room.

The bedding feels soft, layered and inviting. It looks like a bed someone would genuinely want to climb into, rather than a display so rigidly styled that it loses all sense of comfort. The tray adds a lived-in hospitality moment, although it is clearly reveal styling rather than something that would remain on the bed permanently.

The full-height cabinetry is what elevates this from a bedroom into a genuine guest suite. Incorporating substantial wardrobe storage alongside a small bar area, sink and coffee station gives guests independence and allows the room to function almost like a private hotel suite.

This is particularly valuable in a large, high-end home where guests may stay for several days. They can make a coffee, fill a glass of water or store a few essentials without constantly moving through the main kitchen and living spaces.

The cabinetry itself is beautifully integrated. Using a single timber finish allows the kitchenette to disappear into the broader joinery rather than look like a kitchen unexpectedly placed inside a bedroom. The illuminated open shelving provides enough visual relief to break up the large expanse of cabinetry and creates an opportunity for styling.

My only consideration would be how much visual weight the cabinetry carries within the room. It is a substantial timber wall, and while it is beautifully executed, I would keep the styling in the open section restrained so it does not become overly busy. In this case, the simplicity works.

The ensuite continues the suite’s restrained and sophisticated design language. The large-format stone-look tiles create a calm, seamless envelope, while the timber vanity and brushed brass tapware connect naturally with the bedroom and refreshment station.

The vanity is generous, the basin is appropriately scaled, and the mirrored shaving cabinets provide practical concealed storage. The frameless shower glass maintains clear sightlines through the narrow room and prevents the shower from visually dividing the space.

The toilet is located openly within the ensuite rather than inside a separate enclosure. While this keeps the room visually open, it offers less privacy and limits how comfortably two people can use the ensuite simultaneously.

In a guest suite intended to accommodate a couple, a separate toilet enclosure would have improved the room’s functionality. If the existing footprint could not accommodate one, the layout could have used a partial privacy screen or a more visually discreet toilet placement.

My other consideration is towel placement. A towel hanging over the shower glass may work for reveal-day styling, but it suggests there is no obvious, conveniently positioned towel rail near the shower. A dedicated rail or hook within easy reach would make the room function more naturally.

I would also consider introducing softer lighting around the vanity. The bathroom is well-lit, but integrated mirror lighting or subtle wall lights could provide warmer, more flattering task lighting without compromising the restrained design.

Overall, the ensuite is beautifully resolved in its materials, storage and circulation. The open toilet and towel placement are functional considerations, but they do not undermine the strength of the broader design.

This room does not require a conceptual mock-up. The design already communicates its intent clearly, and there are no substantial changes that would add enough value to justify redesigning it.

House Five: A Bold Beginning That Needed to Be Carried Through

House Five is an interesting room because it begins with one very bold decision and then becomes considerably safer everywhere else.

Personally, I am not a fan of the mural. However, design is not always about removing an element simply because it would not be our own choice. Sometimes the better question is: how do we make the existing feature work?

The mural covers the entire wall and introduces layers of eucalyptus, olive and deep green. It is large, dominant and immediately becomes the focal point of the bedroom. The problem is not necessarily that it is bold. The problem is that the rest of the room does not carry that confidence forward.

After committing to such a strong wall, Rick and Tayla have relied predominantly on white, beige and light neutral furniture. As a result, the mural feels disconnected from the rest of the room rather than integrated into a complete design.

I would begin by replacing the existing upholstered bed frame with a warm oak frame. The natural timber would better relate to the mural's organic landscape quality and introduce warmth without competing with the colour.

The bed styling also needs to be reconsidered.

Personally, I would never tuck the quilt underneath the mattress like this. Tucking the bedding creates a formal, rigid appearance when the room needs softness and movement. I would use an oversized quilt that falls naturally over the sides of the bed, making it feel more relaxed and inviting.

I would also reduce the number of decorative cushions. The current arrangement adds volume, but it does not strengthen the colour story. Fewer, more intentional pillows would allow the colours and textures to make a clearer contribution.

This is where I would bring the green from the mural onto the bed. Green sheets or European pillows could establish that connection, while an oversized quilt in a soft blush or muted pink would introduce contrast.

Using blush against green draws from the opposite side of the colour relationship and would create a far more layered, intentional palette than repeating beige and brown. A small amount of deeper burgundy or maroon could then ground the softer colours and connect with the mural's darker sections.

The room does not need to become overwhelmingly colourful. It simply needs enough repetition for the mural to feel connected to its surroundings.

The existing bedside tables are sculptural but not sufficiently functional. Their open design provides very little concealed storage, their surface area is limited, and their height feels too low beside the bed.

There is enough room on either side of the bed to accommodate wider, taller bedside tables with drawers. I would consider a deep muted burgundy or maroon finish, which would create a beautiful contrast against the green mural. Alternatively, a warm white bedside table with subtle burgundy detailing could introduce the same relationship more quietly.

Whatever the final finish, the bedside tables need to provide practical storage and be at a height that is comfortably reachable from the bed.

The pendant lights are also positioned too high to function effectively as bedside lighting. With such a dominant mural behind them, I would replace the solid circular pendants with simple glass pendants and lower them so the light sits closer to bedside level.

Glass would introduce another material without adding visual heaviness, while allowing the mural to remain visible behind it. Lowering the pendants would also make them feel connected to the bedside tables rather than suspended arbitrarily within the upper section of the wall.

The room also needs a rug. Although the bedroom is carpeted, a generously sized rug beneath the bed would help anchor the sleeping zone, introduce another layer of texture and connect the furniture to the scale of the mural.

The curtain colour is another area I would change. The current beige tone sits awkwardly beside the green wall, adding another muddy neutral to a room that already lacks clarity. A softer white or warm off-white curtain would brighten the room, provide cleaner contrast, and make the mural’s colours appear more intentional.

I would remove the oversized leaning mirror and the arrangement of dried grasses beside it. The mirror crowds the curtain, while the grasses introduce another beige, organic element that adds nothing the mural is not already providing.

Removing both would allow the curtain to fall properly and give the bed and mural more room to breathe. If a full-length mirror is required, it could be securely integrated into the wardrobe cabinetry rather than leaning within an already busy corner.

The wardrobe provides valuable storage, but I would not have sacrificed cabinetry for the small desk and partial refreshment station.

If there is any uncertainty about how a future owner will use a fixed nook, I would prioritise storage. A desk, chair or coffee machine can be introduced elsewhere if required, but full-height integrated cabinetry is much more difficult and expensive to add later.

Continuing the cabinetry across the entire wall would create a cleaner elevation and provide additional storage for clothing, linen, luggage and other belongings. In a home of this scale, practical storage is more valuable than a small, highly specific station that may not suit the future owner's routines.

The ensuite is a very different story. Honestly, I love it.

The large-format warm stone-look tiles create a calm and continuous foundation, while the timber vanity adds warmth without competing with the other materials.

The green stone benchtop is the hero. It is distinctive and beautifully patterned, creating a clear connection to the green mural in the bedroom. This is the type of material repetition that allows adjoining rooms to feel related without making them identical.

The large illuminated mirror is appropriately scaled to the vanity, provides useful light, and helps reflect light throughout the space. The vanity itself offers substantial storage, and the oversized basin works because the joinery is generous enough to support its proportions.

The frameless shower glass maintains an open sightline, allowing the bathroom to retain its sense of space. The combination of an overhead shower and a handheld fitting also makes the shower practical and visually refined.

There is very little I would change in this ensuite.

If I were adding one small detail, I would have loved to see the green vanity stone repeated within the shower—perhaps across the top of a niche or as a slim shelf. It would create one more subtle connection through the room and allow that beautiful material to appear beyond the vanity.

However, this is an enhancement rather than a correction. The ensuite is already cohesive, functional and beautifully resolved.

Overall, House Five demonstrates why committing to one bold element is only the beginning of a design.

The mural establishes a strong direction, but the bedroom needs more colour, texture and functional furniture to carry that direction through. An oak bed, relaxed bedding, blush-and-green textiles, wider bedside tables with drawers, lower glass pendants, a generous rug, and cleaner white curtains would make the mural feel integrated rather than isolated.

The ensuite, however, requires almost no intervention. It is a strong, considered bathroom with a beautiful material connection to the bedroom.

This house warrants one conceptual mock-up for the bedroom. The ensuite does not need to be redesigned simply to produce another image.

The Final Verdict: Beautiful Features Still Need to Work Together

This week demonstrated that designing a guest suite requires more than selecting beautiful furniture, finishes and tiles. Every element must contribute to the same visual direction while also supporting the person using the room.

House One delivered a bold and confident palette, showing that a guest bedroom need not remain neutral to feel cohesive and marketable.

House Two created a quieter and highly approachable suite. Its warmth, simplicity and restrained materials would appeal to a broad range of future buyers.

House Three contained several beautiful individual elements, but the relationship between them needed further resolution. The oversized bedhead compromised access to the bedside tables, while the ensuite relied too heavily on hard horizontal lines. The conceptual redesign retains the strong palette while improving bedside function, increasing storage and introducing terrazzo, expanded finger tile and more organic lighting into the bathroom.

House Four considered how guests may use the room beyond sleeping by incorporating generous cabinetry and a refreshment station. While the open toilet reduces privacy within the ensuite, the overall suite remains sophisticated, functional and thoughtfully presented.

House Five made the boldest statement through its full-wall mural. Personally, it would not have been my choice, but the bigger issue was that the rest of the bedroom lacked the same confidence. The conceptual redesign demonstrates how oak, green, blush and deep burgundy could connect the mural to the furniture and bedding while improving storage and function.

The recurring lesson is that one bold feature cannot carry an entire room by itself.

Colour needs repetition. Furniture needs to be appropriately scaled. Bedside storage must be reachable. Cabinetry should prioritise long-term functionality, and adjoining rooms need sufficient visual connection to feel like a considered suite.

Three conceptual mock-ups were created this week—not simply to restyle the rooms, but to demonstrate meaningful improvements to function, material balance and cohesion.

Designing for guests is ultimately an act of consideration. It means anticipating what another person will need and creating a space that feels comfortable, private, and easy to use.

That is what transforms a spare bedroom into a genuine guest suite.

Ready to Create a Home That Feels as Good as It Looks?

A beautifully designed bedroom is not defined solely by its furniture, finishes or styling. It is shaped by comfort, circulation, storage, privacy and the way the room supports everyday routines.

The same principle applies throughout your entire home. Successful design brings architecture, function and atmosphere together to create spaces that feel as considered as they look.

✨ Explore the Signature Design Experience for personalised design guidance and a tailored plan shaped around your home, lifestyle, routines and wellbeing. Together, we will create a space that feels cohesive, functional and uniquely yours.

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Continue the Series

The Block Week 5: Living, Dining and Alfresco Review

The Block Week 4: Main Ensuite Review

The Block Week 3: Main Bedroom and Walk-In Robe Review

The Block Week 2: Bathroom and Water Closet Review

The Block Week 1: Guest Bedroom Review