Travel-Themed Guest Room

It’s been 10 years since we moved into our house, and I am finally getting around to sharing our travel-themed guest room décor. We recently added an accent wall as a finishing touch, so I felt it was time to share all the details with you. Since we love to travel, we thought this would be a really fun theme for our guest room décor. It not only plays on our love for travel, but also represents the experience of guests traveling from out of town to stay with us. Whether you’re looking for inspiration for your own travel themed guest room or looking for travel themed bedroom ideas, I hope today’s post inspires you. Want more easy DIY home decor ideas? Click here.

Disclosures: I received some items as free samples for review purposes. The opinions are completely my own based on my experience with the products. This post also contains some affiliate links, which means that if you make a purchase using the links, I may receive a commission. This does not cost you anything additional.

Travel-themed guest room colors and accents

Paint. The hubby and I like for bedrooms to have a soothing, relaxing feel (like you’d find at a hotel), so we looked for a calming color for the walls. The color we chose is a light, warm color called Aebleskiver by Behr, which was part of a Scandinavian-inspired collection.

To keep that restful, boutique-hotel feel, quality bedding is key. Easy-change duvet cover sets, such as the sateen and percale options from https://www.dozebedding.com/, make refreshing the room between guests quick and easy.

Wallpaper. We made an accent wall with some wallpaper from Spoonflower. We chose the Vintage Beige and White Map pattern (I chose the Peel and Stick Removable Woven option for ease of application) designed by artist Catherine Holcombe of @catherineholcombeoriginals. One of the reasons we chose Spoonflower for our wallpaper project is because purchases support indie designers. Consumers can either design their own patterns on premium fabric, wallpaper, and home goods, or they can shop from the world’s largest marketplace of over 1 million designs from thousands of independent artists. They are also eco-friendly, using an eco-friendly process to create their wallpaper, sustainable operational practices, use of water-based pigment inks and dyes, and additional corporate initiatives that continue to lower waste byproducts.

Other accents. Other colors and accents were dark wood (for the furniture), beige and cream, and natural elements (in the form of woven and wicker accents and plants in woven baskets).

Travel-themed bedroom furniture

The furniture for our travel themed room is mostly from IKEA’s HEMNES bedroom series. We got the bed, side table, dresser, and mirror. We have been a fan of HEMNES for some time given the quality of the pieces. If you’re curating your own travel-themed space, browsing a modern double bed frame collection can give you versatile style options that fit perfectly with your desired aesthetic.

Travel-themed guest room décor

Maps. A lot of travel themed bedroom ideas involve maps, and there are so many ways you can incorporate them! In addition to the wallpaper accent wall, we framed several map prints (more details on the prints below) in IKEA frames. Our frame style and color is no longer available, but this one and this one are similar. IKEA also sells this large framed map that looks really cool if you want to save a step of choosing and framing the maps yourself.

This large world map poster is actually a piece of World Map wrapping paper from Paper Source that can double as a poster when framed. A friend of mine gave me a great idea to include some dry erase markers so guests can make a mark or leave a note on the place they are visiting from on the frame’s glass. I can’t help but smile at the meta-ness of having a framed world map on a world map wall.

We decided to frame a few antique-style map prints of places that are significant to us. We personally chose Ireland, Spain, and Puerto Rico in homage to our heritage, but you can find reasonably-priced prints for almost any location that it special to you.

Globes. It wouldn’t be a travel-themed guest room if you didn’t have a few globes as décor! Decorative globes are easy to find in store or online. This one is cool, as it is also a lamp! I also love the idea of this cork globe that comes with pushpins. Your guests can leave a pin on the location they are from!

Travel-inspired art. We also framed a few simple art pieces in the travel theme. First is a “Wanderlust” definition print. I made this one myself and printed it on a piece of map scrapbook paper, but you can find lots of ready-made options on Amazon (like this one) and Etsy to coordinate with your overall travel themed room décor color scheme. Pair art like this with a soft, luxury mattress from a queen mattress sale and your guests will feel like they’re being pampered on vacation, with the feeling simply invoked by a bit of clever decoration.

I also made this “Life is Short. Travel the World” print myself, but here is a really cool similar one printed on burlap from Etsy.

Tchotchkes. If you’re like us and like to collect little figurines and souvenirs on your travels, they make great décor pieces if you’re looking for travel themed bedroom ideas. In our guest room we have a cute little map plate, an Eiffel Tower figurine, and a mini camper trailer figurine.

Lighting. We chose this BOJA woven table lamp from IKEA to go with the woven and wicker accents around the room.

Throw pillows. I don’t remember where I got this map throw pillow; I just remember I had to add it to the room when I saw it a few years back. However, this beige world map pillow and this compass and map pillow from Amazon are both adorable and would match the theme well.

Vintage luggage. I also love the idea of using pieces of vintage luggage as décor. Find a few at antique malls and vintage stores. Even if they no longer function well as luggage, they can be stacked to use as a side table or placed in the corner of the room as design piece.

Let me know if you have any other travel themed bedroom ideas in the comments below!