Welcoming people to your home can be somewhat of a stressful process, but don’t let the doorbell be a tone of panic! Whether you’re hosting family, friends or nosy neighbors, these 5 steps will help equip you to open up your home with confidence!
Clean Off Flat Surfaces
Clutter is the most prominent thing to make a home feel dirty. Even if you’re home is ‘Lysoled’ from top to bottom, if there’s too much visual clutter it immediately feels a little dirtier.
Now, there’s a big difference between *decor and *clutter and the thing that separates it is intentionality. If you’ve got a staged bookshelf stacked with intentional trinkets and books, that looks great! But if you’ve got magazines haphazardly hanging this way and that, it looks like clutter.
The same goes for your kitchen counters. A few small appliances and trinkets on the countertops looks staged and intentional, but if ALL of your small appliances are out for the world to see, it seems more like clutter.
Take time to take inventory of your dressers, buffet tables, credenzas, side tables, shelves, and countertops. If what you’re looking at seems like it was just “set” down vs. placed — re-evaluate and clean it up!
Dust and Clean Reflective Surfaces
This little trick goes a long way. The state of your mirrors, picture frames and windows can really alter the perception of ‘clean’ that your home creates.
If there are fingerprints all over your windows (or, in many dog-owner’s cases, nose prints) it makes the home feel lot dirtier than it actually is.
Reflective surfaces take light and bounce it around your home, which makes your home feel bright, airy and so clean! But if there are tiny smudges and speckles of dust in the way, the light only highlights dirtiness.
Wipe down bathroom mirrors, glass surfaces, picture frames, metal surfaces, and windows to give your home a little extra sparkle.
Throw Away All of Your Paper
Mail is the biggest culprit here. It piles up SO fast. But so can receipts, homework, tags, grocery lists and a whole slew of other paper products.
Take a lap around your home with a trash bag first and throw away whatever you don’t need. Be ruthless and get rid of all those tiny pieces of paper.
After you’ve done that, walk around with a basket and fill it with the paper items that you still need to attend to — mail, business expense receipts, your to-be-completed Christmas list, and everything else that you can’t throw away just yet. Tuck that basket in your room or office and BAM, a big-time mess is taken care of.
Stock Up
Now that all of the clutter, paper, and dust is gone — take inventory of what you’re going to need to make your guests comfortable. Here’s a list to work off of, but ultimately you know your guests best!
Water — A bedside water is always a kind gesture for people staying the night.
Paper products — Make SURE you have plenty of toilet paper and paper towels, and then double-check, and then get more than what you think you need.
Towels — Do a load of laundry in advance so you can fold up a fresh towel and hand-towel for your guests to specifically use. It eliminates that awkward intrusion feeling they encounter when sorting through your linen closet to try and locate the towels they’re ‘supposed to use.’ (We have Monica Geller and her categorized towels to blame for this feeling)
Toiletries — People often forget SOMETHING, so it’s good to have a stock-pile of niceties on hand like a toothbrush, razor, contact solution, travel-sized shampoo and conditioner, and mouthwash just in case they left theirs behind.
Coffee + Tea — It’s always a good idea to have a favorite, comforting beverage on hand to offer your guests in the morning or as a cozy nightcap. The Sweedish call it “hygge,” and it’s something all hosts want to create.
Snacks + Desserts — We all get a late-night sweet tooth and snack itch, and it is SO handy to have that already present and accounted for. Grab some individual packaged salty snacks and prep some cookies in the freezer ready to pop on a tray and it will make you look so on top of things with such little effort, you’ll feel on top of the world
Making sure that you’re properly stocked up for guests before they arrive helps to ensure that you can actually get to spend time WITH them instead of spending time FOR them scrambling to meet their needs.
Bring in the ‘Smell Goods’
You can clean and clean and clean… and clean, but if your home doesn’t smell good, it’s all for not. Pet owners and parents can relate to this, you can spend an entire weekend cleaning and one spilled milk or wet-dog shakedown can majorly set you back.
Once you get you’re home ship-shape and stocked up, pay close attention to potential odor offenders and be aware that you might be “nose-blind” to them. One of the best ways to ensure your home smells good is to address your soft surfaces. Frabreeze up your upholstered furniture, wash your slipcovers and even check your curtains for trapped odors.
Once you’ve addressed your soft surfaces, open up the doors and windows for good airflow, turn on the fans and start adding favorable scents. Whether that’s your favorite candle, diffusing oil or an infused pot-simmer, the final stage of making your home smell good can truly tip you over the top of hosting expertise.
You can’t really eliminate aaaaallll the stresses of hosting, but you CAN do a lot of prep-work that minimizes discomfort for your guests — and if you’re guests feel comfortable, that means you’ve done your job!
Blue Desk Builtin: Bria Hammel Interiors | Dog on the Couch: Park and Oak Design | Green Accent Chair: Emily Henderson | Kitchen: Beautiful Chaos Home | Pantry: Jettset Farmhouse
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