Interior decorating tips to prepare for the holidays

It might be the most wonderful time of the year, but the holidays are also extremely stressful, especially if you’re planning on hosting company. There are some special interior design considerations to be made around the holidays when your home is going to be fuller than usual. Here are a few tips.

Declutter

Every home is a little cluttered. It’s simply not possible to keep your entire home completely devoid of clutter every hour of the day. But clutter is multiplied when there are more people in the home so it’s important to make an even more concentrated effort to keep clutter to a minimum. Before the guests start arriving, it’s a good idea to go through your belongings, and make the kids go through their belongings, and get rid of things that are no longer used. That will free up closet and cupboard, and dresser space so all the clutter has a place to go. Since gift-giving is just around the corner, you’ll really appreciate having that extra space for storing new things. Donate the things that can be donated so they can benefit others as well.

Deep cleaning

Hosting guests means that you’re going to have to take your cleaning to a whole new level. The more people you have in your home, the greater the chance someone will have allergies to dust or pet hair. It may be worth it to you to rent a carpet cleaner, or to have the carpets professionally cleaned if it’s been a while. Get all the hard to reach places and try to be as thorough as possible.

Be a thoughtful host

Think about all the things you appreciate about a nice hotel room and then try to make those things a reality for your guests. Begin to collect travel size cosmetics to stock your guest bathrooms with. You can arrange them in a basket like you might see in a nice hotel room. Closets in rooms where guests will be staying should have plenty of hangers so guests can feel at home. Scented candles, soft slippers, and other little details make for a great finishing touch.

Make it safe

If there will be little ones about during the holidays, it’s important to child-proof the home. Store furniture with sharp corners away and lock up any chemicals that can harm a child. Invest in baseboard heater covers so tiny fingers or toys can’t find their way into the heating element of your baseboard radiators.

Source: GQ

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