Good evening dearests,
There are many good reasons to spend time and effort to make a home warm and welcoming. After all, we have been lately spending a lot of time at home. Making an effort to create a warm and welcoming home is a piece of effort and art that we all can enjoy and should learn. Even when few guests can visit us.
I love visiting homes where the hostess and host has really made an effort, covering everything from what the eye can see to smells and sounds. Visiting homes and estates that has made an effort is really one of the things I enjoy the most I the world. I love it so much that I will pick a restaurant, a cafe or a hotel visit solely based on the interior and the chemistry of the venue.
So what makes a home or a venue really so welcoming and warm that it actually stands out from others? What makes a home memorable for people visiting? Here are my top 5 tips for achieving a home that is gives a first impression to remember.
1. Put thought into first impression
From the moment that a guest enters my home, I want them to feel like they are stepping into another world and another atmosphere. Make therefore effort in putting character into your entrance room and hallway. Adding character is all about adding details. If you have a table in the hallway, make sure that it is decorated with picture frames, table cloths and/or fresh flowers. If you have a chair in the room, make sure to add a pillow. Make sure to add items that means something for you. It’s all about creating curiosity from the second a guest enter a home. You want them to get curious about you and your story.
2. Make guests feel like they are welcomed
I really love when the hostess has made an extra effort to make you feel included when you enter a home. If you are staying over, it can be a guest bedroom that has new linens on the bed, towels, hairdryer and bathrobes. If you have guest over just for the day, it can be a drink prepared for you or something small to eat, like olives or nuts. It can also be practical items like a shoehorn, cotton buds in the lavatory or some mints or gum. It’s all about making a relaxed and thoughtful atmosphere where guests feel safe and not stressed.
3. Keep it clean and tidy
It does not need to cost a lot of money to give off a good first impression. Actually, keeping your home tidy and clean is probably one of the best ways to give off an amazing first impression of your home. The best way in achieving a tidy home is to have habits in your everyday. Make sure that you bring items back to their original place and that you have incorporate tidying and cleaning in your everyday life.
Make also sure of what you bring into your home and if you have a place for it. Too many items like too many shoes, too many umbrellas or too many decorative items can make it difficult for a home to look clean and tidy. Therefore, try once in a while to review all the items you have and if they perhaps should be moved or removed from your home.
4. Bring light into your home
How a home is viewed is in many ways heavily influenced by the light in the room. Make sure that you bring in as much daylight as possible into your home, it’s an automatic mood booster. If there is not much daylight to find, try to add lighting that are thoughtful to elevate a room and points out specific items that you want to highlight. It can be lamps on a table, picture lamps or a floor lamp in a dark corner to make the dark room feel larger. Bringing light in and doing it with a thought behind it can really influence the first impression you have to a home.
5. You are your home
Sometimes when we entertain, we forget what’s the most important thing with your home – you! Make sure that the first impression you want to create with your home is also reflected in how you look and behave. Make sure that you are as well groomed as your house and as warm in your welcome as you want your home to be. At the end of the day, it’s the people living in the house that will define how a home feels.
What are your tips in making your home welcoming to your guests?
Learn how I decorate with naturals in my home on the Norwegian East Coat
