Part 01: How To Prepare Your Home for the Holidays
As the holiday season approaches, our homes often become gathering places for friends and loved ones. Hosting doesn’t just include having holiday meals, traditional gatherings, or overnight visitors. It can also include casual dinners earlier in the season and travelers popping in on their way elsewhere. During the holidays, you never know who to expect: long-lost relatives, friends of family, friends of friends, family of friends, and so on.
Preparing your space to host guests, parties, or for the entire season can seem daunting, but with a little planning and creativity, you can create an inviting atmosphere that reflects your personality and immerses everyone in holiday cheer and the warmth of friends and family every day of the holiday season.
Before Cheer Comes the Clean-Up:
In Slavic culture, there is a saying; “Guests keep the house clean.” Before we can start rearranging things, decorating and creating a holiday wonderland for our guests, a deep clean and decluttering is required. Cleaning your house once a season or twice a year is a good idea either way and what better excuse than preparing for guests? This also gives you a chance to take inventory of your things, where you keep them, and what you need to get rid of.
Surface level: Start decluttering by looking at all surfaces, tables, countertops, etc. Removing stacks of papers, small personal items, and electronics and dusting or cleaning the surfaces prepares them for decorations.
Time to let go: As you remove items, think about where they should live; if they live on the table top, and are constantly in the way, perhaps it's time to rethink this item's home or worth. Decluttering also includes storage spaces, like closets and drawers. Arrange these spaces in a way that is easy to look at and access. If it possible to empty some dressers or closets for the guests to hang their coats or unpack their overnight bags into. That means you have to make room!
First Impressions: Windows, Doors, and Hallways
If you have windows that face the street, you can decorate those windows, ensuring that the fun starts before the guests even enter. A low-effort approach is to hang lights along the frame, either on the inside or outside of the house. To avoid climbing onto the roof, you can hang ornaments on a tree in the front yard for a festive look. A simple box outline will turn an otherwise plain window into a delightful attraction. Draw the curtains so that people can only see what is in the window frame, and place decorations there.
An alternative to framing the window is having hanging lights. Use white lights for a classic look or colorful lights for a fun, festive theme. Add a light-up wreath or small decorations in the window for extra effect. If you are feeling creative, you can make your own snowflake cutouts.
If you do keep your curtains open, this is a good spot to place the tree so it can be seen from the outside. If you don’t have an outside-facing window, hang a wreath on your front door. A classic made of evergreen branches and red ribbon is always a safe bet!
If you want to get really wild, look up a YouTube video about wrapping your front door like a present.
Now for the entry! Whether your entryway is a small, tight hallway or a large open foyer, it sets the tone for guests as they enter your home. To start, you can hang a wreath on the inside of the door. If there is a table near the door for keys, you can swap out the key dish with a more decorative one, add a holiday-themed figurine or a few ornaments in a bowl. I enjoy taking a branch of the tree and laying it on my mantel or table near my door. Simple but effective.
Stay tuned for part 2 of the blog for more holiday decorating tips for the interior of your home!
