Hosting Over The Holidays
Getting Ready For Holiday Visitors
Written by Glen Peloso
Read Glen Peloso's Bio

A couple of years ago I helped my parents with putting together their new, now empty nester home, and one of the big concerns was how the house would work when all of the kids and spouses came home for the holiday season. While I don’t advocate creating your home completely around dealing with those few weeks, there are several things you can do to make sure that ‘having a house full’, as my mother wouldsay, is as pleasant as possible.

Gussing Up The Guest Rooms

The “guest rooms” should ideally be decorated with elegance, however, done in neutral colours like warm brown or smoky grey and simple tiles in the bathroom. Follow through with the sheets and towels. Adding colours with pillows and throws, artwork and flowers, will keep the room fresh year after year.

Think about outfitting the guest rooms with additional pillows and a blanket. Let your guests know where extra bedding can be found so they can help themselves. It is also a great idea to add a decorative water jug and glasses in fun colours as these can be great accents and practical too.

Freshen Up Where They’ll Freshen Up

Outfit the bathrooms so that the guests can take care of themselves. Have a couple of extra towels in the bathroom, a basket with hotel toiletries you have collected over the year, and a few extra toothbrushes for those who forgot to pack them.

Festive Foresight – Plan Ahead

If you have the ability to plan from the initial design phase, it allows you the flexibility to create rooms with two functions. I love to add a Murphy bed (a bed that folds into the wall), for guest rooms/home offices. Not taking up the floor space for a bed means you can enjoy the room all year round and have that extra wall storage. The more economical version - a good quality air bed tucked away in a closet!

In the planning phase of the home I also find it very useful to have a laundry room on the main or second floor. If you generate the laundry on the second floor - changing linens, etc., each day - it also makes sense to deal with that laundry on the same floor. Technology has advanced so much that washers/dryers are so quiet you barely know they are there. This is particularly pronounced during the holidays when there is so much more laundry created as a result of your guests. On the second floor it is accessible to everyone who needs it.

 

What Matters Most

I have to admit that going visiting for the holidays is a fantastic experience not only because I get to see family and friends but also because my parent’s home is so well planned. As a result, we can focus on great meals, conversations and this year’s scrabble championship!