Preparing Your Home For Guests

If you are hosting guest for the holidays, the best and simplest way to make them feel welcome, is to make them warm. Winter is cold most years, but this year has already proven to be colder than normal, so hosts should take extra steps to help their guest feel warm. Getting your home warm is a little more complicated than just turning up the thermostat. Each of the five senses needs to be addressed.

For Taste: Prepare some spice tea or coffee with warm cookies or pie.

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For Smell: Set out some scented candles. Cinnamon and spice are great choices to bring a warm smell, as these have a psychological effect, as most people connect the scent to a warm oven and baking. Do not use a scent like sea breeze as that is a cold smell.

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For Sight: Reds, oranges, yellows and browns are good color choices these colors are considered warm colors. Avoid bright blues around this time of the year and stick with deeper colors.

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For Sound: Put on holiday music lightly in the background. Sound is harder to categorize as warm or cold, except by the emotion portrayed by the artist. Play an upbeat song with a positive emotional tone.

For Touch: Touch is the bread and butter of designers and so I could go on for pages and pages on Do’s and Don’ts for the holidays. A few easy things you can do, especially with leather living room furniture, is place plenty of throws on in the room. This way they are readily available and guests can help themselves. Pillows are another easy accessories to make your home warmer, but temperature is still the most important thing. Whether or not you or your guests usually live in sub-arctic temperatures warm up your house before they get there

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Stay Warm this Holiday Season and enjoy time with friends and family. Blessings from the Elizabeth Erin Designs Family, and Happy Holidays.