Decoration
The Guest’s Haven: 8 Elements that Make a Home Perfect for Hosting
How do you create a home that guests simply feel drawn into upon arrival? Click here for our favourite elements to include for a home built for hosting.
The Guest’s Haven: 8 Elements that Make a Home Perfect for Hosting
Some homes we walk into and instantly feel brought into the fold. True, any dyed-in-the-wool host would argue that that comes down (almost entirely) to the reception – how effusive the ‘Hellos’, how quick to the draw we are when it comes to taking coats, offering drinks, beckoning into the most welcoming room.
But, as any professional or homespun interior designer will agree, it’s not just about the strength of the hosting. There’s another process running in parallel to the greetings and the small-talk – one rooted in colour, lighting, atmosphere, texture, and scent.
That’s not to say a warm welcome and a well-stocked bar cart aren’t important, but that, if you’re welcoming guests, you might as well do it against a beautiful backdrop.
1. The dynamic seating
The very best living spaces are designed to shift and evolve throughout any given day, as the people present and the mood change by the hour. While the room’s key pieces – the sofas and armchairs – can remain anchored, additional seating options like ottomans, stools, and plush pillows can be arranged and rearranged as the hours pass blissfully by.
2. The enveloping scent
Popular advice has always been to bake bread before a house viewing, but why stop there? Smell is the underrated fifth sense of interior design, and it has a major impact on how welcoming (or unwelcoming) a home is.
The most welcoming scents include lavender and peppermint for relaxation, while citruses like orange, lemon, and grapefruit are ideal scents for boosting happiness in the home. If you’re looking to stimulate conversation and avoid a post-dinner slump, then sage and jasmine are perfect bedfellows, and great for clearing those lingering scents of food that follow you from room to room.
3. The tablescape
You don’t have to push the boat out for every guest who comes through the door, but you can – and that’s enough of an invitation for us. Tablescaping is one of the most creative things we can do when it’s our turn to host – and, with the right eye, we can create a Mediterranean meze spread just as easily as we create a sumptuous mid-winter feast.
Beautiful tableware is the ultimate medium of the creative host.
4. The atmospheric lighting
Decorative lighting is key – and plenty of it. If the lights are too bright, the scene can feel a little sterile. With decorative lighting layered throughout the room, you have the ability to make subtle tweaks to the lighting as the day and evening passes – to put very soft spotlights on the centre of the room, and let the room’s outer edges fade as the daylight slips away.
5. The botanical flourish
Plants make guests feel welcome. They connect the inner world to the outer world, bringing a touch of organic shape and movement to a space, with even the gentlest breeze from an open window or a person passing from one end of the room to another. They spark conversation, and they create beautiful shadows on the wall as the sun moves lower and lower in the sky.
6. The conversational piece
All good homes have a few conversational pieces – a curio, a lucky find, a family treasure or a delightfully unexplainable feature – on display. Whether you’re still breaking the ice, or just reaching the tail-end of a long conversation, guests and hosts alike are always grateful for a well-positioned source of inspiration.
7. The plush bed
The living spaces need plenty of attention, but no host’s job is complete before the sleeping space is plump with soft bedding, feather down pillows, soft lighting and layered curtains ready to embrace the weary (or merry) traveller.
A sumptuous bed is also a practical one. Having an assortment of pillows and cushions, throws and covers, makes it easy for guests to get themselves comfortable. Layered curtains mean sensitive sleepers can plunge the room into complete darkness, and breathable fabrics like linen and cotton mean the guest room is inviting all year round.
8. The abundance of towels
If there’s one thing no host should skimp on, it’s towels. Take a leaf out of the master hotelier’s book and stock the guest bathroom with an assortment of flannels, hand towels, and bath towels to avoid any awkward early-morning rummaging in the linen cupboard.
We all want the sort of home that guests can just sink into, comfortable and happy in your company and the company of all your most beautiful objects. A little extra time spent on the smaller details will ensure the home lives up to the host in every way imaginable.
More from Decoration
