Get Your Home Ready for the Holidays

home remodeling articles and tips

topic: home decor
by Ann Martin

During the holiday season, many friends and family enjoy seeing each other and enjoy stopping by for quick cup of tea and some holiday cookies. Sometimes these visits are planned and sometimes they may be quite spontaneous, with hardly any notice at all.

No matter who decides to stop by or when they decide to stop by, make sure your home is holiday ready no matter what! Here are few suggestions to make your home welcoming to all your family and friends during the holiday season.

Greeting Your Guests
Not only will you be greeting your guests when they arrive, but your entryway and front door will be doing some of that greeting as well! Make sure that your outside area near your front door is debris-free and make it a welcoming area as this is what your guests will be seeing first. Try planting small evergreen trees in decorative planters to place on your porch. If you do not have much of a porch area, hang a decorative wreath on your front door. Attach a beautiful festive bow to the top of the wreath and as guests approach your front door, they will be greeted with that holiday welcome.

Scents of the Season
As you welcome your family and friends inside your home, make sure that you house is smelling fresh and has a bit of that holiday scent in the air. There are many room sprays and candles that are available on the market that can bring that scent of pine, fir, balsam, peppermint, or cinnamon to every room in your house. There are also air diffusers, which keep your rooms aromatic without the danger of an open flame.

Boiling cloves and cinnamon sticks on your stove will instantly fill the air with a warm holiday aroma. But nothing tops the smell of freshly baked breads and cookies coming right out of the oven. Since this is the holiday season after all, why not do a small batch of baking on the weekends and have baked gifts ready to give to your family and friends that stop by. Not only will you have a small holiday gift for them, but your house will smell amazing!

Small Holiday Accents
Keep these small holiday accent ideas in mind while decorating and they will be sure to make your home holiday ready in a flash.

Place comfy fleeces or afghan blankets on couches or chairs.
Have a few accenting gold, red or green toss pillows on couches and chairs.
Have a few flameless candles placed on coffee and end tables.
Fill your candy dishes with candy canes or small peppermint hard candies.
Purchase a few poinsettias to display around your home.
Place candle lights in the windows which face the street.

As you can see, with just a few tricks of the trade your home can be holiday ready in just an afternoon!

Ann Martin is a featured freelance writer for Dinnerware Center, which is an online store that specializes in holiday dinnerware and WMF flatware, both which will accent your holiday table beautifully. When Ann is not writing for Dinnerware Center, she contributes articles to other home and garden website and enjoys sharing her ideas with her readers.

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