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There’s a big difference between a home set up for personal use and one for entertaining. When it’s just you, you can live in pretty much whatever way you like. But the moment you start having guests come over regularly, things change. All of a sudden, you have to meet their needs as well.
In this post, we take a look at some of the ingenious ways you can set your home up for entertaining. Check them out below.
Create Zones In Your Home
The first thing to do is to create zones in your home: places for you and your family, and then communal areas where guests can mingle.
There are several ways you can do this without it being obvious. One method, for instance, is to simply change the flooring materials in your open-plan areas. So, for example, if you have a kitchen-diner and want to keep guests away from the cooking space, just transition the flooring from wood to tile or vice versa. They’ll soon get the message.
If you’re still struggling, you can simply hang a chain across your thoroughfares with a sign that says “private.” Only the bravest guests will dare to defy this one!
Invest In An Outdoor Kitchen
During the warmer months of the year, it’s a lot of fun to entertain guests outside. There’s nothing quite like the sun beating down on your head to remind you that life’s good.
But, for most homeowners, this creates a problem. You have to continually scurry inside to check on the food or pour drinks, interrupting your conversations with guests.
The solution is to invest in an outdoor kitchen – somewhere you can prepare meals while also chatting to your guests.
Today’s outdoor kitchens are much more sophisticated than a simple BBQ. These days, you can get fully electric hobs, refrigerators and lockable storage cabinets for keeping all your ingredients.
Make Your Coffee Table The Focal Point
The whole point of having a coffee table is to give guests somewhere to put their drinks while you chat. But, for many homeowners, it has become a kind of side piece – not the main event.
To correct this, choose a designer square glass coffee table and make that the centrepiece of the room (not the TV). Then arrange all your sofas and chairs around it so that it is in the middle. For entertaining, ignore your television set entirely.
Place Mood Lighting
Daytime parties can get light from French doors and windows. But if you’re hosting in the evening, you’ll have to go down the artificial route.
The type of lighting solutions you choose depends heavily on the type of parties you plan to host. Some work best in darker, intimate spaces, while others require more ambient light (think kids’ parties).
Creating mood lighting is easier than you think. For instance, installing Philips Hue allows you to change the colour of the light itself, from red to violet. You could also try adding recessed lighting atop your kitchen cabinets, hiding the bulb itself.
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