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With guests coming over for the holidays, you may be wondering how to accommodate them all. This can be especially true if you have multiple people coming over from different sides of the family or other separate social areas of your life. Without proper organization in your home, you could end up with crowded clusters of people milling about awkwardly. Luckily, it’s actually pretty easy to accommodate all kinds of different people. Some of these ideas just involve changing the furniture around. Others might have you planning for your next remodel. Below, you’ll find multiple tips for arranging your home for entertaining.
Your guests will appreciate intimate seating areas. Image: Scott Weston Architecture Design PL
Think Intimacy for Sitting Areas
A hallmark of a well-organized home during a party is having multiple intimate seating areas. The photo above shows an example of such an area. Multiple individual seats face each other. They’re not too far apart, but not too close. An ottoman in the middle helps give some visual balance and organization to the area. The space itself is also set off to the side by a window, making it a cozy area to sit and enjoy some catching up with friends or family.
And as far as the color scheme goes, this space has a good visual cohesion to it. The blue chairs stand out slightly from the blue wall and curtains behind it due to the slightly different shades of blue. It’s a good example of monochrome layering. The teal chairs in the foreground don’t clash with the blue, but they still stand out for an additional layered feel. Paying attention to color can make a sitting area look like its own design element in the room.
Set a welcoming and well-styled tone for your home right in the entryway. Image: James Traynor Custom Homes
Have a Welcoming Foyer
You’ll also want to pay attention to the foyer area when you’re arranging your home for entertaining. Make sure it’s welcoming and stylish to set the tone as guests enter. The photo above shows a good example.
Small accents like plants can give a touch of warmth and life. Having personalized items like art or family photos in the foyer can make the space feel like a natural part of the house. Matching rugs, like in the photo above, give a sense of well-planned cohesion and can help set the design tone that guests can expect in the rest of the home. Seating areas by the door are good for guests to take off shoes or have a rest. And remember, foyer color is important. Little additions like these can help the foyer feel less cold and forgotten, as can often be the case with such a space.
Guests will like multiple activity options. Image: Synergy Design and Construction
Have Multiple Spaces for Different Guest Interests
It can be tempting to have a pattern where the furniture is organized surrounding the TV when you’re arranging your home for entertaining. After all, that’s how we tend to live the rest of the time when we don’t have guests over. However, you might want to pay special attention to how your space is organized so different interests can be accommodated. Not everyone likes to sit around and watch football.
For instance, the photo above shows a pool table for people who like to be more active at parties. You might also try having tables and chairs set out with games on them or poker tables set up. Also, think about individual seating areas set away from the TV for people who like intimate conversations.
Try a sectional sofa for seating in smaller areas. Image: Brad Ramsey Interiors
Sectionals Can Be Good Visiting Spaces
The seating ideas above tend to work well if you have a larger space. But for smaller spaces, a larger sectional sofa can work well for seating guests. It’s counterintuitive, but larger one-piece furniture sets like this work well in smaller rooms since the spacing between chairs can actually take up more floor space.
The photo above shows how a larger sectional can work in a narrower room. People can either sit next to each other and talk or watch TV. The four-piece ottoman set can also be a good place to put serving trays for snacks, as long as there isn’t a grabby pet around.
Multiple large-scale seating areas can accommodate different groups of people. Image: BUILD
Try Multiple Sitting Areas When You’re Arranging Your Home for Entertaining
You might also want to consider multiple sitting areas while you’re arranging your home for entertaining. The photo above shows a large-scale example of multiple sitting areas. This can work well for parties where people from different parts of your life gather, like work friends and family. That way, different groups can have enough space to talk to each other.
If you don’t have such a large space, you can also make the idea work by placing small groupings of chairs around your home. You might face two smaller sofas away from each other and surround each in chairs or loveseats. You can also place additional chairs around natural eating areas, like adding chairs to a breakfast nook.