How to Fix up your Place for Holiday Guests

The holidays are coming and you are expecting family and friends. Here are some tips on how to fix up your house for very little money, so that your house looks like you spent a lot.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• paint
• material
• white linens
• candles

1. Before beginning, take a fresh look at your house and Christmas decorations. Have that gotten old, is the decor dated? Ask a trusted friend for the honest truth. Then, take action with some of these ideas.
2. Rearrange: Plan ahead for guests and start moving furniture, to increase floor space and allow guests freer movement. Create cozy conversation areas, and then when guests arrive add tv trays to these conversation areas to give guests a place to hold their food and drinks.
3. Paint: Color can go a long way. Paint one wall an accent color, add accent pillows in the same tone to bring it together and give a fresh new look. Add bold frames and co-ordinated candles in decorative candle holders can make a dull or sterile room more attractive and welcoming. Highlight a special item by placing it against a contrasting surface.
   
   Paint your kitchen and/or cabinets white (don't forget primer first). This project can be done in a day and will make all the difference.
   
   Take a critical look at some of your furniture. Is there a dresser that would look better with a fresh paint job, a dining chair or side table?
4. Hardware: Replace kitchen or bathroom faucets. They are not that hard to do and can really make a big difference. Replace pulls and hardware on the cabinets, especially if you have painted them.
5. Linens: Put a new, white table cloth on your dining table and add a Christmas centerpiece. Make one yourself from some branches of your Christmas tree, candles and berries from your yard.
   
   Replace bedding with fresh white sheets and accent with a red or green comforter, quilt or blanket folded in half at the foot of the bed..
   
   Several white fresh towels are very welcoming and adding white hand towels on the sink is special for your guests.
6. Flooring: Is your kitchen or bathroom floor looking worn and dated. We all want wood or tile flooring but it can be quite an expense. Vinyl flooring is the answer and with all the wonderful colors and styles they are making now, you are sure to find some that you will like and will modernize your kitchen or bathroom in one afternoon. (See pic of vinyl flooring) It is a inexpensive do it yourself job that will transform your kitchen or bathroom.
7. Reupholster: Reupholstering a kitchen or dining chair is a simple do it yourself job. Usually 4 yards of fabric will cover 6 chairs and can be done in just a few hours. Ottomans and footstools are simple to do, too. For one job I did, I had enough to reupholster 4 dining chairs, an accent for the window and a runner for the dining table. All the material that matched made everything look custom and cohesive.
8. When putting your Christmas decorations up, don't forget to store your everyday decorations. Don't just add Christmas decorations to your decor, replace your decor with Christmas decorations. That way your house will not looked cluttered.

Tips & Warnings

• Not sure what color to paint? At the hardware or paint store they have pamphlets with pictures of decorated rooms. I use these all the time for inspiration.
• In the evening candlelight makes everything look serene and festive. Put candles in every room that your guests will be.