The Hostess with the Mostest

When I was recently asked to share some organizing tips for hostessing, I was reluctant.  There will be seasons for every single one of us when we feel like our homes are not organized, and I would never want you to pass up a hostessing opportunity because of that.  Being a gracious hostess is about your attitude.  The way you greet your guests, the way you listen when they are talking, your comfort level at having them in your less than perfect home.

So, before you read on, please believe that you can still have someone over even if your living room is stacked with furniture and you have portable heaters all over the place and you can only sit on kitchen stools or dining chairs because you have no other furniture.  

Okay.  Now let's talk about some things you can do to be organized before your guests arrive.

Entry:

Whether you have lots of space or barely any, there are steps you can take to make your entrance guest friendly.  If you keep guests' coats in the closet, make sure you have extra hangers and push your jackets aside to make some room.  If you have enough room in your entryway, put up some hooks that are special for guests.

A rug, especially something with a bit of depth like shag, will keep your visitors from that wet floor dance when they come in with snowy boots.

It's nice to have a chair if you have space, so people who need to can sit to put on footwear.  A mirror is helpful as well in case someone wants to do a quick once over before coming in.  

Don't forget to pop a little pretty into your entrance to help your friends feel welcome.

Potty Talk:

No joke.  I have had the empty roll experience on more toilets than I can tell you.  Just the other day it happened to me in a restaurant.  

Ugh.

Please, please, please keep spare rolls in the bathroom!

I fell in love with this idea that I saw on the Jones Design Company blog...brilliant!

I also think a garbage can is essential in your guest bathroom...it can be kinda awkward without one.

Corral the Clutter:

I am a huge fan of the tray.  I use them all over the house from my nightside table to my coffee table.  Trays come in all shapes and colours.  They look pretty and are useful to corral your stuff.  If you need more space when you are entertaining, it's easy to move a tray to create more room.

House of Turquoise

 If you have an ottoman in your entertaining area, a tray makes a perfect spot for guests to place their drinks or snacks.

House of Turquoise

Even my in my temporary living room I have my trusty trays out.

Way up there in the first photo, I really wanted to make excuses for my unfinished door frame and my lack of baseboards.  And did I mention that I want to paint the wood on that turquoise chair to match the love seat?  But when someone comes over and you spend your whole time apologizing, it sorta starts to feel a bit uncomfortable.  So, no apologies please.  I'm not perfect, neither are you.  Come in and let's have a great time enjoying each other's company.  

Patience is a Virtue

Oh. Yah.

The ribbon appeared.  That's right.  In my ribbon box...where I did not ever look.

  These things happen to the most organized.  

Right?

(no age comments please)

Now the scarves are all hung behind the mirror with care.

In case anyone (besides Jake) is waiting on the edge of their seats to see Room Number Four, I apologize.  A key piece of furniture for the redo is in that room with the load of furniture in front of it.  Hopefully, soon I will have a basement storage room to move all that stuff into and Jake's room can get done!

Don't Call the Stuff Police

WARNING:

If you have anti-stuff issues, please stop reading now.

I've been living in reno land since the Spring.  Which means I have not had access to my storage room for quite awhile.

Yup.  That's it.  Way back there.  Even if I did haul all that stuff out of the way, the room itself is FULL of everything I had in the basement as well as items from the main floor where the reno is happening.

Since we started renovating I've been on a few trips, had a birthday, Christmas has come and gone.  Not to mention yard sales and Kijiji.  So yah...I have some stuff hanging around and nowhere to store it.

Ugh.  My great little gift storage room turned into a dumping ground.

Oops.  Because even when parts of your home are in chaos, there are things you can do to keep your living space normal, and that is important so that you can feel some sense of peace even if, you know, half your main floor is ripped apart and your basement is still unliveable and you can't use your front door still (just for example).

So today I pulled all that stuff out.  

Darla, who should be on salary, and I sorted everything into bins according to which room it will eventually go into.  And here we are, 12 bins later.  If you want to say, LADY, you have a lot of stuff, then what I have to say to you is, I KNOW.  But by reno end, I will have gained 1700 square feet (plus my porch).  So, I think it is not smart to purge anything until I am sure it will not be needed.

And now my little gift/craft room is back to normal and it feels much more peaceful up here.

Now let's play a little game.  I thought when I got that big pile out of the way, I would find my brown ribbon which I need to add some new scarves to my scarf collection.  

But it was not there.  And it is not in my sewing area.  ARG.  

So?  Where would Shannon store her ribbon???

HELP

And no age comments.