ENTERTAINING 101: Focal Points

This tip continues our series on getting your home ready for entertaining.

Focal Points

Have a focal point that establishes your theme in your main room. This will anchor your theme.  Decorating around this featured item will help the flow from room to room.  

Art & Accessories

What you hang on your walls and what you showcase as accessories will have an impact.  One of my clients likes to tell stories about an over-sized tribal necklace that hangs in a focal spot of their home. The story changes regularly, depending on the gullibility and sense of humor of their guest.

Lighting

Lighting is crucial, as it establishes the rooms ambiance.  Put dimmer switches on overhead can lights. The dining room, foyer and outdoor lights are a good place to start to create your desired effect.  

At different times in your evening you may want to adjust your lighting. Candles can be lovely, but watch out for breezes from fans, a/c vents, or opened windows. There are whole house lighting systems that can create scenes from romantic to super bowl party with just a flick of a switch.

Take a good look at your space. Step back with a critical eye and ask yourself,  "Is my home comfortable, guest friendly, tasteful, and do I like the way it lives and feels?"  If you answer yes to all , then you have done a great job of getting your home ready for entertaining.  If not, remember, simple changes can work wonders! 

Good luck in creating a lovely home environment.

ENTERTAINING 101: Get your home ready!

Have you noticed that Southwest Florida just might be the home entertainment capital of the world? It is!  Our beautiful climate and friendly people blend together to create the perfect environment for getting together, and what better place than in our homes. 

Is your home ready for entertaining?  We want our house to look as good as possible when we invite our friends to spend an evening or afternoon.  Your home says a lot about you.  You invest a lot of your time and energy to make your home as comfortable and as appealing as possible. 

A large or very small decorating budget shouldn't make a difference if you follow some simple suggestions:

Sometimes just re-arranging or eliminating furniture pieces can make a dramatic difference.  An overly crowded room doesn't do you one bit of good.  You should be able to move around freely, if not make a change.  Sometimes moving furniture from one room to another makes a nice difference.  If your dining room is small, buffet dinners will work just fine.

Formal or casual rooms should look comfortable and not haphazard.  Too many colors,  textures, sizes and scales create chaos making your room feel unfriendly.  Formal arrangements should be symmetrical in your furniture and accessory arrangements with the use of muted or deeper colors.  A casual look is usually asymmetrical and playful with the use of textures and color (but not too many).

A theme will help you unify your decor.  The theme should flow from room to room.  Examples of themes are beach, tropical, country French, Tuscan, Asian, or world traveler,  just to name a few.  If you can't decide on a theme tear pages of pictures of homes you like from decorating and home magazines.  More than likely they will have a similar look or theme, and this will help you develop your theme and style.