Having guests over to your home can create stress. The cleaning, the preparations, and the angst of worrying what they will think of your home, can all pile up. Thankfully, there are four simple steps to make sure that your guests are impressed with your home decor every time they come for a visit.

Clutter Be Gone

More important than fancy furniture and exotic paintings, the lack of clutter in a home is the most impressive feature of a home’s decor. This is especially true for families with pets and small children. Although the number of items in the home may remain the same, figuring out clever ways to hide and control the clutter is paramount. Baskets, lidded boxes and strategic shelving can all help make the home appear neater and the homeowners more in control of their surroundings. For inspiration on how to store items, look to home decor magazines, as well as Internet sites that cater to those people who need storage solution advice.

Calming Color

Color says it all when it comes to a home’s decor. Bold, bright colors are much more aggressive than their neutral counterparts. To ensure that guests will be consistently impressed with the home’s decor, opt for colors that are more calming and soothing. They will create a feeling of welcoming and comfort, as opposed to, unbridled energy. It is much easier to feel comfortable in a room that has a soothing energy, so strive to capture that ambiance when choosing colors.

Smooth Transitions

What do all well decorated homes have in common? They all have smooth transitions from room to room. They create a feeling flow and subtle movement that draws guests in. These transitions are usually created through the use of paint colors, but they can also be enhanced with strategic accessory placement. For example, if the foyer holds a tall, Chinese urn, placing a similarly styled piece within eyesight in the adjacent living room will draw the eye further into the house. This feeling of continuity will impress your guests without them even realizing why the decor is spectacular.

Common Themes

Choose a common theme for the home and carry it through the rooms where guests visit. The theme can be a color or a style of art or even a specific object or shape. Include it in subtle pieces throughout the home to help create that feeling of continuity. Having a central theme also helps homeowners when they are decorating, because it is then easier to decide which pieces to include in the home’s decor.

The key to impressing guests with the home’s decor is to be subtle. Brassy and bold will create a feeling of unease and discomfort. Soothing colors, common themes and smooth transitions in an uncluttered home will make guests happy to be there every time. Often, guests will not linger on the specifics of the home’s decor when describing it, but will talk about how the home feels comfortable and how everything “fits.” Those descriptions are due to the strategic planning of item and color placement in the house. By taking the time to create a home that guests feel comfortable being in, party planning and dinner parties will become a pleasure rather than a cause of stress.

Author Bio: Professional designer Robert Crowley, writes for WallDecorandHomeAccents.com, and specializes in decorating with carved wood wall plaques and music metal artwork.

Category: Home Management
Keywords: home, decor, design, wall art, improvement, remodel, budget, repair, feng shui