Summer is approaching, and as people start to plan their holidays, you may start hearing from people who want to come for a visit.
Having friends or family stay with you can be a great experience – but it can also be a source of stress if your home doesn’t have a lot of space or isn’t well-equipped for putting people up for extended stays.
Here are a few tips that can help you manage houseguests so that they have a good time, and you maintain your sanity.
Plan some outings together
You don’t want an itinerary that’s so packed you’re marching everyone from one thing to the next with a stopwatch in your hand, but you’ll find company more manageable if you have a few activities planned in advance.
Think about what your guests are interested in, and choose accordingly – an art gallery or museum, a sporting event, a show, a hike – and you’ll find you all get along better for having been out of the house for a few hours.
Stockpile hotel samples
Whenever you travel, don’t be shy about collecting all those miniature soaps, shampoos, creams and so on that you see in hotel bathrooms.
Store them away in a drawer, and when your guests come, put them out in a basket in the bathroom they’ll be using.
Take advantage of restaurants
Even if you love to cook, trying to plan, shop for and prepare meals for several extra people can quickly go from being a pleasure to being a chore.
Eating out or ordering in takes some of the pressure off and allows you to actually enjoy the time with your guests instead of running back and forth between the dining room and the kitchen.
Plan some outings for your guests – without you
If the guests are grandparents, it’s easy to suggest they take the kids out to a movie or a game, or even to the park for a couple of hours.
If your guests are other family members or friends, try to think of something they might like to do on their own – even if it’s just going out to a local restaurant – and set it up for them.
Having even a couple of hours to relax and “reclaim your space” will make the visit that much easier.
Clear some storage space
If your guests are staying for more than a couple of days, try to set aside some space for them to keep their things so they aren’t living out of suitcases.
If you have a guest room, free up a couple of drawers and some closet space; otherwise, put up some hooks or a rack on the back of a door where they can hang their clothes.
Invest in a wall bed
A wall bed (sometimes called a Murphy bed) is a bed that folds up into the wall when you’re not using it.
A wall bed can be built on its own, or it can be part of a larger storage system – a well-designed, custom wall bed unit gives you the ability to turn part of your house into a guest room when you have company, and then use the space for day-to-day living the rest of the time.
At Organized Interiors, we can help make hosting houseguests easier with custom wall bed units, as well as other storage solutions.
Get in touch with us and one of our design consultants will visit you for a free in-home consultation to discuss what you need and how we can help. Book yours today.