How to Prepare Your Great Room for the Holidays

Your great room provides plenty of space for you and guests to unwind, share a meal, and simply enjoy each other’s company. As the holidays approach, you’ll likely get plenty of use out of every inch of your great room, however it’s configured. That said, more can always be done to enhance your great room’s appeal and make it an even better hub for the holidays. But with so much ground to cover, it can be challenging to know where to even begin. Fortunately, even a handful of smaller changes can prepare your great room for holiday gatherings, both in terms of aesthetics and functionality. Let’s go over some ways to get your great room ready for the holidays this season.

Ways to Prepare Your Guest Room for the Holidays

Establish a Functional and Festive Foyer

Though technically separate from your great room, your entryway most likely opens up into some portion of your great room. In other words, your guests’ first impression of your home’s great room begins with their immediate entrance, viewing the open splendor of this area from the foyer. The most effective entryways serve two key roles: 1) to give guests a place to remove their shoes, jackets, and other articles and 2) to provide a transition from the home’s exterior to its interior spaces. Knowing this, it’s important to provide your holiday guests with a warm welcome the second they step inside. For starters, make sure there’s plenty of room for guests to remove winter articles and comfortably place them somewhere in or near your entryway so they’re out of the way but easy to access if needed; you might need to declutter your foyer and install additional hangers/storage vessels to achieve this. Once your foyer is optimized for your guests, do some light decorating to drive home the holiday theme. Everyone will appreciate the warm welcome as they enter your home this holiday season.

Invest in Festive Focal Points

Once you’ve prepared the area(s) leading into your great room for the holidays, you can begin doing the same for your great room itself. Try taming the wide open spaces of your great room with some contrasting points of interest, namely holiday-themed decorations. The most obvious addition is a large, decorative pine tree; since the ceilings of most great rooms are so high, you can get away with quite a tall tree if you so desire. If you decide to go this route, keep in mind that your tree doesn’t need to be placed in the center of your great room to establish itself as a focal point. On the contrary, it’s better to erect the tree closer to one of the corners in your living area so it’s not taking up seating space or crowding people’s views. Not to worry -- even if your tree is well off to the side, it will remain a point of interest and conversation for your holiday guests.

Aside from large decorations like the one mentioned above, sprinkle smaller, festive pieces around your great room for a coherent and balanced interior design. Take advantage of your established centerpieces (e.g., fireplace, mantelpieces, coffee table, etc.) by placing these decorative features on top of them. Just be careful not to overdo it with the decorating, as too many accessories can interfere with your great room’s visual flow and practical use.

Clean Up the Kitchen for Holiday Cooking

Kitchens are typically popular and active places during the holidays. After all, it’s hard to be festive without a feast. In great rooms, kitchens are usually directly attached to the rest of the room, offering very little separation between this area and the living area(s). As such, your kitchen will likely be even more prominent, as some guests might prefer to sit around the island to enjoy drinks and snacks while still being in earshot of everyone else. Knowing that your kitchen area is bound to receive plenty of attention and use, it’s extra important to thoroughly clean it before guests arrive. This way, you can proudly display your great room’s cooking area while simultaneously preparing meals in optimal fashion.

Provide Ample Seating for Guests

There’s a time and place for standing at any holiday affair, but everyone enjoys taking a load off, especially when it’s time to eat. Just because your great room has lots of space doesn’t necessarily mean it has enough seating for all your guests. Once you have a general sense of how many people you’ll be hosting, take stock of your current seating situation and determine whether more chairs, stools, etc. are needed throughout your great room. You may have additional chairs in storage, or you might consider investing in some additional furniture for future gatherings. Whatever the case, the way you configure your seating counts, too. To encourage conversation, try to turn your various seating features toward one another, with a table and/or centerpiece in between.

Make Sure Your Floors Are Safe

The last thing you want during your holiday get-together is for someone to fall and get injured. If your floors are dirty or ultra slick, the risk of slips, trips, and falls will increase. Thoroughly clean your floors before the festivities begin. If you find that they’re still somewhat slippery, place high-friction mats and area rugs around your great room in strategic locations. Ideally, these rugs will complement your room’s existing interior design. Still, safety is more important than aesthetics, so worry about the former before considering the latter.

If Necessary, Touch Up Your Interior House Paint

Depending on how much time you have between now and your holiday gathering(s), you might think about touching up your great room’s paint job. Of course, this decision also depends on the current condition of your home painting. If you take good care of your walls, ceilings, and other surfaces, interior paint can retain its appearance for decades. Over time, however, the walls in your great room might get scuffed, stained, or otherwise damaged, leaving noticeable marks and/or discoloration. Even if no one else will remark on these surface imperfections, it might be worth investing in interior painting to 1) get it out of the way for the new year and 2) “wow” each and every one of your guests with a pristine paint job.

Consider New Colors

Lastly, if you are planning on painting some or all of your great room before the holidays, now’s a great time to consider introducing new colors to this area. You might be happy with the current color scheme you have going on, of course -- if not, though, even a minor color change or addition of an accent wall can transform your great room. If you’re not sure how to select interior paint colors for your great room, some professional painting providers like Nash Painting offer color consultations to help you realize your vision. Also, you might seek inspiration from the holiday season to choose colors for your interior (i.e., greens, whites, reds, and golds). Just keep in mind that you’ll want to be happy with your great room’s colors year-round, not just during the holidays! If holiday colors are your main concern, use temporary features and decorations to adjust your interior’s color scheme.

Celebrate a Great Holiday Season

Whether you need assistance with color selection, cabinet painting, home interior painting, or other improvements, Nash Painting will help you make your great room the hub for holiday gatherings. We continue to proudly serve countless homes and businesses across Nashville, Brentwood, and Franklin, TN. To learn more about us, our services, and our values, call us at 615-829-6858 today!