Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly... But Clean Them First
Posted on 18/12/2015
How Do I Prepare My House for Christmas?
With all the guests ready to visit your home on the holidays, you should have the proper preparation done to greet them. You need to work on your hallways and make sure that they will be an appropriate welcome for anyone who comes knocking at your door. The hallway is the perfect place to set up most of the Christmas decor as it won’t get in the way of your activities in the rest of the rooms and you will be able to still enjoy the holiday spirit with each step you take outside the rooms. That doesn’t mean, of course that there should not be any decorations in the rest of the rooms, but you can keep them to a minimum and, if the hallway is large enough, of course, have the halls of your home as the main focus area on your Christmas decor. But even before that comes, there is a preparation to the preparation and it comes with home cleaning and the following strategy:
Setting up the Christmas feel of the house should be done over a sanitised area so that you both have a clean setting and the decoration itself stays clean till you take it down. And that is why the ‘clean and place’ strategy should be applied. And it is a simple one to follow: you pick an ornament, you find a place for it, you clean the place and you place the ornament. Quite simple, right?
If your house has two floors, you can start with the staircase area. Start with home cleaning and take out all your tools and products. Shine up the stairs, mop the floors, scrub the railing. And now take out all the garlands you want to place here and go crazy with your decisions. Make it look good, but make it fun for yourself. If you want a ribbon-style decoration, do it. If you want to cover your railings with wreathes, do just that. Be uncompromising when it comes to taste as this is your home and you say what goes. Set the poinsettias to colour up the halls and don’t forget the mistletoe!
If the hall is big enough, it could handle the Christmas tree. Clean up a special spot for the green giant and set it up. You might want to place it on top of paper or something to take in all the falling tree bits as carpet cleaning will be a real nightmare when you have to take the tree down. Proceed with decorating the tree and don’t forget to invite the family as this is usually one of the best moments a family can share throughout the year. Don’t forget to have a huge gleaming star on top to show your faith in the good cheer of the season.
You can also do something about the shoe area. Depending on how many guests you are expecting, you might want to make space for all the shoes that will be taken off at the door. You might want to add a solitary cabinet for all the shoes and invite the guests to place them inside so that moving through the hallway does not become a run through an obstacle course.
And with this your hallways should be decked and ready to greet your guests with the full strength of the Christmas cheer. A home clean and decorated will await all who come and you can focus on further surprising them with the delicious holiday meals that should adorn the Christmas table. And don’t worry about the next thorough house cleaning – it comes long after the New Year arrives!
