Are you hosting family and friends this holiday season? Give your dwelling a season-worthy upgrade with these simple DIY home improvements for the holidays to get your home holiday ready!
1. Crank up your curb appeal.
Welcome guests with a “WOW” with a freshly painted front door or porch and exterior trim. Brightly colored front doors are all the rage right now, so let your personality shine with a front door painted pumpkin orange or as red as Santa’s sleigh. Give your siding and exterior a power wash before cold weather hits and it’s time to shut off outside water. When the last leaf has fallen, clean out your gutters before the snow comes to get your house ready for some festive holiday lights.
2. Create an entryway for entertaining.
Give your entryway a fresh coat of paint and consider updating your flooring to heavy duty tile that can handle wet and heavy winter and fall foot traffic. Designate a safe space for guests’ wet shoes that doesn’t interfere with your entryway, walkway, or damage your flooring, and consider adding a small bench for seating and hooks for winter coats and hats.
3. Freshen up your fireplace.
Nothing says winter like the toasty warm glow of a fireplace. Now is the perfect time to have your fireplace inspected by a professional to ensure it is clean, clear, and ready for flames. Have an outdated fireplace surround? Breathe new life into it with a new tile surround, or paint the existing tile or stone for a clean new look. Chalk paint is a great option for painting your fireplace surround as it typically covers in one coat with no priming necessary. Change out a small mantel with something more substantial – like a large piece of reclaimed wood – to get your fireplace all set for hanging stockings with care.
4. Treat yourself to a new kitchen faucet.
With holiday baking, cooking, and entertaining on the horizon, many of us live in our kitchens throughout the fall and winter. Not only can a beautiful new faucet be a jewel on your kitchen’s countertops, it can also increase your kitchen’s functionality. With today’s tap-touch and no-touch kitchen faucet options, you can keep your hands clean and your kitchen sanitary no matter how many birds you end up stuffing.
5. Liven up your linens.
Cooler temperatures are a perfect invitation to change your bed sheets to warm flannel linens and switch out duvets to something a little heavier. Consider adding an extra quilt to the end of the guest bed to ensure a good night’s sleep – but don’t stop there! Colder weather is also a great time to swap out those sheer curtain panels to thicker drapes – many of which have thermal and insulated properties which can increase your home’s energy efficiency.
These simple home improvements are a few great ways to make a big impact for your guests this holiday season.
Dusty Rogers is the blogger, mother, maker, decorator and drinker of the wine at All Things G&D - a lifestyle blog where home dรฉcor, DIY and organization, healthy meals and kid-friendly snacks, party planning and entertaining all happily play together in the sandbox. Dusty lives in Madison, WI with her husband Greg and their daughter Kate, and she spends her days balancing high maintenance tendencies with a desire to keep things simple.
