Simple Ways to Make Your Home Feel Like a Warm Hug When People Walk In

Everything has got to be in place. Fresh flowers, candles burning with nice scents. For me, having people over, you do the best you can, whether you are having dinner or drinks. Have nice serving glasses, nice serving pieces.

You are bringing them to your home, and you want them to feel good. I want them to enjoy their evening, like they are in a nice restaurant or a nice cozy club.

You asked how to make a house feel like a warm hug. I’ve been living in Florida for forty years and one thing I can tell you is that when you’re welcomed into someone’s home, there are certain things that make you feel more welcome than others. I’ve walked into many houses over the years and there are a few things that stand out as to why I felt welcomed and at ease in that person’s home. Here are a few of my favorites:

First off, a welcoming home does not have to be expensive or large. It just needs to make you feel as though somebody expected you. When you step into a person’s home and everything seems comfortable and thoughtfully done, you will feel welcomed. The seating makes sense, the air is comfortable and the lighting is just right. There are just enough personality traits to stick with you after you’ve left. None of these things need to break the bank, nor need to be perfectly designed. When it comes down to it, it’s the small things that show care and make you feel comfortable that really count.

Begin with light and color

Think of lighting as a way to enhance the mood of your home. The first thing you notice when you enter a room is the mood the lighting casts. It can make you feel like you’re being embraced, or it can leave you feeling as if you’re standing in a sterile box.

Turn off that one harsh overhead light and use lamps at different heights instead. This gives you layers of lighting and the options to control the look and feel of the room. During the day open your window treatments to let in as much natural light as possible. It brightens everything up.

The color of the light is also important. Using a warmer colored light in the evening makes a living room feel like a living room instead of an office.

There are no strict rules when it comes to color. Choose colors that make you happy. I wrote an entire post about choosing colors for Florida light here. Just make sure there is a sense of unity in each room.

Ultimately your home should make you feel comfortable and reflect who you are. Keep it bright, and keep it you.

Let the entry say hello

When you’re staging your Florida home for sale, don’t forget to give some attention to your entryway. After all, that’s the first thing potential buyers will see when they walk in the door.

A great Florida entryway staging tip is to start from scratch. Remove all of the items from your entryway floor, and then think about what you want to accomplish with this space. If you want to encourage buyers to take off their shoes as soon as they walk in the door, consider including a doormat that will help keep the dirt outside where it belongs. You could also incorporate a spot to set their bags or leave their keys when they come in the door.

After you’ve determined the practical purpose of your entryway, consider adding one eye-catching item, such as a plant, lamp, piece of art, or mirror. Resist the temptation to include more than one focal point, however. Instead, you’ll want to keep this area as serene and clutter-free as possible.

A properly staged entryway welcomes buyers into your home and sets the tone for their tour. While I’ve been staging Florida homes for over forty years, this is still one of my favorite elements to include in my staging designs.

Make the room personal, not crowded

Your home should feel personal, but it’s important to strike a balance between having too many items and decorations on display.

It’s nice to have some personality in your home, but if there are too many knick knacks on display it can make the space feel cramped and overwhelming. Try to edit your mementos and photos down to the best of the best and arrange them in a way that flows well.

When displaying your photos and other art on your walls, hang them at eye level. Hanging them too high, almost creeping up into the ceiling, can make a room look taller than it is and can leave the pieces looking lonely. Hanging them lower grounds the space and makes it feel more cozy.

Surfaces should also be curated, pick your favorite items to display, and consider only displaying a few of them (five items on a shelf will always look better than twenty).

By editing down the items in your home, you give each one more space to breath, and you allow your guests to take in what’s truly meaningful to you without being overwhelmed.

When you own a house, if you are buying something with the intent of not staying there forever, try to keep it in mind, but be happy. In your color choices, do what you want to do. In your kitchen or whatever, you can stick with the white cabinets, and you do your backsplash. Do what you want to do to be happy.

Add something alive

Instead of splurging on decorative items that aren’t necessarily functional, consider flowers. Flowers are inexpensive and can be purchased at the grocery store on your way home. All you need is a simple container for your flowers, and suddenly there’s color and life in your home.

Can’t keep plants alive? No problem. Fresh flowers from the grocery store are all you need.

Another way to make your home feel lived in? Lemons or some other type of fruit in a bowl on the kitchen counter.

Start small with one living plant in the main room of your house, and set the tone for the rest of the house. Your guests will walk in and immediately sense that the space is cared for and welcoming.

Arrange the seats for people

As a Florida real estate agent for forty years, I’ve noticed that many people push all of their furniture against the wall thinking it will make their room look larger. What it really does is make the room feel less cozy. Pull your furniture (at least some of it) off of the wall. Yes, it feels a little strange at first, but it will make your room feel more inviting.

Rather than focusing on making everything symmetrical, try to arrange your furniture so that your guests can converse comfortably. A seating circle encourages guests to relax and stay longer. Angle your chairs toward one another. Arrange the furniture so that guests can see one another’s faces and have easy access to drinks. If two guests could comfortably chat for an hour without rearranging the furniture, you did it right.

Pay attention to what the nose notices

When guests walk into your home you want them to feel at ease, right? Their first impression of your home may have everything to do with the way your house smells.

If you want to impress with your scent game, first things first, get rid of any potential stinkers, like trash, dishes, damp towels, a stinky litter box, or that old gym bag. Next, it’s time to neutralize. A cool, fresh-smelling home will always beat a cloying one. That means skipping the air freshener. Instead, warm scents (coffee, freshly baked bread, a delicious pie, you get the idea) can make your space cozy and welcoming.

The ideal home scent? Honestly, that’s no scent at all. Sure, you might love the smell of your favorite body lotion or perfume, but if it’s noticeable enough for you to pick out, it’s probably strong enough to turn others off. And while you may not mind the slight whiff of last night’s dinner, others might. You want your guests to feel relaxed the moment they walk through your door, and that means making sure nothing (besides you.) catches their attention.

Here’s what we know for sure: A clean house is a happy house. If your home is well-maintained, you can bet it’s going to smell that way, too. And that’s the whole point. By getting rid of the sources of unpleasant odors and keeping things simple, your space is sure to smell neutral and fresh, which is the ultimate sign of a clean, healthy home.

Lower the volume

If music is playing, turn it down. Background music is nice but should not draw attention from the house. Remember the goal is for the buyer to relax and feel at peace, not like they’re watching a show.

Layer textures to soften the space. If you live in a Florida home, you know what I’m talking about. Tons of tile and tall ceilings make Florida homes echoey and hard, especially when empty. Curtains, rugs, pillows, throws, upholstered furniture,anything that’s not hard and echoes can help. You don’t have to buy expensive things. Just add layers.

Turn it down. I know it’s loud in here but, remember, you want buyers to feel relaxed and comfortable, not tense and on edge. Soft sounds soothe. Hard and loud sounds do the opposite. And it’s so easy to control.

Keep enough real life in the room

I feel you have got to like people. You have got to like to really get involved in what they need, what they want, and what they can afford. I like that. It is kind of like a puzzle, and you have got to put the pieces together.

There are going to be nice people, great people that you want to stay friends with, and then there are going to be the tough ones that you just cannot wait until the day of closing. But that does not really happen that often.

Surrounded by cluttered shelves and overflowing surfaces, guests are nervous. When they step into a room with completely empty shelves, they feel lonely. But when they walk into a space that strikes the perfect balance between the two, they feel welcomed and at ease.

When staging a home, I advise my clients to leave out some of their favorite things, even if they’re used on a daily basis. Those are the pieces that will make the house feel like a home. They’ll help guests relax and make the space feel less staged and sterile.

Similarly, if you’re looking to freshen up your own space, try incorporating some of your favorite things into your home’s design. Maybe it’s the comfortable reading chair in the corner of the room, the interesting book you can’t bear to shelve, or the object you picked up on a trip that holds special meaning for you. These are the items that will give your home personality and show that it’s truly lived in.

Ultimately, we connect to homes and spaces that have some kind of story to tell. We connect to things that have been loved and taken care of. We connect to people who aren’t afraid to let their true personalities shine. So, instead of stressing over emptying your shelves or trying to keep up with trends that don’t speak to you, focus on making your home uniquely yours. It’s the simplest way to turn a house into a home.

The warm welcome checklist

Do these things for yourself, not only for buyers or dinner guests. The best welcoming home is one that makes the people who live there feel good when they walk back in.