10 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.

A welcoming home is not necessarily large, expensive, or perfectly decorated. It feels as though somebody expected you. The light is comfortable, the air is pleasant, the seating makes sense, and there is enough personality to remember after you leave.

Begin with light and color

I like bright. I like natural light. That is a must. My mood changes when I am in a dark space. Now, when I say dark space, if I am in a cute little quaint pub, a restaurant that has great chandeliers and candles, I am fine with that. But I like lots of windows, lots of light. I do not want to be in a space that does not seem bright.

I would say eclectic. I like a mix. Right now I am looking for a cool vintage piece that could be something from the sixties or seventies. I want a table for the living room to go between those two blue chairs. I want something that is more of a conversation piece. I want to add more warmth to that little area.

I am not a beige girl. Now, if you are beige and you have fantastic artwork and fantastic accessories, then that is a whole different thing. That is a clean look, and I am talking amazing artwork and a major theme, introducing some black and whites and fresh flowers with color. I am fine with that, but it has got to be done in the right way.

Turn off the one harsh overhead light and use lamps at different heights. During the day, open the window treatments and let the natural light do the work. At night, warmer bulbs make a living room feel more like a home than an office.

Let the entry say hello

The first few feet should have a place for keys, a bag, or a person taking off shoes. Clear the floor, use a doormat that fits the doorway, and add one thing worth looking at—a mirror, lamp, plant, or piece with a story.

Make the room personal, not crowded

I think I started when I was about eight or nine when I painted my bedroom wall gold. A gold metallic paint. Which, by the way, in the fifties was not easy to find. I could not go to Amazon. I could not go on the internet and find it. I had to really search and get somebody to take me to a hardware store. And everyone thought I was very strange.

I was actually probably eleven or twelve. I did it when my mother did not know. I had the paint and everything, and I painted a little bit at a time. She came in my room, and I would distract her. Let me tell you something: it is not easy to cover gold metallic paint. When somebody moves in and you sell, it is not easy.

I always had that, and I still do. When I go into somebody’s home, I sit there and I think of ways to change it. If I go into a hotel room, I like to change it. It is something in my mind that I cannot stop.

The gold wall was very personal. It was also hard to cover. That is the balance: let the house show who lives there, but give every object enough room to be seen.

When somebody owns a house and has been there twenty-five years, and they have done nothing in twenty-five years, you are selling as is. It is a gut job, unless somebody has the same exact taste that you had twenty-five years ago.

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

Before kitchen photographs, keep it uncluttered and clean. Uncluttered and inviting. Put out a fresh bowl of fruit, a fresh bowl of lemons, something happy. Have flowers.

Do not have personal photos. People’s eyes go to that instead of what they should be looking at. No distractions. You can even play some very soft classical music. Make it inviting, so when they leave they say, wow, that was so nice. People remember the little touches.

Plants and flowers make a room feel tended. They do not need to be expensive or dramatic. Grocery-store flowers in a simple container can do more than another decorative object.

Arrange the seats for people

Pull at least some of the furniture away from the walls. Turn chairs toward one another and make sure each person has a place for a cup. If two people could sit down and talk for an hour without moving furniture, the room is doing its job.

Pay attention to what the nose notices

Number one, you should never have the seller there for a showing. You do not want people to ask the seller anything. As a realtor, you better know everything about that property. Especially in condos, which we deal with a lot in Miami and Miami Beach, you better know everything to do with that association.

If the seller is not there and you have access on your own, I have actually cleaned apartments before the clients have shown up. Clothes were lying around. You cannot do that. They will say it was short notice, but now they should need twenty-four-hour notice. If a client comes into town and says, I am here for a few more hours, that is an exception. You show it. But you get there a little early because you want to make sure it is showable.

As a buyer, no one wants to walk in and think, if this is what it looks like now, what else am I going to find? If everything looks sparkling clean and organized, you think, well, they take good care of this place. The air should be cool. Do not go into an oven.

In the old days they used to say, if you are showing a place, put some cinnamon in the oven. Cinnamon is a very relaxing smell. You can throw in some apples and cinnamon. It smells like somebody is making a pie.

The cinnamon-and-apples trick is not a substitute for cleaning. First remove trash, dirty dishes, damp towels, and anything else causing an odor. Then cool the room and use fragrance lightly.

Lower the volume

Rugs, curtains, upholstered furniture, and throws soften the echo in a hard room. Music should sit in the background rather than ask for attention.

The point is not to stage a performance. It is to help people relax.

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.

A house should not feel like nobody is allowed to touch it. Keep the useful books, the comfortable chair, and the object with a story. Remove the overflow, not the life.

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.