Here’s how to prepare your home for the festive season

Deep clean your home

The holidays are when you will host guests: family, friends, colleagues. You don’t want your guests visiting a home that has accumulated lived-in dirt all through the year. Vacuum your rugs and air them in the sunshine, dust down your furniture with washing liquid and a clean cotton cloth, use a feather duster to tame those stubborn dusty corners, wipe the leaves of your houseplants, shine your windows, you know what your house needs to be ready for your guests.

You will host them this December, the house will become dirty again (probably dirtier than it was before) and you will feel like you are back to square one again. That’s okay, budget to do a professional deep clean in February 2022 when January engagements are over and you have some money in your pocket.

Budget to clean your furniture, rugs and foot mats, mattresses, curtains and sheers… everything, really. Budget at least Sh15,000 for the job. This deep clean will take you for another six to nine months, depending on the activity in your household.

Declutter your home

This is also the time to turn your home upside down and shake it loose of the clutter you have collected through the year. Decluttering takes up a lot of time and energy, so it is important that you have an organised plan on how you will approach this annual task.

The basic strategy is to look through your home’s storage and separate your belongings into three distinct categories, labelled: ‘Keep’, ‘Donate’ and ‘Discard’. Everything you sort through must fit into one of those three categories.

Start with the kitchen and pantry (since this is where your guests’ meals will be prepped, you need as much space as you can create). Then go into the guest room then to the living room and dining room.

Work your way gradually around your house in an organised manner. Buy carton boxes, sealable plastic crates, bubble wrap, manila paper and marker pens to organise yourself the more. Your mantra here as you declutter should be, ‘A place for everything and everything in its place.’

Declutter the bedrooms last because this is where the bulk of the work is. You can also keep the clutter here locked away – behind closed doors, away from prying eyes – as you host your guests this December, ha-ha.

Prepare the guest bedroom

I imagine that there will be some guests who will extend their stay beyond a day’s food and drink. Prepare a room where they can hunker down. Prepare it in such a way that they feel thought of, comfortable, rested and at home.

It is in poor taste to invite guests to stay in a room that has a bed that doubles up as an unsightly store or someone’s home office, while there are baskets of unsorted laundry, a stationary exercising bike, dumbbells, an old car battery, broken toys and no overhead bulb…you catch my drift.

Clear out and clean the guest bedroom for your guests. Change the beddings, lay out a clean towel, robe and slippers on the bed, empty a closet and some drawers for their things, and light a candle for that extra touch.

If you have more guests than you have bedrooms available, then consider laying out a mattress in the living room. Don’t have your guests sleep on your sofa sets. Dress the mattress up with beddings. As long as everything is clean and comfortable, they won’t mind.

Bring out that special tableware

Now is that time of the year when you bring out that special tableware. All the crockery and cutlery that is locked away in a glass cabinet – to be seen and not touched, to always be admired but never experienced, talked to but not engaged with – now is the time to bring it all out.

Use this fancy tableware to set up a feast for your guests. If it is something formal for the grownups, go the extra mile to shine your silver until you can catch a ghost’s reflection in it, set up your crockery in the right order of soup bowl, side plate and dinner plate. Napkins folded in some elaborate fashion.

If it is a more casual meal, then select some pieces that best capture the spirit of the day. Use holiday-themed paper plates and cups when hosting for kids.

The special tableware should be washed in a special way, too. Ensure that the person washing it handles it with care and lays it out on the dish rack thoughtfully. Dry it as soon as you can and return it to the glass cabinet. You don’t want it getting chipped and scratched as it drips on your kitchen rack.

Switch out your home décor

And finally, switch out your regular home décor for something more festive, more merry, more in tune with the lights and cheer of this holiday season. A faux Christmas tree decorated with the right accessories and to the right degree will instantly bring that cheer into your home.

Also pepper your shelves, mantels, table tops, front door and walls with Christmas wreaths and garlands, Santa hats, Christmas lights and ornaments. Switch out your throw pillows for festive-cheer pillows as well.

And buy high quality festive décor that you can reuse next year and the year after that. As long as you know how to properly store them throughout the year, then they will continue to give you service year after year.

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