When you hear the term entertaining what pops in your head first? Some of us think of a custom built bar, or a home theatre, maybe even an area with a pool table or other gaming activities. Well the list goes on because entertaining can expand onto many different levels- so for this week’s blog post we want to discuss ways to design your home for entertaining. We’ll talk about building ideas, room layouts, what’s trending, and fun features to customize the space!
Space Planning
When you’ve decided to be the host of any function it’s important to work with your houses layout or to reconstruct so that the flow of the space is more functional. An example of this would be if you had a non-load-bearing wall between the living room and the kitchen. This is a wall that could be removed to create an open concept design and allow for both rooms to come together without any barriers separating the two spaces.
Another example is if you have items that disrupt the flow of space, that can be walked into or decreases the size of the room. With areas like this we suggest moving items around to create a better wayfinding path, and to use built in shelves to minimize the items that are on the floor.
A great technique to see how your houses layout works is for two people to fill up a glass of water and move around the room and see if there are any areas where you could spill your drink due to the lack of space.
So we’ve figured out walking room, now let’s move onto standing room, and seating areas. Most gatherings have an assortment of people sitting and standing so it’s important to make sure there’s room for both. For standing areas it’s great to have space where people can set down their food or drinks so they don’t have to hold onto anything the entire time. A great spot for this is the kitchen island, this area leaves you room to be near food and drinks while also having a spot to set things down and even lean on. It’s often a social focal point in many kitchens during house parties and gatherings. For seating it’s important to have enough seating for your guests placed around the room. This can start with couches and arm chairs, and then you can add seating options like bar stools or dining chairs placed around for extra seating.
Lighting
The lighting decisions you make in your home can make a huge impact during your events- depending on what is occurring during your gatherings it’s important to have the right lighting to not only set the mood but also for specific tasks and for the overall ambiance. Allowing the maximum amount of natural light in is always great because any sunlight exposure is good for people mentally! For the evenings and night time you can close these areas off with black out blinds or nice decorative curtains. In areas such as the kitchen it’s great to have bright task lighting so when preparing food you have a full visual of what you’re doing along with decorative lighting- like above the island- as a decorative focal point piece.
Having certain task lighting in the living room/den area is also recommended especially if you are a board game lover or often host game nights. Having the option to have the lights dimmed is great for evenings and nights when you want to create a relaxed atmosphere. Another lighting tip is to make sure the main powder room or bathroom that guests will be using has bright clear lighting for anyone who may need to do any touch ups!
Entertainment Ideas
Now let’s discuss what type of entertainment areas and ideas you can do in your home! Starting with things you can add to your home to boost the house into host/hostess mode. Then moving onto rooms you can fully transform into entertainment zones.
A Custom Home Bar: This is one is always a great idea because it can be added into any room in the house and can be any size and style that fits. It also produces a great relaxed social space for family and friends!
Board Game/Card Night Area: This can be made in several different ways but one idea is to use any extra space and place tables and floor seating to create a fun relaxed setting! This could also be used for puzzle lovers! This is something you can even design your living room for with custom hidden drawer coffee tables to store away all the game materials.
Home Theatre: A home theatre can make a huge impact on your guests as it shows how much of a cinema lover you are and allows for you and everyone using the space to feel like they are at the theatres. This can be custom made to any size with whichever equipment you’d like such as a TV screen or a projector. You can add custom seating like chairs- couches- and even create your own snack bar!
Sports Room: A sports room can be created as a place to not only watch sports but to also keep all your fan gear and trophies. This can also be a room where you keep large entertaining products like a pool table, foosball table or even a ping pong table!
Personal Touch
Hosting any type of gathering at your home is also an opportunity to showcase who you are, and your personal style. When it comes to entertaining a great form of conversation can go into your art collections, the furniture choices, the overall feel of the room, as well as the colours and materials you choose. Make your home a reflection of your likes and display them in a way that they can add to the conversation!
Conclusion
We hope this week’s blog post was insightful on the different ways you can design and decorate your home to create the ultimate entertainment and hosting zone! Remember to have fun with your choices and allow yourself to be expressive in the spaces you share. Until next week everyone have a great long weekend!
A4 Group Construction Services INC
Author: Julia Baker
