How to Make Your Home a Magnet for Socializing

Your home can be a great place to host social gatherings. It's space you are already familiar with, and you don't have to pay to rent it. Homes can also offer a sense of comfort and being welcomed as a guest that a rental location won't be able to as effectively. If hosting social gatherings at your home is something you want to do, consider designing your home specifically for this purpose.

An Open Floor Plan

Start by having an open floor plan. Open floor plans can make spaces such as your living room, dining room, and kitchen area more inviting for larger groups of guests. Managing the guest-to-space ratio can be one of the tricky parts of hosting, so you will want to have ways to address that. No one wants to be part of a party where the space is too big for the gathering, so if you are hosting a smaller party, consider using furniture to partition off portions of the room. This can help break up the space so that it fits the size of your gathering.

A Kitchen Bar

Unlike a kitchen island, a kitchen bar attaches to an existing countertop or wall, so it only has three sides you can actually use. It can help separate your cooking area from your dining area and provide a great spot for a casual dinner and some drinks. Sitting at the bar will evoke a less formal atmosphere than sitting at a dining room table, which may help your guests be more comfortable and put them more at ease. Depending on how you want the gathering to go, you can set places for people to sit and eat, or you can lay out some awesome party snacks that people can grab as they mingle.

Backyard Patio

A backyard patio can be a great addition to your home, especially if you're hosting social gatherings. It's relatively affordable compared to a deck and requires little to no maintenance since they're usually made out of concrete.  It also extends the space you can use to host your gathering. This is great if your home's interior doesn't quite have enough space for the gathering you've planned and if the weather is nice enough. Of course, you'll need to furnish it. There are lots of different material options patio furniture can be made from, so consider which ones will work best for the weather you'll likely experience when you choose it.

Add a Deck

You might also consider adding a deck to your backyard. If you have a patio, your deck can serve as a cover for it, which may make it easier to use for entertaining if weather is less than ideal. Decks can serve much the same purpose as a patio when it comes to entertaining. You can add certain features to your deck to make it the perfect hangout spot. Decks do require more maintenance to keep in good condition, so make sure you keep it clean and treat the wood regularly. This will help prevent it from becoming damaged from water and pests.

Adjustable Lighting

Lighting is an essential part of creating the right atmosphere for your social gathering. Depending on the nature of the gathering, you might need brighter light or lower light. Having lights that you can easily adjust will help you create that perfect ambience. Of course, you can manually adjust lighting by rearranging lamps in your hosting space to create the desired effect. It would be far easier to install dimmer switches you can use to control the intensity of your light output. Most light bulbs work with dimmer switches, though not all compact fluorescent bulbs will, so you'll have to check if that's the type of bulb you have. As an added benefit, dimmers may help reduce your energy output, which also reduces your energy bill. 

Comfy Lounging

If your gatherings go on for any length of time, your guests will inevitably want to sit down, preferably somewhere comfortable. Having cozy lounge furniture will make your guests feel more comfortable in your home and help them relax. What pieces you should use will depend somewhat on how formal the gathering is. For example, if you're hosting a casual movie night, overstuffed bean bags can be an excellent choice of furniture. They would probably be very out of place at a more formal dinner party though. For those, it's best to stick to nice, clean chairs and couches.

An Outdoor Kitchen

Outdoor kitchens are awesome additions to homes if you plan to host gatherings, especially in the summer. By doing your cooking outside you'll decrease the amount of heat you generate inside, which will make your guests more comfortable. More people indoors means more body heat, which makes keeping your house at a comfortable temperature a bit more difficult. Add the heat from cooking on top of that, and your guests won't want to spend much time near the kitchen at all. Having an outdoor kitchen solves this problem quite nicely, as the heat is allowed to dissipate into the atmosphere. It will also encourage guests to mingle outside and enjoy some fresh air.

Add a Pool

If summer gatherings are your specialty, adding a pool to your home is a great idea. Summer pool parties are lots of fun, whether you're lounging poolside working on your tan or jumping in to escape the heat. Having a pool can do great things for making your house more attractive to guests, especially if you add some fun pool gadgets and accessories. If you choose to add a pool, make sure you prioritize safety too. Install a fence around your pool and keep it locked when not in use. A pool cover is also a good idea, and can help keep your pool cleaner too.

If you love to host social gatherings, it might be a good idea to have your house reflect that. Whether you purchase a house with that in mind or make adjustments to the one you have, having a house that's designed for social gatherings can make yours the place to be. Consider the type of gatherings you intend to have and plan accordingly.

If you’re ready to remodel your home to make it a better place to socialize, contact us to schedule a free estimate for remodeling!