We all know the Canaries are naturally welcoming, but shouldn’t you make sure your home strikes joyful notes in your heart every time you arrive there, too?
FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Love at first sight is no myth when it comes to decor. Your home should immediately chime in the heart of your guests, and more importantly, you. This means taking special care to make sure your front door and entrance zone are particularly well – designed. Install something bold and attractive that lifts your soul and says “I’m home at last” whenever you see it.
SOFT POWER
The word “soft” is key to a welcoming atmosphere, and it shouldn’t be forgotten that it describes something we feel, rather than see. Touch is the earliest of our senses, and textures, warmth and snugness are absolutely essential to make us feel welcome.
Natural fabrics and textiles, rounded shapes and deliciously snuggly furnishings are what we remember about all the most welcoming places we know.
INTIMACY
Intimacy is something we enjoy with loved ones, family and friends, and so it’s an important element of a welcoming home. The way to create it is by positioning – make sure people are sitting close enough to each other so they can see and hear them – seats that are distanced or separated by large pieces of furniture feel colder, more formal.
There’s obviously a fine line to tread here – it’s OK to snuggle up on a sofa with your partner or child, but maybe a little more awkward with a work colleague you’ve invited round. The secret is to give people the option of preserving their natural boundaries.
LIGHTS
It’s often thought that soft, low lighting makes a home more attractive and welcoming, but that’s not always the case. In fact, we’re almost as attracted to lights as moths are, and a dim, murky interior is the opposite of accommodating.
More important is the type of light and the way it’s used – natural, candlelit glows call to our most distant past, while pools of intense light for practical purposes such as reading or sewing also reflect the way we have used light historically.
NATURAL ELEMENTS
Flowers and plants create an instant welcoming effect, and one that you can also fine tune to your own requirements. For sheer exuberant joie de vivre go for vivid flowers in bright colours – geraniums and petunias are perfect. But if you’re looking for something a little more elegant, the Canaries are full of parlour palms and gorgeous delicate green foliage.
There’s also something strangely welcoming about cacti – they’re prickly little characters, but character is what counts.
And, of course, if you want a welcome like no other every time you arrive, go and give a rescue dog a home to welcome you back to!
TRADITIONAL COMFORT
Tradition also makes us feel welcome – the idea that we’re sharing things that have been loved by previous generations, and which hark back to our own childhood. That’s why Christmas is so comforting, but it also explains the perennial popularity of elements such as tartan rugs, wicker chairs and solid wooden furniture.
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