Make Your Checklist for the Entertaining Season

Tailor this master list to help you set the scene — and table — for the holidays

By Laura Gaskill - Houzz Contributor 

 

Fall and winter offer ample opportunities to entertain, not only on holidays (of which there are plenty!) but also with more casual gatherings. And whether you entertain a lot or a little, having a well-stocked home can take a lot of the stress out of party planning. From setting the scene to setting the table, cooking to cleanup, pick and choose from the items on our checklists to create your own master list of party-planning essentials.

Valerie Wilcox: Photographer

Getting Ready

Accept your strengths and weaknesses as a host. No one can do it all! The key to a low-stress event is to play up your strengths and outsource your not-so-favorite parts of entertaining. For instance, finish a homemade meal with a lovely dessert from a local bakery or throw a potluck buffet or cocktail party instead of having a formal sit-down meal.

Keep things real. Your guests are there to enjoy your company, not judge your home or your cooking. If you’re not “done” getting things ready before your guests arrive, ask for help. Most guests are more than happy to pitch in lighting candles, setting the table, stirring a pot or pouring wine. And before reading the checklists that follow, remember that you can always rent party gear rather than buy rarely used items.

Caitlin & Caitlin Design Co.

Set the scene with:

• Vases and floral arranging supplies
• A go-to flower arrangement that you’ve had a chance to practice
• Low-watt lightbulbs or dimmer switches
• Tea light or pillar candles (real or battery operated) for ambience
• A few different music playlists — mellow for during dinner and something livelier for before and after
• Fresh soap, hand towels and a stain-removal stick in the powder room

The bar:

• Wineglasses and cocktail glasses for a crowd, if using
• Set of cocktail tools
• Ice bucket and tongs
• A console or side table for the bar, with bottles, openers and glassware gathered there

Branca, Inc.

For the table:

• Enough flatware and dishes for the number of guests
• Enough chairs (and table space) for the number of guests
• Chargers, if using
• Glassware, including water glasses for the table and extra wineglasses
• Tablecloth and backup tablecloth in case of spills
• Cloth napkins — one set each of cocktail napkins, dinner napkins and dessert napkins
• Napkin rings, if using
• Candleholders with unscented candles for the table
• Low floral arrangement for the table — try bud vases clustered on a tray, or a soup tureen filled with one type of flower cut short

Lorin Hill, Architect

The well-stocked pantry and freezer:

• No-cook nibbles, such as crackers, olives, nuts and jarred artichoke hearts
• Birthday essentials, including birthday candles and matches, balloons and a few emergency cards and gifts
• Basic baking ingredients
• Spices that are still fresh — be sure to give them a sniff, as spices lose potency over time
• Frozen puff pastry, pie dough and gelato or quality ice cream

Michelle Pattee

Cooking:

• A cooking schedule, especially important on big cooking days like Thanksgiving — that way you know you will have room in the oven when you need it, and everything should come out at the right time
• Any specialty cookware needed to cook the meal you have planned, from a roasting pan to a turkey baster
• A few spare cutting boards, so you don’t need to worry about washing one before prepping the next dish (also so several cooks can work at once)
• Knives that have been recently sharpened
• Two or more timers, depending on how many dishes you plan to cook at once
• Cookbook holder or tablet stand
• Aprons to protect your party clothes

stephane chamard

Serving:

• Boards, platters and trays — these workhorses can be used for everything from cheese plates to dessert
• Serving bowls in various sizes
• Large serving spoons
• Lidded soup tureen and ladle
• Large salad bowl and tongs
• Several trivets, to protect your table
• A nesting set of classic white oven-to-table casserole dishes
• Cake stands — for cake and other desserts, fruit or appetizers

Dalgleish Construction Company

Entertainment ideas:

• An activity that gets guests participating, like a Dream Tree for Thanksgiving or a smile booth
• For a casual party, an assortment of games and cards … and a rule book for common games, because no one can ever remember the rules when you want to play
• Show a classic movie (without the sound) or project it onto a blank wall — Hitchcock for a Halloween party, A Christmas Story for a holiday open house and so on
• A roll of butcher paper to cover the kids’ table — put a sheet of stickers and a cup of crayons at each place

Lovejoy Designs

Barbara Purdy Design Inc.

Cleanup and storage:

• Silver polish and soft cloths for cleaning silver, if needed
• Empty wrapping paper rolls for storing laundered and ironed linens without creating fold lines
• Stain-removing kit for treating stains after the party
• Specialty storage boxes for stowing extra glassware and dishes after the holidays

Start an entertaining journal. A simple notebook where you jot down what went well (and what didn’t) can become an invaluable tool over time.

9 Fun Ceiling Colours to Try Right Now

Jennifer Ott -Houzz Contributor

Go Bold Overhead for a touch of intimacy or a punch of energy.

I’m always on the lookout for creative ways to sneak fun color into a client’s home. It can be tough to pull off an intense color on all four walls of a room without making the space feel small, dark and claustrophobic, so I tend to prefer injecting high-voltage hues in smaller bits and pieces, or in unexpected ways. It’s no secret now that a bold ceiling color is a great way to set the tone in a room and draw the eye upward and around the space. But choosing the right bold color is crucial. Here are some of my favorite bold ceiling colors right now along with suggestions for how to make them work in your home.

Romanza Interior Design

Jennifer Ott Design

Blue is a smart choice for ceiling color because it mimics the sky, which can bring a tranquil feeling to a space.

Note how the ceiling paint used here has a glossy sheen. Normally I recommend using flat paint for ceilings, as it’s best for hiding imperfections, but if your ceiling surface is in good shape, then a glossy sheen is a nice choice to help bounce light around a space.

This is particularly beneficial if you are using a deeper, darker hue on the ceiling. A flat sheen won’t reflect light back into the space, so, depending on the color used, it can appear heavy and dull. A glossy sheen will reflect light and break up the expanse of strong color.

Get a similar look with Blue Jewel from Behr.

Robin Gonzales Interiors

Jennifer Ott Design

This is a lovely leafy-green color, but one that would undoubtedly overwhelm the space if painted on all four walls. If you’ve got ceiling joists, leave them exposed to help break up the large expanse of green and highlight an interesting architectural element.

Get a similar look with Perennial from Benjamin Moore.

Patrick Brickman

Jennifer Ott Design

Painting the joists can also help create texture. A blue porch ceiling is fairly common, especially in the southern United States, but you’ll see a soft, sky blue used more often than not. Try amping up the intensity with a deeper, watery blue such as the one in the room seen here.

Get a similar look with Surfer from Sherwin-Williams.

Bold colors should be limited to the items or features of your home that you want to highlight, such as the dramatic ceiling line here. If you go with a dramatic ceiling color, such as an intense blue like this one, try keeping the overall color palette simple, with no more than two bold colors paired with one or two neutrals. I also recommend selecting a white or light neutral wall color, which allows the ceiling to take center stage.

Jennifer Ott Design

Get a similar look with Vivid Blue from Pratt & Lambert Paints.

Here’s an example of a softer approach, for those who are interested in moving beyond a ceiling but don’t necessarily want an intense hue overhead.

Just keep in mind that colors almost always appear darker on the ceiling than on the wall, due to how light hits the differing planes. So if you are testing ceiling color samples, be sure to put them up on the actual ceiling — or, better yet, paint your sample on lightweight poster board or foam core and then securely attach the board to the ceiling with painter’s tape.

Jennifer Ott Design

Move your sample around different areas of the ceiling and check it out during different times of the day to get a sense of how the color appears in a variety of real-life light conditions.

Get a similar look with Aged Gold from Mythic Paint.

ZDesign At Home

Jennifer Ott Design

Many homeowners are understandably hesitant to paint a vibrant color on the ceiling, because it can be a literal pain in the neck to repaint down the road should they get tired of the hue. If you want to try a fun color overhead but are concerned about the amount of work involved, consider painting a ceiling accent band only, whether you have ceiling moldings or not. It’s a great way to draw the eye up and tie in a bold color you are using elsewhere in the room.

Get the look with Buttered Yam from Benjamin Moore.

David Kaplan Interior Design LLC

Jennifer Ott Design

These intricate decorative moldings deserve to take center stage in this room, and the best way to help them do that was with color — in this case a crisp chartreuse. The color also keeps the room from having an overly formal and stuffy feel. Instead it feels youthful and welcoming.

Get a similar look with Neon Lights from Kelly-Moore Paints.

Foursquare Builders

Jennifer Ott Design

I love the unexpected chunk of color in this otherwise neutral and minimalist space. It does a great job of warming up the cool, concrete-clad room.

Again, painting all four walls, or the entire ceiling, in this bold hue might be too much for most folks, but using it to highlight the tray ceiling is a great use of — and amount of — the strong color.

Get a similar look with Maple Taffy from Valspar.

Hilger Architekten

For those apprehensive about painting their bedroom or living room ceiling a vibrant hue, think about using a bold ceiling color in “occasional” spaces, those areas of your home that you don’t spend large amounts of time in.

Jennifer Ott Design

If you think this particular deep orange hue might drive you nutty in your kitchen or living room, try it on the ceiling of a small deck overhang instead, or in a guest bathroom or powder room. It would add a nice punch of color in an unexpected area of the home.

Get a similar look with Field Poppy from Pittsburgh Paints.