A HOME FOR HOSTING

DESIGNING AN ABODE THAT'S COMFORTABLE FOR VISITORS NEEDN'T COME AT THE EXPENSE OF EVERYDAY LIFE, AS THE EXPERTS EXPLAIN

- Hugh Metcalf

It only takes one bad experience to realise your home is not well-suited to friends and family coming to stay. Perhaps you've started to feel a bit claustrophobic or you've had an awkward encounter with a guest. Regardless, it's hard to be a good host when you're secretly wishing your visitors would just go home.

It's difficult, though not impossible, to change your home's hosting potential through redecorating alone, but if you're undertaking a more significant renovation, it's the perfect opportunity to evaluate how your home will perform when it's at full capacity. Simple changes to the layout and interior design of key areas, from guest rooms and bathrooms to dining and entertaining spaces, will allow you to host to your full potential. Whether that's enthusiastically or reluctantly is down to you.

The first question is: how far should you go in adapting your home for guests? We are firm believers in designing your home for yourself. After all, guests spend only a few days in it a year. But it's foolish to ignore the fact that if your home makes your guests feel more comfortable, you'll have a better time too. In that way, it's still something to do for yourself, but which benefits friends and family as well.

The lengths you go to will depend on how and how often you entertain. 'In predesign, we work with clients to interrogate what their needs for guest spaces are,' says Tom Klaber, architect, designer and founding partner of New York-based studio k-da. 'How frequently do you host? Does a friend from college stay for a week once a year? Do your in-laws stay for months on end? Something in between?'