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Guests arriving on short notice? Quick decor hacks to transform your space fast
Guests arriving on short notice? Quick decor hacks to elevate your space in minutes
Guests arriving on short notice? Quick decor hacks to elevate your space in minutes
Transform your home into a welcoming space. With these hacks, lower your last-minute hosting stress when guests arrive out of blue.
Published on: Mar 04, 2026 7:52 PM IST By Adrija Dey Share via Copy link Preparing your living room before guests arrive is natural, and everyone wants their home to look presentable, welcoming and put-together. But what happens when guests arrive at short notice, and you do not have time for any major cleaning or redecorating? This is where strategy matters.ALSO READ: Tired of city noise? 5 decor and design hacks to make your home calm and cosy Find out how to spruce up your decor before guests arrive. Instead of panicking, a few thoughtful tweaks and rearrangements can help change how a room looks and feels, becoming more refreshing. Whether it is straightening cushions or switching to warmer lighting, the changes are subtle, but the room comes together really well.
HT Lifestyle connected with Rhea Truptesh Sawant, founder of Tinge and designer Bhumit Shah, founder of 18 Studiioz, who shared some easy tips that ease last-minute panic. With their quick-fix tips, you can wrap up your decor rearrangements in a jiffy and shift your focus to what really matters: being a relaxed and present host.
1. Clear the visible clutter
First, take a quick look at your space and pause. It is not the big furniture, like a sofa or artwork, that you need to move around. It is usually the scattered little things. Clearing visual clutter tidies up the space. Rhea recommended rearranging what already exists. “Stack two or three coffee table books, place a small object on top, and create a quick vignette. Remove random items like remotes or chargers and keep only three intentional objects," she said. Bhumit Shah also reiterated the value of clearing visible surfaces. “A clutter-free surface instantly signals an organised and well-styled home,” he explained. "Keep one or two statement pieces and let the rest breathe.”2. Doorway scan
Next, the experts touched upon soft furnishings, believing they are most overlooked, but they have an immediate impact. This means you need to fluff your cushions, fold throws neatly, smooth curtains and straighten rugs. Bhumit reasoned, “This hack is one of the fastest ways to make a space feel freshly styled within seconds.” While Rhea recommended doing a ‘doorway scan’. “Stand at the entrance and view the room from a guest’s perspective. Move anything distracting out of sight. That quick shift in viewpoint often reveals exactly what needs attention,” she noted.3. Switch to warm lighting
Switch on your warm lights. (Picture credit: Freepik) Lighting is the quickest mood transformer. Bhumit suggested, “Turn off harsh white lights and switch to warm lamps or diffused lighting. Even lighting a single candle can soften the atmosphere.”4. Add one living element
Add flower vase. (Picture credit: Freepik) Consider adding natural elements to your space, which helps to invigorate the interiors more. Rhea recommended, “Go for any: a planter, a bowl of fruit, or a fresh flower stem in a simple glass.” She further emphasised that dining areas, in particular, benefit from this quick update. Along with this, also straighten chairs and align placemats.5. Scent and sound
Styling isn’t just visual. “One underrated hack is sound,” Bhumit remarked. He urged homeowners to play soft background music. This way, even the otherwise simple decor feels elevated and warm. Likewise, fragrance also makes the space feel better. He suggested that opening windows for fresh air or using a mild home scent can make a space feel clean and welcoming.6. One focal shift
Focusing on a single focal point is very important as it creates a visual order. Rhea mentioned that a carefully styled centre table or dining table acts as an anchor. This way, the entire space feels curated, even if your corners or the rest of the room are less polished. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Adrija Dey Adrija Dey’s proclivity for observation fuels her storytelling instinct. As a lifestyle journalist, she crafts compelling, relatable narratives across diverse touchpoints of the human experience, including wellness, mental health, relationships, interior design, home decor, food, travel, and fashion that gently nudge readers toward living a little better. For her, stories exist in flesh and bones, carried by human vessels and shaped through everyday endeavours. It is the small stories we live and share that make us human. After all, humans and their lores are the most natural and raw repositories of stories, and uncovering them, for her, is akin to peeling an orange under a winter afternoon sun. Always up for a chat, she believes the best stories come from unfiltered yapping, where "too much information" is kind of the point. A graduate of Indraprastha College for Women, University of Delhi, and an alumna of the Indian Institute of Mass Communication (IIMC), Delhi, Adrija spends her idle hours cocooned with herbal tea and a gripping thriller, scribbling inner monologues she loosely calls poetic pieces, often with her succulents in attendance. On lazier days, she can be found binge-watching, for the nth time, one from her comfort-show holy trinity: The Office (US), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, or Modern Family. Dancing by herself to her peppy playlists, however, is an everyday ritual she swears by religiously.Read More Decor Home Decor Catch your daily dose of Fashion, Taylor Swift, Health, Festivals, Travel, Relationship, Recipe and all the other Latest Lifestyle News on Hindustan Times Website and APPs. News / Lifestyle / Art Culture / Guests Arriving On Short Notice? Quick Decor Hacks To Elevate Your Space In Minutes See LessPreparing your living room before guests arrive is natural, and everyone wants their home to look presentable, welcoming and put-together. But what happens when guests arrive at short notice, and you do not have time for any major cleaning or redecorating? This is where strategy matters.
ALSO READ: Tired of city noise? 5 decor and design hacks to make your home calm and cosy
Instead of panicking, a few thoughtful tweaks and rearrangements can help change how a room looks and feels, becoming more refreshing. Whether it is straightening cushions or switching to warmer lighting, the changes are subtle, but the room comes together really well.
HT Lifestyle connected with Rhea Truptesh Sawant, founder of Tinge and designer Bhumit Shah, founder of 18 Studiioz, who shared some easy tips that ease last-minute panic. With their quick-fix tips, you can wrap up your decor rearrangements in a jiffy and shift your focus to what really matters: being a relaxed and present host.
Rhea recommended rearranging what already exists. “Stack two or three coffee table books, place a small object on top, and create a quick vignette. Remove random items like remotes or chargers and keep only three intentional objects," she said.
Bhumit Shah also reiterated the value of clearing visible surfaces. “A clutter-free surface instantly signals an organised and well-styled home,” he explained. "Keep one or two statement pieces and let the rest breathe.”
Bhumit reasoned, “This hack is one of the fastest ways to make a space feel freshly styled within seconds.”
While Rhea recommended doing a ‘doorway scan’. “Stand at the entrance and view the room from a guest’s perspective. Move anything distracting out of sight. That quick shift in viewpoint often reveals exactly what needs attention,” she noted.
Lighting is the quickest mood transformer. Bhumit suggested, “Turn off harsh white lights and switch to warm lamps or diffused lighting. Even lighting a single candle can soften the atmosphere.”
Consider adding natural elements to your space, which helps to invigorate the interiors more. Rhea recommended, “Go for any: a planter, a bowl of fruit, or a fresh flower stem in a simple glass.” She further emphasised that dining areas, in particular, benefit from this quick update. Along with this, also straighten chairs and align placemats.
Likewise, fragrance also makes the space feel better. He suggested that opening windows for fresh air or using a mild home scent can make a space feel clean and welcoming.
Source: HindustanTimes
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