Cabin Note

Today we have a guest post from Amanda about the challenge of hosting guests in the confines of your cabin.

Entertaining and Hosting Guests in a Small Home

Entertaining in a small home can be an uncomfortable experience for both you and your guests when you aren’t prepared. However, don’t let a few less square feet than you’re used to prevent you from having company and overnight guests. Check out some of these tips on entertaining and hosting guests in a small home.

Talk With Your Guests

The best thing you can do before hosting guests in your small home is to let them know that space is tight! Letting them know what to expect ahead of time will help them feel more prepared for close quarters when they arrive. An overnight invitation to a tiny cabin when you’re expecting a standard size home is a surprise many guests might feel anxious about. Just be upfront and let your guests know the sleeping situation before they arrive.

Rearrange Your Stuff

Before your guests arrive, do a little bit of creative rearranging. If you’re having more guests than you may typically be accustomed to over for the evening it’s a good idea to rearrange the furniture to allow for more space and seating for your guests. Push the couches against the walls and set out additional seating. Folding chairs are great to have on hand for entertaining because they’re inexpensive and easy to store when not in use. If you’re tight on closet space and your guests are staying awhile, it’s a good idea to shuffle some items from one closet to another, making room for your friend’s hanging items.

Sleeping Strategies

Hosting overnight guests means that you’ll have to find somewhere for them to sleep. If you’re lucky enough to have a guest room, these tips could still be valuable when you’ve got extra guests. The easiest solution is a sleeper sofa. It’s convenient because it can be transformed into seating during the day, but function as a bed by night. If that’s not an option for you, air mattresses can be a game changer. Your guests won’t need to sleep cramped on your sofa all night, and the mattress can be deflated during the day. Keep extra sheets on hand and set them out along with the mattress when your guests are ready for bed.

Be Considerate

If you wake up at 6 am each day and turn on the news and start making coffee and all sorts of noise in the kitchen, it would be considerate to allow your guests to use the bedroom so you do not disturb them in the morning. This also gives your guests a measure of privacy that they will not receive if they camp out in the living room.

On Sharing a Bathroom

Give your guests priority in the bathroom. Set out fresh towels for them to use along with a basket of shampoo, conditioner, soap etc. Let them know where they can hang their towels.

Dining with Guests 

Don’t try to have a formal 10 person dinner in your small home. Logistically, it will be very difficult and you’ll end up getting frustrated if things aren’t working like you planned. It’s better to have smaller, more intimate meals with your guests. Serve simple food that doesn’t require more than 1 or 2 people to prepare in the kitchen. If you’ve got outdoor space, utilize it! Dining al fresco is a fun, refreshing change of pace for most.

Hopefully these tips have you ready to entertain in your small home. For more information on home improvement follow Erie Construction on Twitter today.

Here’s my lovely bride blogging away about fascinating items while we’re stuck inside.

Please stop bugging me she says

The dogs look forlorn and want to come back in the house – but not before a bath!

Wet and not coming in yet

Their lives are sooooo much different than on a sunny day.

Lots to do on sunny days too

It’s a rainy weekend so we wound up piling in the car and looking for the long-desired weather vane to go atop the cabin. No outside work, the paint on the wall of the bathroom was drying, and we felt like getting out.

The weather vane trek is a futile search. Because we’re not just looking for the perfect weather vane, we’re looking for one that somehow magically eliminates the cost of getting it installed. The galloping horse that sits out of frame atop the weathered NESW in the photo below was perfect, and within budget, but he didn’t have any solution for the installation that costs 10x more than he does.

This colorful rooster stole our attention, then, and although nobody went home with us, it was fun browsing nonetheless.

Wake up! The wind is blowing

Decorating the cabin is half the fun, and we’re looking for decor that fits the rustic theme. We’re always coming across interesting materials, whether during renovation or in long-forgotten out-buildings or simply abandoned in the woods. Wish I had had the creativity of some of these artists at the forefront of the Repurposing movement. At a local flea market we came across a brilliant rustic design from materials many would consider useless.

Here’s another that I like slightly better. I think it’s that the rounded headboard rail is simply a little more appealing, or maybe the striking contrast of the black and white along the base.

My aspirations of photographing birds and other wildlife will have to wait until I can afford a DSLR. Squirrels may be common and my phone’s camera unfantastic, but it’s either that or nothing at the moment.

This guy came close enough to capture in a few frames. He did not seem to appreciate my intrusion into his day.

and now it has me singing Creedence:

What does cabin life mean for you? For us it’s :

Firewood chopped, check

• Campfires
• Letting the dogs run in the woods
• Friends together for the weekend, with each family making a different meal for everyone
• Board games after dinner
• Smells unique to the woods
• Not bathing for three days
• Antiquing
• Wearing your pajamas a little longer at the beginning and end of each day
• Using paper plates to minimize cleanup, because at the cabin you don’t have a dishwasher
• Boots of invincibility -> calf-high boots that stay at the cabin to protect you through the briars and mud
• Fishing
• Actually taking the time to look at the stars at night

I married into the cabin life. Land with trees, firepits, and (eek!) wildlife simply doesn’t show up anywhere in my family genealogy. but boy am I glad to embrace it! I come from a suburban land where a 1/2 acre lot is considered large and the closest to nature the neighbors get is riding their tractor lawn mower.

Where I take a nap

My mother-in-law bought an old house and refurbished it. That doesn’t mean she just brought in new curtains, we’re talking new structures, extensions, sanding floors, and painting every inch of a house that had not received such love in many years. The result is rustic beauty complete with a sense of accomplishment that oozes from under the floor boards.

Now about once per month we make the 3.5 hour drive to enjoy the pace of life as it ought to be, completing cabin projects or simply enjoying the peace. Friends and their children join us and an amazing thing happens – even though it would seemingly be easier to avoid the drive and enjoy life together near our daily worlds, it’s only at the cabin that we share three meals each day together, go for walks, and play board games instead of watching the television.

I’m sold. I’m in. Honey thanks for taking me fishing and to a place where our hands are the only dishwasher. When we’re at the cabin, none of the rush of this modern life weighs down on me. I’ll pack up the car, let’s go.