What naice things do you make sure are visible to visitors

I really don't get the derision from some people, why would the fact I like to decant my veg from their sainsburies basics bags and arrange them in a nice wicker basket that's where the baby squash are going be offensive, I grant its a little pretentious but it makes me happy!
Not so many years ago you could sum this thread up as homemaking, and yes I have polished the living room with the method polish, it smells lovely!!!

I also like frills and furbelows too...

I love that word: Had to look it up though as not heard of it before

Full Definition of frippery
plural fripperies
1
obsolete
a : cast-off clothes
b archaic : a place where old clothes are sold
2
a : finery; also : an elegant or showy garment
b : something showy, frivolous, or nonessential
c : ostentation; especially : something foolish or affectedly elegant
See frippery defined for English-language learners

pregnant but you can be welcoming and faff about with fripperies, too.

The two aren't mutually exclusive. One of my friends loves coming to stay because I stage the guest room like a boutique hotel room.

I wonder if I could get away with plastic fruit, give them a polish now and then...no one would know

Luckily the dcs like fruit so its ann ever changing display,, don't normally bbuy pineapple though.....

I wish I could share the contents of my fridge with you....lol (its basically like the ones you get in Currys!...empty) Not a very good welcome for visitors...and I dont think I have filled the fruit bowl in ages ...actually I dont think I have a fruit bowl for that matter xx

Are these even edible? And where should I stage put them?

Been shopping😁

But pregnant that's the point of all the staging - we're not hiding all our belongings away, we are making the home looked 'lived in' but in a nice way

My house always has dishes next to the sink, dog hair, cat hair, mud/wheat/straw/maize off DP's clothes, washing on clothes airers and everything in between. But that doesn't mean I want to look at a ripped old sponge with half of last night's sausages on

Can I just add another perspective from the guests point of view. I have never been happier when arriving at a friends place to find utter chaos...lol, I like a lived in home, it makes me feel relaxed and not worry so much about what they will think of my place.

Seriously though, clean but cluttered and the odd item that isnt top of the range doesnt cause me alarm, it makes them normal :)

Ah, I am so much more likely to be welcoming if I'm proud of how my house looks though.

To be honest the warmest and most welcoming house I've been a guest at had no posh candles or fancy soap. It was cosy, warm and inviting. Nice biscuits, plenty of hot drinks offered, the odd piece of home made cake. The linen cupboard for bathing had no fancy guest towels. But their was something so lovely about seeing a life time of collected linens. As long as the bedding is clean, the house isn't grotty and hosts and welcoming I have a lovely stay.

Abyssinian Yes that's what I meant, how do you find a book you need even when you know you have it? Admittedly I'm not super visual, and many of my books are pretty unexciting in terms of design or even title. Only yesterday I was looking for a book on science and pregnancy, and apart from knowing I had it I couldn't for life of me remember what it looked like or even what it's title was. Luckily having a baby book shelf made the job easy. (The book was Expecting Better, turned out)

DoYouRemember can I come live with you please?
And we're definitely going to need a picture of the stunt baking area, definitely!

Imyourwoman... Er, I know which books I own? Not sure I understand your question (or maybe I'm more visual than most?) but as I've read them all, I can generally recall if the book I'm looking for was bright purple or blue. Maybe I have a more visual memory. Which would explain a lot on this thread, really.

Mumsnet stunt pineapple scarf

Love love love this thread. Yes to his n hers guest dressing gowns (and addin a bowl of guest toiletries), posh biscuits and room spray.

But our main guest ritual, for evening / dinnery occasions, is to have champagne flutes and canapes assembled on the kitchen table when they arrive, so the scene is set for an evening of languid pleasure. Little do they know that I was slopping stuffed peppers and chargrilled artichokes out of plastic tubs into the canape dishes and trying to cram the slimy containers into the bin seconds before the doorbell, while DH runs from room to room screeching that he can only find 4 unchipped glasses...

Yes to the Harvest Festival pineapple!

I'm going to get a pineapple for harvest festival. It will be like the mumsnet scarf of yesteryear.

Stunt pineapples on Poldark!

Ah, good...good, another acolyte...Welcome to the fold DoYou

I have found my people.
I have an vintage sewing box currently sitting on a sitting room side table, slightly askew with a few inches of ricrac hanging artfully out the side next to a vintage cotton reel and darning mushroom. I did so some sewing and darning...about 3 months ago but didnt get round to putting it away then decided it looked impressively crafty. One person who stops by on a regular basis said "oh you're always on the go with your crafts, aren't you?"

I have a huge Kilner jar in the kitchen, half filled with organic golden caster sugar, complete with a retro, embossed label. Inside the jar is a fancy, hand carved wooden spoon. Next to the jar is a stack of Mrs Beeton books and a selection of cookie cutters arranged in a pretty bowl.
I do bake but I never use anything from my display section, it looks too nice. I rotate the books and cookie cutters once every couple of weeks so it doesn't look too staged.

My downstairs bathroom cupboard contains only my Origins, Sunday Riley and Aesop bits and bobs (mostly gifts). Everything less impressive is in our huge, ramshackle family bathroom cupboard.

Our hall is sprayed with homemade room fragrance, the fireplaces stocked with nicely arranged logs (and pinecones!), my dining room table is currently home to a vintage cake stand full of homegrown apples. I've cultivated a little reading corner vingette in a dark nook. A pile of old vogue magazines supports a pretty charity shop lamp, next to a cosy chair and a couple of cosy blankets with a half read book left over the arm of the chair.

Having the house guest ready pleases me no end. I'm loving the stunt pineapple and most everything else.
My family think I'm crackers.

Loving this thread.
I have been known to put out my Cath Kidston tea towels and Molton Brown hand wash in the kitchen when we have guests.

Anyone else wondering if those times we've been to someone's fragrant, tasteful and HomesandGardens houses that it's not really how they live? It's rather reassuring.

AnneGables I'm now picturing your guests cowering on a perfectly plumped sofa while you stalk up and down in front of them, shouting "well? Come on, one of you must need a shit!"

Must confess I don't do anything like this, just aim for achievably clean and tidy (and my children will eat any fruit that goes in the fruit bowl, probably would even if it was plastic), but I'm finding this thread curiously inspiring.