How To Decorate Your House If You're An Extrovert

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The way you experience and perceive socializing can have a major influence on every aspect of your life. For example, some people get more energy from social interactions, whereas others lose energy. The former of these two groups of people are extroverts, a term invented by the influential psychologist Carl Jung in the 1960s, per Healthline.

Extroverts are known for being very outgoing and social, preferring to spend most of their time surrounded by people, whether that's repeated one-on-one interactions, large groups, or a mix of both. People who identify as extroverts tend to prioritize social interactions in their lives, including in their home, which can result in parties, gatherings, or just generally having people over frequently. If you identify as an extrovert, you probably want a guest-friendly home that reflects your outgoing and charming nature. Designing a welcoming home is simple if you follow a few simple tips and tricks, like arranging furniture to promote socializing and decorating to keep the good times rolling. Keep reading for ideas on how to make your home an extrovert haven for entertaining.

Arrange your armchairs

If you're an extrovert, set up your home to accommodate all your friends and guests. One great way to make guests welcome is to set up plenty of comfortable lounging areas. More than that, the room and lounging areas should be set up to accommodate comfort and conversation.

An easy way to set up a dedicated conversational lounging area that is also highly customizable is with armchairs. While a large and comfortable couch is always a good idea, so is setting up a few smaller armchairs. They have the added benefit of being movable, allowing you to move them either out of the way for parties and gatherings or closer together for more intimate settings. There are plenty of different armchair styles for each aesthetic and many ways to arrange them. Joss & Main recommends placing them around coffee tables to help balance your living room or in an empty corner to create a cozy reading or lounging area.

Scatter around floor cushions

If your aesthetic preferences are a little more casual or eclectic, a great way to enhance a space while providing even more seating options in your home is with floor pillows or cushions. Floor cushions are just what they sound like — thick cushions or pillows designed for sitting on the floor. They take up less space than traditional seating options and are easily moved or removed when needed. Your guests can take a pillow and sit anywhere they like in the room.

As Gharpedia points out, floor pillows are both incredibly functional and decorative. In terms of functionality, you can use them for extra sitting space in your living room, break them out for movie nights, study sessions, crafting or game nights, or for head and back support. For aesthetic value, floor cushions are great for adding a pop of color to your home decor, tying in a color scheme, creating contrast, introducing patterns, and varying textures.

Get creative with decorative phones

If you're an extrovert, odds are you spend a lot of time on the phone talking to or messaging with your friends. If you want to add some decorative flair to your home that reflects your extroverted personality, consider adding a vintage, decorative phone.

Most thrift, vintage, and antique stores sell a variety of older phones, including late 19th and early 20th-century rotary phones and mid-century wall and receiver phones from the '50s and '60s. As a bonus, some of the more recent models may even be functional. As Better Decorating Bible points out, you can find and buy older phone models with modern home phone technology inside. This tip elevates an otherwise simple decorative object into a functional one. Even if you leave your vintage phone as a purely decorative piece, it can still add a lot of character and vintage charm to a room.

Incorporate sleeper couches

Whether you have frequent parties and gatherings or just a few friends over regularly, extroverts should try and provide an area in their home for friends and guests to rest. If you don't have a guest bedroom, consider swapping your current couch for a sleeper sofa or sofa bed. These furniture pieces make it easy to give guests a place to sleep if one of your parties lasts into the night.

According to Furniture.com, the two sofas have similar concepts but are functionally a little different. For example, sofa beds are focused more on being a seating option than a bed, so they tend to only unfold into a smaller bed. However, they're also great for smaller spaces. On the other hand, sofa sleepers have a lot more sleeping space, unfolding into a whole small mattress. They're not the best if you're tight on space, but they tend to be more comfortable. Plus, you can store sheets and other bedding with it.

Furnish your space with a futon

For those with more limited space, you can still provide extra sleeping space for your guests with a futon. Per The Futon Shop, authentic futons are Japanese mats with a thin supporting layer, a thicker mattress layer made of a thin cotton pad, and a cover on top. Futons today are usually designed in a smaller couch style that can fold into a sofa bed and typically sit low to the ground.

Futons may not be as spacious as a sleeper sofa, but they still provide a comfortable place for guests to rest and sleep, as well as yourself. They also tend to be a little more inexpensive than a traditional couch, with IKEA selling basic futons for around $250, like this BALKARP model, and sleeper sofas, like this FRIHETEN model, for $850. However, there are also some very high-end and high-quality futons available.

Add a Murphy bed

If you're really short on space but still want to provide a space for all your friends to lounge and rest, consider installing a Murphy bed. This feature is a much bigger task than simply adding a few floor cushions or a futon to your space, but it's a great way to decorate your extroverted home nonetheless.

Murphy beds, also known as wall beds, are defined by Mattress Nut as beds that can fold into a wall, cabinet, or closet when not in use, thus creating lots more floor space for smaller areas like studio apartments or tiny homes. This bed can help you provide extra sleeping space or free up your home for larger gatherings. Most Murphy beds have built-in shelves, desks, and other pieces of furniture attached to the outside. Some even have couches built onto the outside, like this Altea model from Resource Furniture.

Embrace double couches

On the other hand, if you have plenty of space to spare, consider filling it with two couches. This arrangement is perfect for extroverts who love having friends over since it provides a cozy conversation area and a spot to rest when the night wraps up.

Not only is this a functionally great idea, but it also adds a lot of opportunity for creating textural and tonal differences in your living room, per Southern Motion. If you're planning on matching colors, consider varying the material of your couches, like pairing a fabric sofa with a leather one. You can also vary the colors while keeping textures consistent or mix both for a fun look. In terms of how to arrange the couches, there are a few options. Facing your couches directly opposite each other creates a very personal, social setting, but creating an L-shape with your couches can open up the room and make it feel more casual.

Play with bathroom drawers and shelves

Aside from providing a place for your friends and guests to sleep when they spend the night, you should also provide them with a comfortable space to get ready. One great way to do this is by stocking your bathrooms with plenty of amenities and toiletries, including body wash, shampoo, toothbrush and paste, deodorant, and more. Vevano recommends adding feminine hygiene products, over-the-counter medications, and other things they may not have thought to bring, like hair ties or lotions.

Your bathroom can quickly become cluttered and disorganized with all these extra items. You can help counteract this by adding shelving, standalone drawers, and a storage tower. Not only will this give your guests a dedicated area to access the toiletries you're providing, but it can also enhance the bathroom decor. For example, if you have a more rustic or coastal bathroom, you can add worn wood or repurposed rustic pieces, whereas someone with a more modern bathroom can opt for sleeker, streamlined shelves.

Design a gallery wall of personal photos

As an extrovert, your camera roll is probably full of pictures of you and your friends. A great way to reflect your outgoing personality in your home decor is to frame all these pictures on a gallery wall. To begin, you should have high-quality prints of your favorite photographs developed. Try to get a variety of sizes and orientations, as this will help you build your gallery wall.

According to Insider, you should begin your gallery wall with the largest art piece and use it as a frame of reference for the rest of your pieces. You can pre-plan your gallery wall by making a scaled-down grid with your photographs and replicating it on your wall. Try to keep the photographs in the same color family or mix them with more neutral art pieces. You can make it a little more interesting by playing with multiple colored frames, but be careful not to do too much at once.

Set up a string light Polaroid wall

If a gallery wall seems intimidating or too much for your personal style, there are other, more subtle ways to display pictures of you and your friends. A great way to capture in-the-moment memories with your group of friends as an extrovert is with an instant camera. There are plenty of ways to display these pictures, the easiest among them simply tacking them onto your walls.

However, a more creative and trendy way to show off your instant film photo collection is by clipping them onto a wall of string lights, which will also brighten up the room. Per Simple Stylings, begin by designating an area of your home to set up the light wall and roughly mark where you want it to go with a pencil. Then, add either nails or adhesive hooks in a row or grid. Grab a piece of twine and cut a long strip, tying a knot on each hook or nail. Use colorful clothespins or binder clips to attach the instant film pictures. Last, take a roll of string lights and string it alongside the twine.

Install shoe and coat racks

Another way to make your home more hospitable to multiple guests is to provide a space for them to leave their shoes, coats, and jackets. A great way to achieve this is by setting out racks for shoes and coats. There are plenty of options for multiple spaces and aesthetics.

Shoe racks are a great practical addition to your home. As Closet & Storage Concepts explains, having a shoe rack by your front door or entryway can help keep your floors clean and reduce allergies by limiting all outside dirt and allergens to just one area. It also helps keep shoes clean and easier to find, on top of being convenient for guests. You can go for either a standing or wall-mounted coat rack. Each serves the same purpose, with standing racks ideal for those with limited wall space and floor racks perfect for those with limited floor space.

You can also easily make your own coat rack and customize it to your personal aesthetic preferences. To complete a DIY project, you will need a wood plank, coat hooks, power tools for assembly, and paint for personalization (via Erin Spain). Begin with a piece of wood cut to your preferred size (you can do this at the hardware store), and paint or stain it to your liking. Attach the coat hooks, and install them on your wall.

Lean a blanket ladder against the wall

Adding throw pillows and blankets is a great way to make your home seem cozy and inviting to your friends. However, displaying your blankets in elaborate decorative ways may backfire and seem a little hostile or unwelcoming, with people too afraid to disturb the setup. You can combat this by displaying your blankets in a casual but trendy way.

One option is a blanket ladder. Per Love Grows Wild, you can find a decorative ladder and lean it against a wall, hanging a blanket on each rung. You can also easily make your own. All you need is two long, thin rectangular boards and either one long dowel cut into pieces or multiple small dowels (via Love Grows Wild). Then, using a paddle bit on your drill, make a small divot the size of your dowels in the boards. Use screws, wood glue, or both to secure the dowels, creating a ladder shape. From there, stain or paint it to your preference, and once dry, display your blanket collection. Other great options include large baskets, chests, or draping blankets over couches and chairs.

Decorate a bar cart

If you're the kind of extrovert that throws frequent parties, you can make the task much easier on both yourself and your party guests by creating an easily accessible bar cart instead. This cart doesn't just have to be for alcohol, though. You can also use the following tips to create a cute coffee or tea cart.

The first step is, of course, to get a bar cart. You can find these at most furniture retailers, online and in-person, or repurpose a piece of furniture into a bar cart. The options are really endless. As Crazy Blonde Life shows, even a storage case or bookshelf can function like a bar cart. As for what the cart needs, you should include mixing tools, an assortment of glasses (or mugs, depending on their purpose), and drinks and syrups. Decoratively, though, the options are endless. Add flowers or plants for a touch of natural beauty, books for a scholarly effect, and trays or bowls with lemons, limes, and bar snacks.

Display your favorite movies and albums

Last but not least, a great way to express and share your extroverted personality with your friends and houseguests is by showing off your favorite albums and movies. Consider showing off your music collection if you have a record or CD player. This way, guests can not only admire your taste but feel free to play a few albums themselves. A great way to do this is with record wall mounts, like this one from Amazon. These clear pieces of plastic stick to the wall and have grips on the top and bottom to keep your records in place. They're also easily removable. You can use a simple record bin, like those found at music stores, to display your collection. As for CDs, a horizontal or vertical CD shelf/tower is a great option, like this one from Wayfair.

You can follow the same tips for your movie collection. While movies are more popular and easy to stream now, that doesn't mean diehard movie fans don't still collect DVD copies of their favorites. If you want to show off your movie collection, you can do so with a large display bookshelf near your television, per High Def Digest.