I Love Hosting—These Easy Home Upgrades Make My Small Space Party-Ready

Small-space storage, bathroom touches, and entryway fixes to impress holiday guests.

We’re fast approaching the most joyous and stressful time of the year—hosting season. Back-to-back-to-back holidays mean parties, festive dinners, and other assorted gatherings, most of which happen at home.

I’m an unabashed fan of hosting and will find any reason to invite friends over in the name of ceremony. My fiancée and I have a prime hosting space (for Brooklyn), complete with a backyard, a guest bathroom, and a gallery wall. Beyond prepping snacks and filling coolers with booze, I enjoy getting the apartment ready for company. I’m not just vacuuming the floors and cleaning the grill; I’m talking about small projects like hanging new prints, finding a better solution to the pile of jackets in the study, and expanding kitchen storage. It’s a chance to spruce up the place and field some compliments on our digs. Here's what we’ve done in anticipation of holiday hosting, broken down by room.

The Kitchen

Maximize Shelf Space

Yamazaki Home Wood-Top Stackable Kitchen Rack
$46 at Amazon
$52 at Wayfair
Excellent Coffee Bar Cabinet

Mustard Made The Kit
Now 25% Off
$289 $217 at mustardmade.com
Converted Me to Air Fryer Lover

Breville Smart Oven Pro Toaster Oven
$400 at Amazon
$409 at Walmart$270 at Target

People come together around food, and our small kitchen can only handle so much, which is why it’s been the most challenging and most rewarding to arrange. There’s a decent amount of storage, but exposed shelves with deep capacity can look cluttered fast. We bought Yamazaki Shelf Risers to maximize space and keep dishes and spices organized. They’re built solid to hold large, heavy dishes and look good doing it.

I was most excited about this Mustard Made The Kit locker, which now holds mugs, tea, and coffee gear. Wall-mounted storage is the way to go in small spaces—the more floor space you have, the bigger the room feels. I had to use molly bolts since my walls have no studs, but overall the assembly and installation were straightforward. The all-metal locker has tempered glass doors for a cleaner look and freed up shelf space in the kitchen.

Feeding a crowd has been easier with this Breville Oven and Air Fryer. I was against air fryers for the longest time because they’re cumbersome and ugly, but I finally gave in and got one; I’m now their biggest advocate. The Breville boosts cooking power, cooks faster than a standard kitchen oven, and is easier to clean.

The Bathroom

Functional Storage that Looks Good

Yaheetech Over the Toilet Storage Cabinet
$80 at Amazon
Every Toilet Needs One

Tushy Wave Non-Electric Bidet Toilet Seat
$169 at Amazon
$169 at Walmart$169 at Nordstrom
Fancy Hand Soaps Class it Up

Homecourt Hand Soap
$36 at Amazon
$36 at Nordstrom

The bathroom isn't a glamorous place for guests, but they’ll need it at some point. Our guest bathroom is tiny—I can touch the walls with barely extended arms—and storage has been an issue since we moved in. The walls are tiled, so drilling shelves or hanging a cabinet wasn’t an option. Most over-the-toilet storage cabinets are ugly, but I was glad to find this Yaheetch one for under $100. It immediately solved my storage issue, and the engineered wood construction feels surprisingly sturdy (not particle board!).

One of the easiest bathroom upgrades? Better hand soap. Seriously, it’s the one thing almost everyone mentions after using the bathroom. The Homecourt Hand Soap costs more than the typical grocery-store option, but it also makes everything else in the bathroom a little nicer. Same goes for the Tushy Bidet. In contrast, no one leaves the bathroom talking about how much they love it, but its presence elevates the space (and it rocks).

The Entryway

Exterior Shoe Closet

Sicotas Fluted Shoe Cabinet with Doors
$169 at Amazon
For Winter Coats or Summer Caps

Optish Coat Rack Wall Mount
Now 18% Off
$11 $9 at Amazon
More Inviting Than You’d Think

Smiry Front Door Mat
$15 at Amazon

The liminal space between outside and inside can also be the most inviting. I like when an entryway looks lived in—jackets hanging, boots neatly lined up, etc.—but not in disarray. The Sicotas shoe cabinet saved my fiancée from even more arguing over the bedroom closet space. We moved most of our shoes into the cabinet outside our door. Now we have floor space in the closet for luggage and extra bed sheets.

Winter meant breaking out heavy coats and jackets we didn’t want stuffed into our one closet. We hung two of these coat hooks, one in the apartment hallway and one just outside our door, and they hold all our outerwear.

Like hand soap in the bathroom, a welcome mat is an unexpected hit in the entryway. Don’t overthink it; just get one for guests to wipe their feet, and they’ll probably say something nice about it.

Danny Perez
Reviews Editor

Danny Perez is a Reviews Editor for Popular Mechanics with a focus on men's style, gear, and home goods. Recently, he was coordinator of partnership content at another product journalism outlet. Prior to that, he was a buyer for an independent men's shop in Houston, Texas, where he learned all about what makes great products great. He enjoys thrifting for 90s Broadway tees and vintage pajama sets. His spare time is occupied by watching movies and running to impress strangers on Strava.