7 steps to transforming your home into a paradise hotel-like experience

Home is where the heart is. But there’s something glorious about stepping into a gorgeous hotel with inviting scents and calming music in the lobby. Head to your room and there’s a gorgeous view, beautiful furniture, soft lighting, and overall soothing ambiance. There is actually a way to get this paradise hotel feeling at home. All it takes is a bit of a makeover when it comes to home furniture and décor.

Interested in taking the leap and refreshing your home so it feels like you’re walking into an entirely new place? Or maybe you just want to makeover one room? Here are seven steps to achieving the plan.

Step 1: Pick a strategy and/or room

First thing’s first, without overhauling your entire home, you might want to stick to a single room that becomes your new oasis. Think about what you often gravitate to first in a hotel, or what makes you most relaxed when you arrive. Is it the music? The artsy furniture? Or is it once you get to the room and see the shower, bed, carpet and drapes, paintings, or big screen television? When you think “paradise hotel,” what’s on your wish list? It’s not a bad idea to jot down some of your favourite ideas and work from there.

Step 2: Plan

Second comes the planning. This will take some searching and eyeballing to visualize what you can change and how. Depending on what you plan to do, it might also require some measuring.  Sometimes, it can be as simple as a swap of the carpet and a couple of décor pieces here and there or adding music through a wireless speaker system. In other instances, it might require a bit of installation work, such as changing the showerhead or adding vanity mirrors to the bathroom. Planning means jotting down a list of everything you want to change before running your search.

Step 3: Find the right items for an overall paradise feel

There are three things in particular that can elicit emotions when it comes to overall atmosphere: music, lighting, and scents. A simple addition of all three of these elements on the main level of your home can instantly transform the experience every time you step foot in the door.

With music, consider setting up wireless smart speakers that you can program on a timer to begin playing soothing jazz tunes or relaxing indie hits right before you typically arrive home from work each day. You’ll feel your blood pressure dropping instantly! Ideally, look into a whole-home music system so you can play music in every room of the house. As you walk down the hallway from your bedroom to the bathroom, or down the stairs to the basement, the consistent music will make you feel like you’re in a five-star resort.

Combine this with smart lighting that is also set to turn on or switch colours automatically at certain times of the day, adjusting to a warm and inviting brightness level and hue, whether it’s a soft white for the day time or a romantic red at night. This will get you in the mood to grab a glass of wine, sit down, and put your feet up, even if it’s just for 15 minutes before you have to start making dinner or completing chores.

Scents are easy to achieve using essential oil diffusers, which can emit calming smells like lavender, or festive ones like cinnamon and cloves. Find the scent that works for you and reminds you of that hotel you visited on a remote island years ago. Find one you can put on a timer or control from your phone so it turns on at just the right time every day or night.

A good starting point to transforming your home and achieving these elements is a smart speaker that can serve as the control “hub” of the home, allowing you to control everything from music to lights from your phone and even your voice.

Once you’ve set up the overarching paradise hotel theme, look at working on a specific room. Depending on which room you choose, skip to the appropriate step.

Step 3: Find the right items for the bathroom

The first room I check out when I go to any hotel is the bathroom. Is it big enough? How’s the shower? Are there double sinks and is there a full-length mirror? Lighting and music, once again, can be used in this room to give a hotel-like feel, even if it’s just through a small waterproof and rugged portable Bluetooth speaker positioned in the corner of the countertop.

A vanity mirror for applying make-up is something you’ll commonly find in any hotel room and a nice addition to your bathroom at home to give you that hotel feel.

Finally, a soft and plush bathrobe hanging behind the door is a must for creating the full five-star hotel experience.

Step 4: Find the right items for the bedroom

When it comes to the bathroom when transforming your home, there typically aren’t a ton of amenities in the average hotel beyond a bed and comfortable pillows and duvet or comforter along with an alarm clock and lamp. Consider adding a reading lamp for yourself that mimics the extreme brightness of hotel room lamps, along with a high-tech smart display or alarm clock that can not only play music and wake you up, but can serve as your own personal concierge, advising of the weather and news headlines, playing your personal playlist, and waking you up to a desired tone. Just about the only thing it won’t be able to do is bring you breakfast in bed.

Fancy new bedding might be all it takes to make you feel like you’re in a hotel room bed. Go silky and smooth with a set that you’d never normally purchase.

Complete the hotel feel with a nice wall-mounted big screen smart TV that gives you access to all of your favourite streaming services.

Step 5: Find the right items for the dining room

The dining room is sort of like your own personal hotel restaurant and bar, where you can sit and have a formal dinner and drinks. Again, music is key here for transforming your home along with the proper lighting. Consider getting a nice wine cabinet where you can present the day’s selection to your family and guests as if you were a sommelier, or other barware that kicks things up a notch. (Go all out with something like the Bartesian Premium Cocktail Machine!)

You could also add some funky bar stools so you feel like you’re chilling at the hotel bar.

Finally, a new set of dishware can instantly transfer mealtime and make you feel like you’re eating in a Michelin star restaurant. Set the table, indulge in a new recipe, pour the drinks, and enjoy feeling a small escape.

Step 6: Find the right items for the backyard

Weather permitting, your backyard can be like the outdoor grounds at a hotel. And while most of us can’t fit entire tennis courts in our backyards, there are a few things you can do to make it feel like an escape. Aside from setting up on outdoor sectional or patio set with fire table and outdoor rug so it becomes an entire new room, grab a patio heater to extend the time you can spend outside.

Set up a couple of reclining lounge chairs as well for relaxing with drinks, a good book, or just to work on your tan. Even on chilly nights, you can gather with the family for hot cocoa and snacks while relaxing outside like you’re on a resort. Want to go truly high end? Consider a portable projector and projector screen for outdoor movie nights.

Step 7: Set a transformation date

All of these ideas for transforming your home sound great on paper or in your head, but to truly make them a reality, set a transformation date. Pick a weekend or week when you have time off and make plans to make the changes then. Naturally, you’ll need to have all of the necessary gear on hand in time, and the tools required for installation or set-up if necessary. Everyone in the family can pitch in. Make it truly fun by having a family vacation night or day after the transformation is complete, pretending to “check in” to your home and take the day off as you chill in the lounge chairs in the backyard, and enjoy a delicious take-out meal, and relax with a good movie to cap off the “stay.”

Find the gear you need to get started on transforming your home living experience to a paradise hotel atmosphere at Best Buy Online.