There's something fascinating about the festive season. They're suspended moments when we gather around the table, toast the New Year and welcome our loved ones, sometimes those we've been planning for a long time, sometimes those who arrive on a whim. These are bright, warm memories, often a little messy, never quite like the ones in the catalogs. And so much the better.
But let's be honest: entertaining can be a source of tension. Lack of space, lack of seating, a too-small entryway that overflows as soon as the first coat is worn, a table that's never big enough, a living room that struggles to accommodate everyone.
At Nordlys, we believe that entertaining can become simple and seamless once again. Parties deserve to be lived to the full, without worrying about lack of space or improvised arrangements. That's why we offer designs that fit in with small improvisations and last-minute gatherings.
Discover our ultimate guide to stress-free, stylish festivities. Space-saving tips, clever decorating ideas, decorating touches that change everything... We've put together the essentials to get your home ready for all the season's unexpected beauties.
1. Expanding the party: furniture for entertaining family and friends
Choosing an extendable table: the ally of large tables
During the festive season, everything begins around the table. We cook to please ourselves, but it's the table and its guests that create the magic of the moment. It's the place for conversation, laughter and tradition. It's the heart of the reunion.
A table that's too small, on the other hand, can quickly become a spoilsport. You find yourself squeezed in, adding a wobbly garden table and squeezing every last drop of available space. But there's a simple solution: choose an extendable table with timeless elegance.
At Nordlys, the ttable CORTE is designed to simplify parties. It can be extended in seconds from 6 to 8 places, making room for the unexpected. To complete this dining room essential, the CORDOBA chairs chairs offer comfortable seating while remaining easy to handle and multiply.
The key idea: never turn people away for lack of space. We don't always plan the exact number of guests, and that's what makes these moments so lively and memorable.
To enhance the warmth of the dining room during the holidays, play with natural materials is a wise choice.
→ Discover our comfortable tables and chairs for stress-free entertaining in style.
2. A modular lounge for stress-free evening entertaining
From afternoon cocooning to party time
If the table is the heart of the party, the living room is its moving soul. It's here that children play, gifts are unwrapped, people snuggle under a blanket before the music starts, and discussions continue long after midnight.
That's why it has to be flexible and adaptable. Mobile seating is an indispensable ally for a smart party room. Footstools, like the TOVEpoufs, are light and elegant, and fit in anywhere, immediately providing extra seating for the party. They can be moved to suit conversations, welcoming young and old alike, then stored away without taking up too much space.
Another key element: coffee tables with integrated footstools, such as SENJA coffee table. They free up space for the party, while allowing two or three guests to settle in at the right moment , without having to look for other solutions.
Benches, such as the MOSS benchbench, are doubly clever. More convivial than an isolated chair, it optimizes seating, accommodates several people effortlessly, and slides against a wall or under a window when the evening is over.
A party room is a space that needs to move. You can push the YATOMI tables tables towards the walls to create an improvised dance area, and even rearrange the seating around the tree.
→ Explore our party selection: poufs, benches and modular furniture
3. A cosy living room for heart-warming festivities
The living room is often where the party begins - and the party ends. At Christmas, it becomes more than just a living space: it's a warm refuge, a cocoon where every detail counts.
Creating a party room is all about finding the right balance between comfort, modularity and ambience. The pouf KEMIfootstool, for example, transforms in the blink of an eye from extra seating to a side table for treats, or discreet storage for toys and plaids. The UPPSULAbench, for its part, is a must: it effortlessly accommodates two extra guests, then slips under a window or into the hallway once the party's over.
But a cocoon living room is also a question of atmosphere. Soft lighting, comfortable textures and enveloping materials transform the room into a haven of relaxation. Generously proportioned armchairs, soft rugs and woven baskets add that touch of simple, authentic living that makes home festivities so charming. Choose an OHAMA or KAMPALA armchair.
At Nordlys, we design furniture to accompany these moments: a living room that moves, that adapts for the holidays. Because in the end, it's not the perfect decorations that are remembered, but the imperfect, real and warm moments that make the magic of the holidays.
4. Clever storage: a tidy home for a serene welcome
Entertaining necessarily involves an influx of objects and personal belongings that aren't meant to stay. But during the festive season, they often take up residence everywhere: gifts overflowing, children's toys scattered after unpacking, plaids on every seat, dinnerware that has no place in the cupboards.
The intelligent storage become the best accessories for a serene host. Because visible order is not a demand for perfection, but a condition for collective well-being.
The MOSS bench bench is the perfect embodiment of this philosophy: both an occasional seat and an unobtrusive trunk, it makes any visual clutter disappear in a matter of moments.
Storage baskets such as GRETA or ELSA are ideal for children's toys, fruit or festive decorations. Their sleek design keeps them in plain sight without disrupting the coherence of the decor.
A welcoming interior needs to be easy to understand, designed to move around without having to avoid the unexpected. Holidays generate movement, change and passage. Good storage absorbs the excess so that the essential remains: enjoying.
→ Discover our space-saving storage for special festive occasions.
4. Welcoming overnight guests: a room ready for parties
It's rare for a party to end before midnight. It's even rarer for them to end without one or more guests staying the night. Sometimes out of tiredness, caution, or simply because you want the evening to continue in shared sweetness.
If you have a guest room, even a small one, it can be enhanced by the details. A soft rug underfoot, a chair or bench to put down the day's business, a small coffee table that converts into an improvised dressing table.
A few discreet decorative elements, far from overloaded, recall the magic of the period: a branch of eucalyptus, a string of lights modulated in intensity.
Experience is more important than surface area. A pleasant room should never feel like a storage room or an empty space. It should offer the feeling that the party has an intimate extension, a moment of calm after the hustle and bustle.
Opt for a headboard that matches the bedside tables to instantly create an elegant, harmonious room, and complete the space with benches with storage or practical chests of drawers, so that your guests really feel at home.
→ Discover our solutions for easily furnishing a welcoming guest room even in a small space.
5. A festive entryway: your first festive scene
The entryway is not a secondary space. It's the first stage of the welcome. The place for the first look, the first smile, the first impression. During the holidays, it's also the first challenge: coats, shoes, gifts, bags, arrivals in groups. If it's not designed with this in mind, it quickly becomes a chaos zone.
A party-ready entryway should be organized, but above all intuitive.
A bench in the entryway allows guests to remove their shoes comfortably, while providing extra space for bags. The KUBO benchbench stands out for its hybrid nature: seating, storage and additional surface.
A coat hooks or a coat stand avoid shapeless accumulation on the living room chairs. Every coat is another sign that the house is filling up with friendship. And why not decorate your empty chest of drawers like the console PIREUS ?
A basket for winter accessories limits visual clutter while facilitating late-night departures. Having a clear place to put what you take off when you arrive makes movement natural and pleasant.
The entryway tells the story of the evening before it really begins. A functional entryway tells how the party has been designed for everyone.
→ Discover how to design a flowing, stylish entryway to welcome your guests right from the doorstep.
6. Carpets: creating a warm ambience for entertaining
In an interior, certain elements are silent, but their impact is immense. The carpet is one of them. It sets the emotional direction of a room: softer, warmer, more conducive to sitting on the floor in total simplicity.
During the festive season, the carpet becomes an actor in the rituals:
- children gather there to open their presents
- discussions naturally move towards it for a more intimate moment
- it materializes a reading corner or an improvised scene
A carpet like RUNE or OLAV automatically structures the living room and brings people closer to the tree. It becomes a landmark, a space for connection, often more convivial than traditional seating.
In an improvised guest room, it softens the alarm clock the next morning. In the entryway hall, it welcomes the first sensation of warmth. In the dining room, it balances the room without ever stealing the show from the festive table.
7. Baskets: the art of beautiful, functional storage
We don't notice them much, but they make all the difference. Baskets are the unobtrusive heroes of a well-organized party.
The baskets ELSA or GRETA BASKETS baskets are the discreet allies of a well-thought-out home. Always there when you need them, they welcome the toys that invade the living room, gather hats and gloves at the entryway or transform themselves into fruit baskets or decorative objects in their own right.
Their secret? A natural, textured material that blends naturally into any interior. In the bedroom, living room or bathroom, they bring that touch of authenticity and warmth that makes all the difference.
When the house comes alive, they absorb the chaos of the party. When calm returns, they reveal what's essential: a clear, harmonious space that's easy to live with.
→ Discover our deco baskets and baskets to combine style, order and conviviality even during the party.
8. Even cats celebrate with you: the NILS kennel basket
There's one party guest who's never talked about enough, but who participates in every moment: the cat. Always in the room, often on a guest's lap, sometimes in the midst of the gift wrap, he has a unique way of inviting himself into the party.
At Nordlys, we've thought of him too. The NILS brown jute basket has been designed as a real cocoon for felines, who like to be part of the conversation whileretaining their own personal space.
Its festive assets:
- a welcoming shape into which the cat slips with ease
- a warm, natural material that complements the decor
- a structured design that never distorts the style of the living room
- perfect visual integration with occasional seating and accessories
Because yes: when the house is alive, the cat lives the party in his own way. He sits on the lap of an aunt he's meeting for the first time, he watches the children in wonder, he comes to restore a little calm on the sofa when the music takes over.
Cats make memories their own with disarming discretion, and they too deserve their own space during these moments.
→ Fall for NILS, the designer kennel basket that makes parties even warmer (even for cats).
Conclusion
You don't need a huge space or a magazine house to have unforgettable parties. On the contrary, it's in the adaptation that the magic lies, in the fact that your home can accommodate the stories that are written there.
When furniture bends to the rhythm of the everyday and the extraordinary, it becomes more than just an object. They are the witnesses and facilitators of these precious moments.
Memories are never made in tension. They are born in flexibility, in shared pleasure, in sincere welcome.
Receiving without stress means welcoming real life: imperfect, beautiful and joyfully unpredictable.
