Get your home spruced up for days and nights spent indoors with family and friends

With those in cold climates preparing for snow, plus holidays and social gatherings everywhere you turn, December is a notoriously busy month. But with a little preparation (and some extra time carved out for finding your Zen), you can savor the best of the season, from winter walks to hot cocoa. Check off these tasks for a less hectic, more harmonious month.

Do you come home to a gloomy welcome when you open your front door? These solutions can lighten things up

The hall, the first space to greet us each time we return home, should ideally be a light-filled, welcoming room with conveniently located storage cleverly concealed from view. Sadly, however, our entrances are often narrow passages with little light and inadequate closet space.

There is hope, however. Check out these 10 ways, from structural alterations to decorative touches, to improve how you can both capture and reflect light in a hall of any size.

You might think to add white and provide adequate lighting, but you might not know about these other ways to lighten up a space

If you’re looking to brighten up a room that feels more like a cave (or even just a little on the dim side), try this mix of beginner tips and advanced ideas for bringing in more light and maximizing what you already have.