Lighten up
There are two good reasons to pay special attention to your
lighting when you’re prepping for a party: 1) lighting can do wonders
for creating a sexy/groovy party ambience, and 2) low lighting can
perform miracles, making your ugly floors/walls/furniture, whatever,
look like much less of an aesthetic blight on the world. Candles are
excellent for creating a nice mellow atmosphere, though try to avoid too
many of the scented sort, since they have a tendency to make the more
scent-sensitive people in the world (like yours truly) sneeze. Make sure
to place your candles on dishes, to avoid making a waxy mess all over
your furniture.
It’s also a good idea to replace your normal 60W bulbs with less
glaringly bright, lower-wattage bulbs. Colored bulbs work great in
otherwise characterless overhead light fixtures, and have the added
benefit of giving your room an instant color makeover. Red, orange and
yellow bulbs are flattering to the skin; black light (ultraviolet) bulbs
are good for kicks. Avoid green, which just doesn’t do anything good
for anyone.
More camouflage tricks
Sometimes, even the cleverest of lighting tricks won’t be able to
mask the fact that there’s a gigantic stain smack dab in the middle of
your coffee table, or foam exuding from that ultra-cheap sofa you picked
up at the Salvation Army. At times like these, the quickest, easiest
solution it to just cover up your eyesore furnishings with some fabric.
Tablecloths, nicely patterned sheets, pretty sari fabric, that cool
blanket you picked up while traveling in Morocco, Turkey, wherever …
all can be used to disguise a multitude of furniture flaws. Fashion a
makeshift slipcover for your sofa with fabric by using a staplegun and
upholstery pins to help anchor the fabric in place. You can also use
fabric to hide an ugly wall … just tack it up for an instant wall
hanging/cover-up.