Another of my favorite insights into Candy Spelling after watching her tour of her epic L.A. manse was her compulsion to fill her guest rooms with bowls of color-coded jelly beans to match the palette of the space. While I doubt I'll ever do the same, I admire her attention to detail and dedication to being a great host. Here are some of my favorite tricks for making guests feel at home.

Fresh toiletries. No one (and this goes even for the dearest friends and family) is going to be psyched about using your half-finished bar of soap. Giving guests a new batch of toiletries is always going to be a welcome touch. Over the years I've stockpiled a decent supply of miniature shampoos and bars of soap from all the hotels I've stayed at, and when guests come I leave an array on a little tray in the bathroom for their use.

A beautifully made bed. Take care to make your guest bed as restful and gorgeous as possible. Use a high-quality set of sheets, and create a couple layers (i.e. a

How amazing and over-the-top is Candy Spelling's house?? One of the many aspects of her lavish home that blew me away was her room dedicated solely to wrapping gifts, which appeared to be filled from floor to ceiling with every kind of paper and patterned ribbon imaginable. Wielding a hot glue gun to affix a toy jester to a box clad in gold foil, Candy said, "Some people like to exercise to relax, but my form of relaxation is wrapping gifts." As someone who also gets tremendous satisfaction out of wrapping presents, but lacks the budget for all the fancy accoutrements Candy's got, I've found a few inexpensive alternatives to costly, traditional papers.

Vintage dishcloths or handkerchiefs. These are good to pick up whenever you're at a flea market/estate sale/thrift store. They're perfect to use to wrap presents-just gather up your parcel inside the cloth and cinch the top with a bit of ribbon (twine works well too for a more rustic look). And the nice thing here is that the

Think you don't have enough space for a home office? With a little time and a few low-cost finds, we transformed a cluttered two-by-six-foot closet into this functional workspace blooming with inspiration.

Want to create your own this weekend? Here are a few of the essentials, but you can also check out the full instructions here.

Wallpaper
Our first, and most important, move: covering the walls in a lush botanical print that takes this space from closet to destination. ($60 per roll; grahambrown.com)

CHECK OUT THIS BEDROOM THAT DOUBLES AS AN OFFICE

Chair
This wicker-and-metal design combines feminine style with practical function: Thanks to casters and an adjustable seat, it slides easily under the desk when not in use. ($89.99; ikea.com)

Shelves
Avoid the visual clutter of brackets and other clunky hardware with floating planks; they don't overwhelm the tiny room - or obscure too much of the gorgeous wallpaper! ($19.99 each; 10¼"W x 43¼"L; ikea.com)

ALREADY HAVE AN OFFICE?

It's a one-of-a-kind mega-mansion, in fact it's the largest home in Los Angeles and on the market for $150 million. Today, Make Home a Haven takes you inside the 50,000-square-foot, French-inspired manor for a rare glimpse. Home to Candy Spelling, wife of the late TV mogul Aaron Spelling and mother to Tori. Candy calls it 'The Manor', we just call it spectacular! Also for the first time, Candy begins her role as a Shine blogger. Get to know the woman behind the mogul and read in her own words what she has to say about her special haven.

My haven: Always a work in progress
by Candy Spelling

People have different expectations when they visit my home. What would you think if you were going to see the "largest home in Los Angeles," and if you sometimes had to navigate around busloads of people on a "tour of stars' homes" in order to get into the driveway? In my chronic state of insecurity, I wonder how my house could possibly live up to the expectations people have.

It

While wreaths are an obvious holiday staple, they're also great for year-round use. I was reminded of this when I stopped by a friend's house over the weekend, where I was greeted by the most beautiful, fragrant ring of flowers on her front door. I love the idea of welcoming my own guests in a similar fashion. And beyond that, they're just a simple and stylish way to decorate your home-kind of like a really long-lasting, no-maintenance-requred alternative to a houseplant or bouquet. Inspired, I looked all over and found ten excellent options to be used indoors and out.

In the winter, I live in wool and cashmere, and recently, after years of grudgingly paying hefty dry cleaning bills, I finally had the epiphany that I could wash all my own sweaters. Not only is this gentler on your clothes, but you can save a bundle of money, and it's really easy! Here, a primer on caring for your knits.

Fill a basin or sink with cool water, and add a couple capfuls of your favorite delicates wash-Woolite is always a safe bet, or if you're feeling like indulging a little (with all the money you're saving in dry cleaning tabs you can afford to!), the Laundress makes a great, natural sweater shampoo that's laced with moth-repelling cedar extracts. Use your hands to mix it all up.

Turn sweaters inside out and soak for at least half an hour. Assuming you're washing more than one, make sure they're of the same palette. Don't freak out if you see some color bleed into the water-it just means that the yarn dyes are releasing some color, though I promise you won't notice

By Krissy Tiglias for TheNest.com

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If I could have one cleaning product and one cleaning product only, let it be Bon Ami. For all of you out there who have yet to try it, let me fill you in on its greatness here:

It can be used on basically EVERYTHING (for real): tiles, tub, toilet, sinks, stove, grills, outdoor furniture, stainless steel appliances, pots and pans, windows, wooden decks, crystal, cutting boards, silverware, even swimming pools! I mean seriously… there's hardly a surface in your home that can't be cleaned with this stuff (check out this handy, comprehensive list on the manufacturer's website, along with tips on how to tackle each one)! It's been around for more than 120 years with very few changes in its formula-you know if something has been around for that long it has to be good. The genius of Bon Ami is that it's powerful enough to get out stubborn build-up yet gentle enough to be used on things you eat off of, which is pretty incredible if you ask me, and brings me to my next point…

It's