10 Ways to Feel Like You’re Home

Photo courtesy Emily May

Creating a home is more than just moving all of your stuff into an apartment or house--it's a feeling you get when you walk through the door after a long day, the people you're with and the memories you create there. What are some things you can do to create that feeling of "home?" Apartment Therapy offers these tips:

Do This:
Change the lighting. We say it all the time: if you want your home to have a golden glow, good lighting is the easiest and fastest way to get there. Each room needs at least three separate lighting sources (and that ceiling monstrosity doesn't count). Here are some of our lighting tips to get you started.

Get a plant. Bringing a living thing into your space will help the whole place (and you) feel fresher and more alive.

Clean the windows. You'll be amazed at how much brighter (literally) your outlook on the world will be if you're not looking at it through a layer of grime.

Decorate with something sentimental. This is a great way to feel connected to your home. Adding some family history or travel souvenir with memories attached will give even a cold, impersonal space instant personality.

Buy a little treat. Something new (make it bright!) will give you a little lift and punch up your space. Treat yo'self.

Feel This:
Focus on one thing you love. Every room has something you love in it. Make a conscious effort to train your eye to go to that thing the moment you walk into the room. Those positive feelings will start to add up over time, really!

Relax and restart. Bursting through the door after a rough day doesn't start your evening in a good mental place. Don't take your bad mood out on your house! Rest, grab a shower, get yourself a snack, whatever you need to reset your attitude and begin the next portion of your day on the right foot.

Ignore the decor. There's so much more going on at home than simply pillows and paintings. No matter the state of your space, the people and pets will always be up to par. Hang out with them for a while and forget your house woes.

Get grateful. You have a lot to be grateful for so write it down. Seriously, get out a pen right now and write down one thing you're grateful for in your home (even if it's just that you have a home!).

Do something fun. Making memories is key to feeling connected and at home in your space. Like game nights? Go for it. More the quiet type? Curl up with a book and get cozy.

What other tips would you add to this list? What things make you think of "home?" Share your thoughts below!

Create a Scentsational Home

Photos (top L, clockwise) courtesy hurley.k e, THOR, Nic McPhee, Junhao

Just as colors and decor help to create an atmosphere in a space, so does scent. Certain scents help to energize, while others have a calming effect. So what are the basics of fragrance notes and where should you use them? This article from Style at Home gives you the rundown.

Fragrance: Florals

There’s a reason that the gift of fresh flowers is a tradition that has endured over the centuries. Once placed in a vase, the blooms are not only gorgeous, they perfume your home beautifully, memorably and entirely naturally. Though not all flowers are fragrant (notably tulips, daffodils and orchids don’t have much scent), consider the flowers that do. Rose, gardenia, lily of the valley, freesia and peony are instantly recognizable classics. Any of these floral fragrances will create a strong association for people who smell them in your home and tend to be the most memorable. If you use a peony or lilac scent in your bedroom, for instance, your kids are likely to always associate it with you. Aside from fresh flowers, a few drops of a top-quality home-fragrance oil is one of the most authentic ways to replicate floral smells in your home, which can be added to potpourri or a diffuser.

Where to use this home fragrance: Florals are timeless, traditional and highly memorable. They’re great for bedrooms and entryways.

Fragrance: Spices

Thyme, cinnamon, lavender (often assumed to be a floral but is actually a part of the mint family), ginger, and vanilla evoke the warmth of baking. These spice-cupboard fragrances are often reminiscent of the winter months, especially cinnamon. And peppermint, in fact, has been associated with curbing overeating and boosting your mood. These spicy smells are a natural fit in the kitchen but are just as lovely for any room in the home. They are usually more suitable than florals for the dining room because they don’t clash with food smells. Candles tend to do a great job of replicating spicy smells like cinnamon and thyme. Reed diffusers are wonderful if you lean toward lavender, minty, and vanilla scents as they perfume the air with just the right amount of tingly scent.

Where to use this home fragrance: Spicy fragrances create a warm, cozy atmosphere and work well in the kitchen and dining room.

Fragrance: Citrus

Citrus fruit fragrances, like lemon, orange, bergamot and grapefruit have one thing in common: they are energizing and crisp. (It’s not a coincidence that lemon is a typical scent for household cleansers and detergents; it smells clean and fresh). A citrus aroma is sunny and bright, it’s ideal for lifting up your mood and reminding you of a subtropical or Mediterranean vacation. The smell of orange, for instance, has been shown in a study to reduce stress. Citrus is also ideal for entertaining in the morning and early afternoon when it’s a little too early for heavy floras or heady spices. Room sprays, the kind you spritz like a perfume, tend to smell fantastic and zingy in citrus notes.

Where to use this home fragrance: Citrus aromas are fresh, clean and sunny. Use them anywhere in the home when you want to add an energizing mood and reduce stress.

Fragrance: Woodsy

Sandalwood, oud (also known as agarwood), cedar and pine are age-old, ever-popular scents for the home. Cedar wood has long been prized for its clean, outdoorsy fragrance, durability and moth-repelling qualities, and pine reminds us of Christmas trees and the holiday season, but also of camping and mid-summer. Sandalwood and oud are dark, mysterious and exotic. All of these resinous, woodsy scents are earthy, intricate and sensual and they can be used to create an inviting ambience in your home. Incense is an ancient way of bringing smells of a woodsy garden into the home, but candles are a more modern way to introduce these scents. They perfume the air intensely when lit, and gently when they are not.

Where to use this home fragrance: Woodsy home fragrances are earthy and can be used anywhere indoors or out, to set a mood that’s either clean and outdoorsy (pine, cedar) or exotic and sultry (sandalwood, oud).

9 Steps to a Refreshed Living Room

Photos courtesy House Beautiful

Whether you get bored easily or have had the same décor for years, re-arranging a room does not have to be an overwhelming process. Sure, it takes the better part of an afternoon, but the end result will be a fresh, clean space. These tips from House Beautiful’s Dolley Levan Frearson will guide you to your new living room.

1) Decide what will stay. In this case it was the sofa, the large painting, and the curtains. 

2) Rearrange the preexisting furniture that made the cut. At first, the customer, my neighbor, wanted the sofa on the back short wall facing the entry. Even though there isn't a hard-and-fast rule on sofa placement, we decided to move the sofa on the longer wall for a few reasons: First, it filled the space better (sofas usually look better going in the same direction as the longest wall) Secondly, we thought it would be nice to have it face the beautiful windows and drapes so they can enjoy the view. Lastly, since the artwork above the sofa is so large and fills the wall space almost to the ceiling, we liked seeing the art with the sofa on the right wall to balance the height of the drapes on the opposite wall. The room immediately felt more balanced and taller. This is an older 1940's home so the ceiling is not very tall. Any opportunity to bring the eyes up will make the ceiling appear taller and the room larger.

3) Roll-out an area rug. A rug is important to frame a room setting. It also allows you to add a different texture/pattern to the space and it definitely makes the room feel more warm and inviting. This rug was perfect because it brought out the steel blue tones in the artwork. We loved the subtle pattern and monochromatic look. Plus, the viscose sheen in the rug is a nice feminine contrast to the handsome textured herringbone material on the sofa.

4) Why the perfect coffee table matters. The coffee table is pretty important. It centers your living room and it's usually a focal point. It also gives you an opportunity to add your favorite coffee table books and table-top accessories. We love the faux shagreen (sting ray) tray top on this cocktail table. Faux shagreen is one of my favorite finishes; the texture if fun, the feel is earthy and the look is fabulously chic.  If you're not adding a lot of color to the space, it's critical to layer different textures. The best part about this table was it's kid-friendly nature. She has two little ones so it was important to find a table that has softer corners/edges. Plus, the faux shagreen texture will also hide blemishes better than a flat surface would.

5) Side chairs bring balance. The chairs' curved wings balances out the strong angular lines of the coffee table, console, and bookcase. I also really love the juxtaposition of the more feminine and glam octagonal velvet material on chair against the sofa's more casual and handsome herringbone material. Opposites can attract if they share a commonality; in this case the scale and curves of the frames. It's also fun to layer geometric patterns. The small scale octagonal pattern on the velvet chairs work beautifully with Moroccan lattice pattern on the fabric of her drapes. 

6) Give a grander illusion with a mirror. We moved the art above the sofa to balance the height of the drapes (see response to 1st question). So with this new open wall, we thought it was important to make this space feel open, airy and larger. And what better way to do this than with a mirror.  As soon as you enter her home you walk into this formal living space and see this geometric floral mirror, which is a fun and whimsical element that made the room less serious and more playful and happy. 

7) Create interest with a console. Good consoles are hard to come by. We love the simplicity of this distressed console under the mirror. It adds a touch of glam but it's not over the top because of its simple lines. And we love how you can nestle an ottoman or benches underneath for extra seating.

8) Floor lamps: This room needs them. Although the mirror and console combo look beautiful, the set up was too small on this wall. We needed something with height flanking the console-mirror to connect the drape wall and the art-sofa wall. The solution was a pair of floor lamps which worked out great because they needed more lighting in this room in the evenings anyway. The floor lamp we selected for her space is my favorite floor lamp of the moment. The columnar glass tube base is elegant and refined yet simplistic.

9) The tabletops call for decorative objects. The great thing about this large artwork is that it looks so neutral, simple and modern. It just floats in the space and it feels ethereal and calming. Keeping along these neutral lines, we sought out earthy finds we carry at the store such as this raw-edge onyx bowl on the coffee table, responsibly-harvested coral on the accent table, framed geodes (between the drapes), and Brazilian golden mica specimen crystal on the console.  Natural objects or what I call "museum" pieces make fantastic table candy.