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The Smell of Home - After 13 years we moved homes a few weeks ago. It happened quickly, unexpectedly and we still don't have all of our possessions in our new home. But it was a good thing. Living in 250 square feet and sleeping in the same room with our 15 month old baby was actually, finally getting to be a little stressful. So it was a good thing. But although our new apartment is - on the surface - bigger and nicer, it does not feel like home.
>> Caldrea Lavender Pine Dish Soap
I went to our old apartment over the weekend to continue moving out our belongings and was surprised to find that I felt much more comfortable there than in our new home, and the thing that I noticed first was that it smelled like home. Our new place doesn't yet.
>> Diptyque Fig Candles (Figure)
Our new place still smells of new paint, new rugs and a number of pieces of new IKEA furniture and it is amazingly unsettling, when it should be luxurious. Our old home smells GOOD. It smells like US. While I'm not sure where this US smell comes from exactly, I think it's a combination of at least the following things: lavender dishsoap, years of good cooking, our big coats in the closet, 15 months of baby smells, and good energy.
>> Juniper Ridge Soaps and Incense
Call it what you want, but I'm now sure that homes has pheromones just like people do - and that's a good thing. It is this unique combination of smells and energies that tell you it's YOUR home and participate in making you feel relaxed and happy when you walk throught the door. These home pheromones are also the thing that your guests pick up on when they walk in and possibly attract them into wanting to stay longer, stay over and - sometimes - never leave.
>> Trader Joe's Lavender Dryer Bags
To round out these rambling thoughts we thought we'd put together of good smells that we have purchased or found for our apartment. Most of them are natural and all of them are really nice. While we don't advocate overdoing smells, a little bit here and there really heats up our home. Now we just have to work on the new one.
>> Fresh Flowers (right now paperwhites from either White Flower Farm or Smith & Hawken - when in a pinch)
Happy Holidays!
Maxwell Gillingham-Ryan
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Maxewell, congratulations on your new apartment. I'm sure it will be "smelling" like home in no time.
view jimkk's profile
Very nice!
Why not post your emails as blog posts as well? I come here just about every day, look through almost all the posts, but I don't want to have to read this in an email. I'd love to read this sort of long piece once-a-week on the website. Why not?
view Sea's profile
I didn't realize you guys moved, either, congratulations and good luck. This is going to sound very new-agey, but here's my two cents: sometimes you have to let go of a place that feels safe and like home in order to fully commit to the life that you currently live. I think that happens with houses and apartments often-- holding on to the pre-relationship place, or the pre-baby place, or the place that you lived before your children moved away, etc. I think it can be very, very hard to give those places up, but there's a lot of joy that comes from that kind of giving-up.
view v in boston's profile