We all want our homes to look nice. What we all can’t have, though, is a new sofa every season, a renovation every time kitchen trends shift, or always-spotless countertops. For most people, life doesn’t allow for maximally fashionable, minimally cluttered interiors.
There are other ways to have a nice home, and they don’t all involve how things look. While our sight is hugely important to how we perceive our spaces, there are four other senses at play here. And not everything that pleases the eye is linked to subjective factors like taste and style.
A dive through our archives reveals plenty of ways to build, tweak, rearrange and refresh your home into something nice — for the eye, yes, but also for the ear, the nose, the skin and the tongue. Because your couch should feel as good as it looks, your kitchen can smell wonderful even if your cabinets are dated, and the sound that fills your rooms matters as much as the color on the walls.
Sight
Try out the “unexpected red” theory. Placing a red item in every room is the rare social media trend that designers say is actually rooted in good design principles. You can try an infinite variety of red accents — a lacquered tray, a vase, wallpaper, a piece of furniture — for a little visual thrill.
Corral your cords. They are a fact of modern life, but they look awful. You can do something about it!
Choose the right-sized lamp for your space. Whether your tastes skew toward midcentury modern or Rococo, there’s some math involved here. Find the right equation to help you select end table lamps, floor lamps, bedside table lamps and shades.
Cover up that boob light. These Home Depot-esque bargain light fixtures are a visual scourge. Here’s how to cover them.
Consider (consider!) arranging your books (even some of them!) by color. The mere suggestion that a bibliophile should arrange their books with any thought to aesthetics is liable to incite a riot. Books are highly personal, and grouping them by color is not for everyone. But…it does look pretty nice. If your shelves feel cluttered, it’s worth a try.
Be mindful of visual clutter. Visual clutter is not necessarily the same as mess — it’s anything that disrupts the flow of your home and thus disrupts the eye as well as the brain. Here are some of the most common culprits and how to tackle them.
Clean your windows for a brighter room. Simply cleaning your windows once or twice a year with some dish soap can make your room brighter — many experts suggest dirt and grime are blocking up to 40 percent of your available sunlight.
Switch out your light bulbs. For a dark room, look for bulbs that are 5,000 Kelvins — their whiter light will mimic daylight.
Season your all-white kitchen. There’s nothing wrong with a white kitchen — it’s timeless! — but an all-white landscape screams for pops of personality and color. The easiest route is displaying the prettiest objects you already own (think cool teapots, platters, vintage casserole dishes or your best-looking cookbooks), and don’t underestimate the power of an accent rug.
Try complementary colors. An instant way to add charge to a space is to introduce colors that live on different sides of the color wheel: think blue and yellow, or green and purple.
Hang your art correctly. What looks best on your walls is subjective, but how to hang those items is not: Pieces should be placed so their centers are 56 to 60 inches above the floor; if the art is going over furniture, aim to hang it eight to 10 inches from the top of it.
Attract fireflies. There are a million artificial ways to light up your backyard at night, but nature wins. Follow these tips for a more firefly-friendly outdoor space.
Get a plant. Biophilic design — a research-backed approach to home interiors — encourages connection with nature and has documented physical and mental benefits. The most literal way to bring the outdoors in: a green plant. Try any of these low-maintenance options to get started.
Get a BIG plant. Yes, yes, we all love a good succulent. But have you considered a 10-foot fiddle-leaf fig? These seven statement plants bring maximum visual drama.
Deal with your Tupperware drawer. Experts are divided over whether it’s best to organize lids and containers separately or together, but they are not divided over whether you should finally organize your unsightly Tupperware drawer.
Don’t overlook negative space. The objects in your home matter, and so does the empty space around it. Negative space is a designer’s secret weapon. In practice, that can mean editing shelves; choosing just one focal point per room; and opting for furniture, accessories and plants with unusual silhouettes, which produces more interesting negative space.
Sound
You can’t totally soundproof your home. But you can make it quieter. There are plenty of tricks to block out noise, from the very expensive and literal (professional soundproofing at a cost of up to $500 per square foot) to the totally free and psychological (reframing how you perceive a troublesome noise).
Fill your home with singing. Your vocal range is irrelevant. Singing, regardless of ability, brings numerous mental and physical benefits.
Consider a different “color” noise. We all know white noise. But what about brown? Pink? Green? Different colors of noise emphasize different frequencies and have a range of effects on people. Pink, for example, might be better than white for falling asleep to, while brown can help you concentrate.
Look into sound damping. While it’s probably not worth it to replace perfectly good windows just for noise, if you are in the market for new windows, don’t forget to inquire about how well the glass suppresses sound.
Ban overly noisy toys. Young kids are naturally drawn to loud noises, but let them stick to creating their own: Many toys produce noise that is well past decibel levels considered okay for human ears (to say nothing of the annoyance level considered okay for human parents). Time to hide that Cocomelon microphone.
Play music for your plants. Science has yet to determine definitively whether music affects plants. We do know, though, that plants respond to sound, and the question of what types of sounds might make our houseplants thrive has fascinated professional and amateur researchers for decades. (One often-cited if arguably weakly designed study claimed that plants disliked rock and responded well to calm pop music, jazz and North Indian classical compositions.) If nothing else, playing a little tune for your ficus can’t hurt the little guy’s ears (he doesn’t have any), and it’s pleasant for yours, too.
Check the volume on your child’s noise machine. It’s a safety issue.
Attract birds. Birdsong brings unique benefits to the human mind. Build a yard that will attract birds with the right backyard birdhouse, feeder and native plants; open your windows; and enjoy the notes.
Play something good. These albums of the year offer ravishing, forlorn, fun, luscious tunes and some surprises — who knew a TikTok superstar would be better at singing songs than dancing to them.
Smell
Light a luxury candle. Candle prices vary wildly, and while experts say it’s difficult to distinguish between, say, a $40 candle and a $60 one, most people could probably tell the difference between a $5 bargain candle and a luxury one. The difference is the ingredients — higher-end candles are made with pricey oils from fragrance houses and offer more complex notes.
Plant a sweeter-smelling garden. Try any of these 14 plants.
For your next cleaning agent, look to your fruit bowl. Citrus is a time-honored, nontoxic cleaning agent, and it smells great. Lemons can be used to effectively clean all sorts of household surfaces (bathroom, cutting boards, microwaves), and when you’re done, toss the peel down the drain to de-gunk your garbage disposal.
Relocate your litter box. Bacteria love moisture, so the bathroom is really not the best choice for a litter box. Try a dry corner of a low-traffic, low-visibility room, such as a small closet or office.
Attend to any pet accidents quickly and correctly. Best practices vary depending on what type of mess and what kind of surface it’s on. Regardless, read the product instructions and follow them to the letter.
Try a fragrant houseplant. Bouquets are beautiful, but potted lavender, jasmine and gardenias will appeal to the nose as well as the eyes.
Clean the hood above the stove. The metal screens and/or filters inside your hood get clogged with grease over time and need to be cleaned, or else they become much less effective at pulling cooking smells out of your kitchen.
Bake cookies more often. Any of these 14 chocolate chip cookie recipes will produce a mouth-watering aroma.
Don’t tolerate a stinky drain. Here’s how to deal with yours.
Find what version of “clean” smells best to you. While many people can’t stand artificial scent, others revel in it. If you’re in the latter camp, you’re in luck — companies are experimenting with a range of new scents for products, and no one can keep you from the birthday cake-scented trash bags or ripe peach laundry detergent of your dreams.
Touch
Prioritize craftsmanship over looks in your furniture. If you do have the opportunity to replace your couch, inspect the frame, cushion filling and fabric carefully — better construction and materials will yield long-lasting comfort, while the subpar stuff will get you sagging, the feel of coils, and a less-plush feeling.
Try the Scandinavian sleep method. There’s no reason to share a bedspread with a partner who does not share your preferred blanket weight and warmth. Go Scandi: two people, one bed, two blankets.
Consider carpet. It’s perhaps not the most chic flooring option. But you can’t beat it for wall-to-wall plushness under your toes.
It might be time for a bidet. These people won’t stop talking about how great they are.
Feel cooler while sleeping. Cooling bedding, from mattresses to the blankets and sheets themselves, is booming. It’s also pretty confusing to try to sort out what actually works. Emerging tech and some old-fashioned methods can offer legit benefits to sleepers who run hot, though it might cost a bundle. Other products are probably not worth it at any price.
Avoid summer’s cursed sting (mosquitoes). An Everglades wildlife biologist, adventure-travel pros and entomologists share their best strategies for evading mosquitoes. Also: Don’t use a bug zapper.
Find the right sponge for you. Hate the texture and feel of a wet, cold sponge? An entire world ofalternatives awaits.
Enjoy the big bed of your dreams. California king not big enough for you? Meet the Alaska. Perfect for someone who does not want to be touched.
Or enjoy the flat bed of your dreams. The 200-year-old Japanese tatami mat has found a small but passionate following in the United States. The design might be a good choice if you crave a firm surface or are a back sleeper.
Get a sexier bedroom. There’s a reason silk and taffeta are referenced so much in historical romance novels. Encourage intimate touch with your bedroom set-up, with these tips from romance writers. (Blankets. Lots of blankets.)
Seal the heck out of your house. If your place is drafty, consider hiring an energy auditor to identify problem spots. You can also find them yourself and then go to town with caulk, weather stripping and other doodads. You will not just feel cozier — you’ll save some money on your heating bills.
Taste
Grow your own herbs. Fresh herbs enliven everything, and even people with a black thumb can typically keep these low-maintenance plants alive. Here are some ideas for what to plant and how to use them in your cooking (dill and mint yogurt dip, mmm).
In winter, grow herbs indoors. Tips on how to do it, plus some chef-picked favorite herbs to plant.
Clean your water bottle more (and properly!) You are almost certainly not doing it enough. At the very least, you gotta let that thing air dry between uses to avoid bacteria and mold growth (and a bad taste).
Make a better soup. Miso, lemon and four other ingredients that will supercharge your soups.
Find your ideal roast chicken. Surely it is among these eight.
Follow your cravings. Food cravings tend to be associated with guilty pleasures, but they don’t have to be — a craving can be for something hot, something nostalgic, something fresh, something crunchy. When you can, try giving in to yours.
Go bitter. With these seven Negroni recipes.
Be sweet. Seven peach desserts, seven blueberry, one cherry, one raspberry, seven strawberry, and a whole bunch of banana.
Stay salty. Sometimes the ingredient that makes a dessert come to life is a sprinkle of salt. Try one of these nine cookies, bars, tarts and treats.
Improve your confidence as a cook. These recipes are useful to anyone who wants to grow their skills and get tastier results in the kitchen.
Try a wildcard condiment. We all know how to use ketchup. But what about tahini? Furikake? Chili crisp? Our staffers swear by these eight condiments for a punchy finishing touch.
Relive your beach vacation with a cocktail. These drinks, both alcoholic and not, use coconut, pineapple and other ingredients with powerful sunny associations to transport you back to the beach.
The post How to create a home that appeals to all five senses appeared first on Washington Post.
