Moving house is stressful, disorientating and fraught with premonitions of feelings of regret and buyer’s remorse. The best way to combat all of these anxious emotions is to make your new house feel like home as quickly as you possible can and one of the most effective ways to do this is with scent.
The smell of our home is a subtle thing, or at least it should be, and is entirely unique to each of us. In the same way that we are unable to smell our own perfume, it is hard to define exactly what our home smells like but we notice instantly when it is not there.
As with our own scent, the smell of our home should be built from happy layers of all the things we love: our hand soap, washing powder and perfume, and all of the lotions and potions we use in everyday life.
But when you move house it all gets upended. Sometimes the previous residents only moved out a few hours before, leaving their smells behind and almost as unpleasant as bad odours is the presence of someone else’s signature smells.
The absolute best way to make somewhere new and unfamiliar immediately feel like home is to light a scented candle the moment you walk through the door. This is a trick people who travel a lot use to make them feel comfortable and relaxed in strange hotel rooms. I could happily spend all day with my nose shoved in a dark, musky Diptique jar and it’s far better to spend money on an expensive scented candle and use it sparingly than it is to buy cheap candles with synthetic scents – these are really just one step removed from a Glade Plug in and generally smell disgusting and chemically.
Another trick is to leave small bowls of Santa Maria Novella potpourri dotted around the house. Pot pourri’s reputation has been tarnished by memories of the the 1980s, visions of Laura Ashley furnished hallways strewn with dusty bowls of cheap twigs and dried leaves refreshed from tiny bottles of oil, lying forgotten like remnants from Miss Haversham’s wedding breakfast. But Santa Maria’s pot pourri is different. It smells, ostensibly, of Tuscan woods after the rain and is truly addictive. You will notice it when it’s gone and start to crave it. I love it so much I’ve taken to buying it for everyone I know for Christmas so that their houses smell the same as mine. Abigail Ahern will shove a bowl of this under your nose as soon as you walk into her house, and she found out about it from Rita Konig who also got Deborah Needleman hooked on it, and if that’s not enough endorsement for you I don’t know what is.
Proper soap is infinitely more enjoyable and luxurious than bottles of shower gel. There is something old fashioned and ritualistic about using a bar of soap and good quality ones will layer your bathroom with a decadent, indulgent yet clean smell. Santa Maria Novella’s honey and almond ( her) and Crabtree & Evelyn’s Sandalwood (him) are personal favourites.
And then there are of course the lotions and potions and perfumes that we smother ourselves with. The ones that leave the clothes in your wardrobe and the dressing gown on the back of your door smelling nice and seem to permeate your entire bedroom. Cowshed are my favourite lotions at the moment, thick and creamy with long lasting, high quality scents.
The smell of our home is incredibly important and one of the most overlooked aspects of interior design but by the time you’ve been in your new home long enough to light a candle, have a bath and dress afterwards, your home will smell deliciously familiar and you will already feel at home.
Hi Annabel, Such a timely post. I’ve been trying to think of a way to make my house smell lovely without burning pricey candles all the time. Those sticks in oils are ok but I haven’t found one I really love. Cheap tealights don’t cut it and wood sprayed with room scents doesn’t seem to last. My image of pot pourri is as out of date as you describe. With such high recommendations I now have to try Santa Maria Novella. I’ll just make sure that the vessels I use have no hint of 80s about them. Many thanks, Triciax
Wonderful post, Annie!
A lungful of my favourite scents is the quickest way to lift my spirits and make anywhere feel like home. I’m hopelessly addicted to Neom and DL & Co. candles at the moment.
I remember the last time we moved house. The previous owner was so lovely and despite dealing with the logistics of emigrating to Australia, she found the time to buy us a gorgeous bouquet.
We walked in, sighed/cooed with pleasure and began coughing and spluttering moments later. Unfortunately, she’d also turned up every Glade Plug-in (a pet peeve of The Hubster and I) in the house full blast.
It took days of open windows and lit candles to finally be rid of the noxious odour.
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I would totally investigate the potpourri route but I have a pretty clear understanding of my dog’s limitations, and knee-high bowls of smelly bits of twigs and flowers is the ultimate taunt. He’d eat them all in a heartbeat. I do love the packaging. I’m intending on buying a new Diptyque at the official flagship store in Paris in March, but I also want a Byredo and one from Net-a-Porter that smells like books. I just bought the Valentine’s special scent from Diptyque and love it, but I wish I’d stocked up on Rosamundi last year while they still had it. That was my favorite.
I never really thought to identify what specifically my house smelled like, but you’re right, I’d totally notice it if the smell disappeared. Mine is a mix of J’s cologne (YSL Homme), baguette candle, Febreeze carpet spray, Diptyque upstairs and whatever dryer sheets we use. Ah, home.
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Ahhh scents. Isn’t it fascinating how we all smell different and our homes different too, just as we all look different too I suppose
x
Sometimes, mainly due there being 3 men in the house, there’s call for an emergency scent such as Oust or Febreeze or some another man made spray. Otherwise I don’t think they’d appreciate me wafting a candle or some pot pourri around their orifices
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Callum got me some Santa Maria Novella hand lotion for Christmas (he may have had a little help, ahem), and I absolutely adore it. I just love it. The smell is subtle but oh, so lovely. I put it on morning and night, and my hands are actually surviving winter! I would love to try some of their home scents…we do have three dogs, you know!
Thanks for introducing me to Santa Maria Novella. My favourites are Diptique Feu de bois and the range from Byredo. In fact, my junior doctors bought me the diptique and Byredo Bibliotheque for Christmas – such a lovely surprise. x
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Well, your singing endorsement of Santa Maria Novella potpourri was enough, then you threw in the big names – This stuff must be good! I’m so glad I’m not the only one who obsesses over my home’s scent. Mostly and firstly, I want my home to smell clean. Layer on top of that a beautiful scent from a candle and I’m a happy girl. Gosh, I bet your home smells heavenly, Annie.
PS~I love soaps from Fresh. They’re all wrapped in beautifully patterned, thick paper and tied up with a thin piece of wire with a tiny stone affixed to the top. Sometimes I can’t bring myself to actually use it.
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