Tips for Creating a Welcoming Home - 3

Dear Readers,

Today I'm going to continue the Creating a Welcoming Home series I've done for several Thursdays. I've been giving easy and inexpensive tips for a Welcoming Home, using ideas from a talk I've given to women's groups at my church on this very topic.

There is so much that can be said about HOME and CREATING A WELCOMING HOME, and I may do longer thought-ramblings on that another Thursday or 2, but please understand that this series is just tips--not the whole she-bang on the topic!

This week: Tips Using the 5 Senses (Smell & Sound) to Create a Welcoming Home

(we've actually covered sight in the past parts of the series: welcoming entrance, controlling clutter, seasonal photos, etc.)

• Not only do candles cast a flattering light, they often have a wonderful fragrance that can fill your home. Spread around a room, they can really add a special sparkle in a matter of seconds.


• One of my favorite ways to add scent to my home is to use lamp rings and oils. Just turn on the lamp and the warmth of the bulb releases the fragrance.


• Flowers! Not only are they colorful and beautiful, but they smell great! If you're lucky enough to have an ALDI near you they sell 1/2 dozen roses or bunch of flowers for only $2.99. (A flower garden can yield blooms all season long, for only the cost of the seeds!) Lots of places are inexpensive and I use part of our grocery budget every week or 2 to get 1 bunch, which I can split into vases to spread throughout the house. For such a small investment, I have gained several rooms of my home smelling wonderful & looking beautiful, PLUS I get such a lift when I praise God for His creativity!


• Cooking/Baking is a labor of love that can fill your home with delicious scents on a daily basis! What better way to bring others together than around the table?!


• To elicit delicious scents from the kitchen, simmer a little cinnamon in some water, find a super-simple crock-pot recipe (it smells great all day, you really can't mess these dishes up, and it can become your new specialty!), or make the house smell great by popping just a couple break-n-bake cookies on a cookie sheet and bake. When I was single, I used to bake 3 cookies in my toaster oven, make my apartment smell cozy & yummy, have no prep work & very little clean up, AND get a delicious snack! This also worked to our advantage when selling our last house!


• Sound can either lift your spirits up OR drag you down. Think about listening to the sounds of: children giggling, Christian/positive songs on the radio, or a wind chime softly making music, VERSUS listening to: family members yelling at each other, a TV show where the characters keep swearing or taking God's name in vain, and doors that slam open and shut constantly.


• The sounds that are heard in your house can have a great effect on whether people feel welcome and at home there, or whether they would like to spend as little time in your home as possible!


• One of the best ways I've seen uplifting sounds brought into the house is by using Christian music. My mother-in-law has a small under the cabinet radio in her kitchen that is always tuned in to a Christian station. For much of the day, you can hear Christian praises playing very softly in the background. That sound is gently carried to the family room and living room as well. It is ever-so-soft, but what a difference in my spirit when it is on!


• I grew up in the country, so soft "outside" sounds (such as a singing bird on a summer morning, or the gentle sound of a windchime) really bring a smile to my face & make me feel right at home. I love hearing windchimes so much that I now have a couple of them hanging in various spots near the house so I can listen to their sweet chimes even when I'm inside!

I'll continue next Thursday with a few more tips! I'd also like to say THANK YOU to Margo @ Margo's Junkin' Journal (in my blog list) for showing my scale ideas on her website http://www.robojunker.com/

this week!! Margo has LOTS of fun projects categorized on her site--go check it out!

Blessings,

Stacey :)