Last week, I got an unrelenting itch to move around all of my home decor.
At first, it was just a nagging thought.
Maybe I should move this vase over here.
I think this lamp would look better over here.
And then it got so bad that I spent four days moving around my home decor.
Now, I didn't move my bed. I wasn't moving around big pieces of furniture.
I was moving around like lamps and vases and trays and candles and... little weird sculptures that I bought from the flea market and bowls and books, and you get the idea.
I don't know how it happened, but I got sucked into this for four days.
For four days straight, all I could think about was perfecting my home decor.
So I spent this wonderful four days moving things around.
And let me tell you, it was one of the most wonderful four days of my life.
I had the time of my life. Because I love this stuff.
I love home decor. I love interior design.
I love... perfecting a space. I love looking at other people's perfected spaces.
I love this shit. It's like a hobby for me.
So I'm coming off this high. And to be honest, I'm a little bit sad.
I'm sad it's over. Because I spent these four days doing something that I loved.
And now I don't really have anything to change anymore.
So to continue the fun for myself, I thought I would share with you all some of my favorite home decor hacks.
I love life hacks. I love efficiency. I love doing things with intention, doing things with purpose.
And I think... Home decor is something that should be done with intention, should be done with purpose.
It should be done thoughtfully. I think a lot of times we think of interior design and we think of just simply aesthetics, how it looks.
And we don't think about how it functions.
And that's actually... A mistake I made early on when I was decorating my first few apartments and...
Even this home that I live in now, I made some mistakes.
I chose aesthetic over function and I could have done a better job.
But I would say my house at this point is pretty life hacked.
Like... To the best of my ability with what I own currently, I've hacked my house.
It is balancing aesthetics and function in a way that I'm very proud of.
And so today I'm going to be sharing with you some of the hacks that I've used to get it there.
So without further ado, let's begin. I briefly interrupt this episode to let you know that this episode of Anything Goes is presented by Walmart.
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Now back to the episode. starting with strategically placed bowls in trays and platters. filled with items that are deeply specific and necessary for the area that they're in.
Okay? Now, this might seem like an obvious home decor hack.
Like... Oh, put out a little tray and you can put matches in it and like cough drops or like whatever.
It's one thing to have a little tray out and to like put a few little things in it.
It's another thing... to make it hyper specific for your life and your routine.
That's what I'm talking about. I'm not just talking about like having a tray out and putting little candies in it for when people come over.
That's cute, and that's great, and you can do that.
That's not a life hack. I'm talking about... really hyper-specific uses of trays.
Really hyper-specific uses for bowls, for platters.
Do you get what I'm saying? I think that this hack is most useful in two specific scenarios.
Okay, scenario number one. Let's say you have a very specific habit in your home.
I'll give an example with me, right? I work a lot on my kitchen island which is something that I didn't expect when I first bought this home I didn't expect to work on my kitchen island but For whatever reason, that became a habit.
And so a lot of times I'll sit for hours on my computer at my kitchen island.
And a lot of my work... is on the computer with a lot of little, tiny little items, okay?
I often need an SD card reader for getting footage off my camera.
I often need SD cards. I often have SD cards out.
I often have little tripods in lights. I often have multiple devices out.
I have a lot of little items that I use for my work.
And a lot of those items end up just strewn out on my kitchen island because I'm sitting there working And it's kind of like a hub a work hub for me a lot of times and Could I, in theory at the end of the day, put all of those items away into their designated spots?
Yeah, but it's a little bit inconvenient because every morning... when I wanna work again on my kitchen island, I then have to go get those things all over again.
Because it's such a routine for me to work sitting at my kitchen island that I really would just have to get up and get it all out again.
But then just having it all laying out on the counter looks bad and makes me feel messy and things end up falling off the counter.
And then my cat starts chewing on it. And the next thing I know, it's gone and I lose it.
And that's a bummer and that's stressful.
So you want to know what I did? I went into my cabinet where I keep all of my fruit bowls and shit like that.
And I got out this woven fruit bowl. And I put all those items into the fruit bowl and I placed it aesthetically on my kitchen island.
Now I get to have all of my shit out on the kitchen island, but it's in an aesthetic, beautiful little bowl, okay?
Now, is it a little weird when you look closer and see, oh, Why does she have a little tripod and an SD card in this fruit bowl?
That's a little bit weird. Yeah, it's a little bit weird, but it's useful.
And when you're just like glancing at that area, you don't even know what's in the bowl.
It's kind of incredible. So I would say that's the first kind of scenario where it makes sense, where you have sort of an unusual, unexpected habit in your house, and... it requires you to have like weird stuff out.
And so it's kind of helpful, a bit unconventional, but it's helpful. to have some sort of little tray or bowl or platter to put those things in.
And then... The second scenario where this life hack really comes in handy is when you need to remind yourself to do something.
Therefore, it makes sense to have a certain item out.
Like a great example of this would be my retainer.
I just completed bottom Invisalign for my bottom teeth because they were really crooked and And it actually didn't bother me that much, but my dentist was like, they're a little bit too crooked.
You need to get them fixed. And I was like, okay.
So I just did bottom Invisalign for a little bit.
And... I think when I first started with the Invisalign, I was putting it away because in my medicine cabinet or in my little bathroom drawer.
But then that was causing me to forget to wear it.
So then I put out a little tray and I put it in the tray and now I don't forget because I see it every single day.
I also am reminded every morning to take it out and put it in the tray instead of accidentally wearing it and then being like, oh, fuck.
I'm about to eat something, I need to take it out, and then I take it out and put it somewhere and lose it, because that also has happened to me.
So having that little tray for my Invisalign helps me remember.
Okay, I just need to put this in at night, take it off in the morning, whatever. put it here and that's the routine so that I don't lose it, but I also don't forget to put it in.
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So those are sort of the two scenarios where this really comes in handy.
But I'll give you some more examples of ways that I've utilized trays and bowls and platters and in my house to have specific items out in a very helpful way.
In my podcast studio slash office that I'm in right now, I have a little tray where I keep a lighter, to light the candle that sits behind me while I record.
If you're watching the video episode of this, you can see my sweet little candle.
I also have like a little metal clip thing that I use to open things.
I don't even know how to fucking explain this.
My podcast recording machine thing. has this little latch door.
And if you open it, there is the SD card that stores all of the audio files.
The little latch door that protects the SD card as it's plugged into the device is really hard to open with your nail.
So I have this weird little clip that was like a hair clip, but I bent it and now it helps me open That.
So I have that in this little tray in here.
And then I have a lip liner and a lipstick to retouch up my lips. because I overline my lips a lot because it makes me look better.
Another example would be by my front door.
This is actually very standard. Like everyone does this.
I have... a gorgeous bowl with all of my keys and wallet and...
Tied-to-go stick and Listerine tongue strips and...
Like the collapsible bag holder that you can put on the side of a table at a restaurant if you don't want to put your bag on the ground.
Like I have... a bowl with all of the things I could possibly need when I leave the house.
Next to it, Now this is the more hyper-specific tray.
I have another tray just for my go-to sunglasses.
Okay, I keep two pairs. One that I tend to wear to my workout classes almost every single time I go.
And then one pair that I like to wear when I go on a walk or like...
I was gonna say a light jog, but I don't really jog these days.
Mainly if I'm going on a walk, like an athletic sort of walk.
And I keep those by the door because I wear them so often.
I used to put them in the bowl with the rest of the stuff, but my glasses were getting kind of scratched and it just wasn't very pleasant.
Next, I have a very elaborate collection of trays in my kitchen. with all of my different pills, okay?
Listen, I don't take that many pills. That's not true.
I actually kind of do. I take a few in the morning and a few at night.
Most of them are vitamins- supplements and allergy medicine.
And then I have one medication that I take twice a day.
And I will say, It's really – like taking pills every day is – it's a bit – tough to get into the routine of.
And the only way I've been able to be consistent with it is having it out.
Like I need it out. I need to see it. I need it to be very visible to me.
I can't put all of this stuff away, then I will never take the pills.
So out on my kitchen counter, I have a tray that holds all of the bottles of all my different pills.
Then I have two little bowls out where I keep my pills of the day.
Like if I'm working from home that day, I'll just have my pills out and then I'll have my morning and night.
And then every time I walk by that area, which is quite frequently...
I'm reminded like, oh, should I take them yet?
Like I take them with food. So I'm like, oh, did I just eat?
Okay, I need to take it, whatever. Then I have a little strawberry bowl where I keep pill cases that, filled with a day's worth of pills because if I'm going out for the day really quick, it's nice for me to just grab it and go.
So I have that in a little bowl next to all of this.
And then I have... Another little boho that matches the other one, that has all of my eye drops in it because I have terrible, terrible seasonal allergies.
And sometimes I just need to grab an eye drop.
So I keep that out. And then I have one last little bowl.
This is all in the same area. It's quite chaotic.
Then I have one last little bowl that I keep like hyper-specific items relating to my health at the moment.
If I have a paper cut, okay, I might have Neosporin and Band-Aids in there so that I can just reapply, you know, whatever.
If I have... Fucking ringworm. I don't know.
Like if I have like a prescription, I haven't had ringworm in a very long time.
Let's be clear. But let's say I did have ringworm, okay?
Or I'm having like eczema in a certain area and I have a prescription cream.
I might put that in the last little bowl tray thing.
And last but not least, I'm giving one more example of the tray thing and then we need to move on because I've been talking about this for way too long.
On my coffee table, I recently put out a tray with a bunch of card games in it, like Uno and Spot It and all those different types of things.
Whenever friends are over and we're bored, I always am like, what should we do?
I don't know what we should do. And I always forget that I have cards.
We could play Uno. We could play Spot It.
We could play Cards Against Humanity. Like, whatever.
So I put... a bunch of cards out in a tray on the coffee table so that next time my friends and I are sitting around in my living room, like what should we do?
Maybe we'll play cards. Okay, let's move on.
Next life hack. If you love the feeling of fresh flowers in the house, But it's just unrealistic for you to constantly be up keeping fresh flowers because they usually only last forever.
A week, max three weeks if it's a really robust plant.
If that's unrealistic for you, as it is for most people, don't go and buy fake flowers.
Don't do that. The plastic ones, ew, ew. they look bad, they look fake, and they're ultimately like plastic.
Like that doesn't add to the aura of your space.
Get dried flowers. I'm obsessed with dried flowers.
I don't know if this is like a common thing.
Some of you might be like, yeah, dried flowers, Emma, obviously.
I think they're kind of underrated. People are into it, but...
It's not as... I feel like I don't see it that often.
Like I see it at super trendy restaurants or cafes or... super trendy people's homes, but I don't feel like they're that popular.
They're like hyper-trendy. Dried flowers literally last forever, okay?
I've had the same dried flowers in my house for three years, two years, three years.
They last forever. But not only that, you can do really interesting things with them from a design standpoint.
Like for example, I have this like big bouquet of dried flowers in my garage and I've had them for like three years, okay?
I'm telling you, they last forever. You can just have them in your garage or whatever.
And when you're like, oh, I need to spice up this area, you can pull them out. you know, cute little vase, a mason jar, whatever, pop them in there.
And now you have a cute little design element.
But I recently was like, you know what? I want to really up my game with the dried flowers.
I want to really... I want to add more, you know, because I had a lot of different little vases and ceramics and that didn't have anything in them.
They were just empty because I like how that looks too.
But I was like, no, I'm actually going to fill all of them with flowers.
And I have some really small ceramic pieces, like small ceramic vases, very small.
The opening on the top is like the size of a coin, okay?
Or even smaller. And I had so much fun like strategically placing these dried flowers because they're very stiff, right?
Because they're dry. and you can kind of play with them in a way that's really cool.
Like, you can have them stick straight up, or you can... find one dried flower that has a really unique sort of shape to it.
Like maybe it's curved down or something.
And you can strategically put that in a little vase and it feels more sculptural than fresh flowers.
I don't know how to explain it because they dry in a very specific way And you can use that to your advantage.
I had a lot of fun playing around with my dried flowers.
And what's amazing about it is that I don't need to touch them. indefinitely.
They're adding nature to my space and I never have to think about them again.
So I'm obsessed and I honestly... Listen, it's nice every once in a while to have fresh flowers.
I have fresh flowers every once in a while.
But... It's just unrealistic to have them all the time.
Okay, my next life hack. If you are decorating a surface, like...
Let's say the top of your dresser in your bedroom, or let's say you have an entryway table when you walk into your home, like you have a cute little table.
When you walk into your home or let's say you have a little accent table in your living room or perhaps your coffee table or your kitchen counter, you get the idea.
When decorating and arranging objects on a surface, I believe in odd numbers.
I just do. I think it looks better. I think it looks more balanced.
I'm talking one, three Five, seven. Seven, we're getting to a lot of items.
But... I always do everything in odd numbers.
I can give you a bazillion examples. In front of my fireplace in my living room, I have three items.
I have a bowl where I keep little... fireplace equipment.
Like I have a little remote thing and this little like fireplace key like I have to put this key into the fireplace and turn on the gas so I have all those little things in this little wooden bowl And then next to that, I have a wooden vase, like a tall wooden vase.
By the way, I'm calling it a vase. And I Googled it earlier because I was like, is it vase or vase?
When you're talking about something that holds plants, what is that?
Actually, what is that? And apparently the British pronunciation is vase and the American is vase.
But I've always said vase. And to be honest, it's chic to say vase.
I'm not going to stop because I love the way I feel when I say vase.
I'm never going to say vase. Vase feels wrong to me.
But anyway, if you're like, why is she saying vase?
She's not British. I don't know. I don't know.
I just... Everyone around me growing up called a vase a vase.
And so now I call it a vase. And now I've said vase so much that it doesn't sound like a word to me anymore in my head.
Anyway, so I have... the wooden bowl with fireplace stuff in it.
I have the wooden vase. And then on the other side of the fireplace, I have a larger wooden vase that has a dried plant in it.
Now I know what you're thinking, Emma. Why do you have all of these flammable objects in front of your fireplace?
Have no fear, they're far enough away. that they're not gonna catch on fire.
Also, I have glass in front of my fireplace, so it's not an open fire.
It emanates heat, but it's behind glass.
So nothing's going to catch on fire. But anyway, it's too far away from it anyway.
Moving on. Another example would be on my bathroom counter.
I have little clumps of three, okay? On the far left of my bathroom counter, I have a little lamp and a little vase with dried flowers in it.
And A candle, little group of three. Then in the middle of my bathroom counter was, I have a tray that has hand soap and a little cup that holds my toothbrushes and toothpaste and stuff.
That's sort of one item. And then next to it, I have three little trays where I hold earrings... my Invisalign, and then like random shit in the third one.
And then on the other side, I have a digital clock.
Okay, that's a clump of three. And then on the far right side of my bathroom counter, I have...
I have a little mirror that has the super zoom on it so I can pop my pimples.
And I have... Wait, and that's it. Now that might seem a little bit imbalanced to you, but for whatever reason, it looks good and it makes sense to me.
Every little cluster is in an odd number assortment.
And the countertop itself is like, do you see what I'm saying?
It's very much odd numbers. Now it might sound like to you, I'm losing my mind.
Okay? He might be like, what the fuck is Emma talking about?
But I swear... When you're decorating a surface, odd numbers.
Okay, let me give you an even more clear example.
In my kitchen, I have above my kitchen sink this sort of platform, this wooden platform. that is raised above my sink.
And it's like a raised platform that's sort of a window as well.
It's a very large platform and I've always struggled to fill the space, but finally, recently I figured it out.
I have five items up there, okay? In the very middle, I have a massive enamel bowl that I could put fruit in or whatever.
Next to it, I have a butter dish. On the other side of the bowl, I have a mortar and pestle.
These are two items that I use sometimes. but not that often.
So I kind of just use them as decor. And then up there, I also have a vase with flowers.
And then last but not least, I have a little mini laundry hamper for reusable paper towels, okay?
It's a group of five and it just fucking works.
Okay. If I were to take one thing away, it would be imbalanced to me.
Odd numbers. I don't know what it is. It just works in my brain.
If you're decorating a surface and you're like something feels off, maybe it's because it's not an odd number. maybe I'm also losing my mind.
But without fail, if I'm like, why does this feel weird?
It's because it's not an odd number. Do you get what I mean?
Okay, whatever, let's move on because I'm actually losing my mind.
Speaking of reusable paper towels, okay, this is a new addition to my kitchen routine, okay?
I don't even know if you could call it a kitchen routine, but this is a new update to my kitchen arrangement, all right?
I still have paper towels out. I sometimes want to use a paper towel that I'm going to then throw away after.
But a lot of times when I'm cleaning up a mess after cooking or...
I don't know, drying my dishes. I want to use a towel.
Like I'd rather just use a towel. I don't want to waste... paper towel for those things.
You know what I mean? There are very specific occasions where a paper towel makes sense to me.
But my only issue with using reusable paper towels was that I never knew what to do with them when they got dirty.
Like, yeah, I could technically, I guess, go down to my laundry room and like throw them in the hamper.
But it's like, that's a long walk. But then I also didn't want to have... dirty rags like sitting out in my kitchen like that also is kind of gross depending on what I did with the rag or with the reusable paper towel or whatever, dish towel, I guess.
So my solution was, I'm going to get a little mini hamper for these reusable things.
Paper towels. I call them reusable paper towels because they're not fully dish towels.
Dish towels are like massive. I'm talking about smaller... towels that are almost like the size of a paper towel.
And I usually have one clean one going at once and one dirty one going at once.
Like the dirty one, I can use over and over again to like clean the counter until it's like too gross.
And then it's like, okay, I'm going to put that one fully in the hamper.
And then I have a clean one going usually for like a day or two where I can like wipe off dishes, like excess water off dishes before I put them away. and I have them hanging on the side of my little hamper, and then when they get too dirty, I put them into the hamper.
Does that make sense? And this is wonderful because I'm just not abusing paper towels.
But I will say, it was challenging to find the little things hamper for it.
Finding reusable paper towels is easy. You probably have something already in your possession that could work.
And if you don't, you can literally look up like small dish towels, reusable paper towels, and you'll find a bazillion different options.
The hard thing to find is... the right little hamper that would look cute on your counter.
What I ended up doing, actually, I give props to my mom.
I brought up this issue to her. I was like, I want to do this but like I don't know how to find a little hamper like what should I even use for that and And she got excited about the idea and she's like, oh, I'm going to find something.
And so she found... A canvas pot cover, such a specific niche item.
A canvas, it basically like... It's like a cute canvas, almost bowl-looking thing that people can use to like... make their basic boring pots with plants in it look more interesting.
So that's what we ended up ordering. And it's great because it's waterproof-ish.
Um, it's easy to clean if it gets like gross or moldy or whatever.
I think I could probably throw it in the washing machine.
You know what I mean? But also it doesn't leak.
Like if let's say, one of my little reusable paper towels gets soaked.
I'm not worried about putting it in there and then it like, leaking and getting gross, it's pretty contained because it's like a waxy canvas material.
It's pretty wonderful. So that routine right now is working really well for me.
And I would consider it to be a life hack.
Because if you don't need to be buying stuff routinely, why would you?
I do that with my nut milk. Instead of... having to buy almond milk every week.
I just make my own nut milk. I have the little machine.
And it's so easy and I never run out. The only thing I have to do is like buy nuts in bulk every once in a while.
But that's not that big of a deal. It's the same thing with paper towels.
I'm trying to find as many ways to... I don't know, do things myself as possible because it's more efficient and less wasteful and it's just good.
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Okay, next, a life hack to make your home feel more cozy. is to create your own lighting vibe through lamps instead of using overhead light.
It is mind-boggling. how important lighting is in the home to create a certain vibe.
And I'll be honest, standard overhead lighting in homes, like my home too, no one is safe, okay? is not ideal.
It's bright. It sometimes feels fluorescent.
It's kind of overwhelming on the senses.
And listen, there are times when it makes sense to blast all the lights, turn them all on, you know, fuck it.
But I would say majority of the time when we're at home, we're relaxing, we're recharging And we want our home to feel warm and cozy and peaceful.
And I will tell you, you're not going to get that from overhead lighting.
I almost never use my overhead lights, to be honest.
I mean, I do. Actually, not really. During the day...
I usually just have, I don't know, natural light in my home.
And I leave it at that. And then in the evenings...
Usually I'm just living by lamplight. I don't even turn on my overhead lights unless I'm like... cooking a big meal in my kitchen and I want to be able to see everything really well, then maybe I might turn all the lights on.
But I don't know. I prefer subtle, soft lights.
And also lamps are fun. Like I love a good lamp.
It's one of my favorite types of home decor.
And a beautiful lamp with a warm white bulb inside.
Okay, you don't want to buy the bright fluorescent white light bulbs.
You want to buy... the warm white bulbs.
I think that that's what they're called.
The light is just a bit softer, a bit warmer.
You can also buy like super orangey bulbs.
That's wonderful as well, depending on the space.
But see, that's what's so fun about building your lighting in your home is that do research on lightbulbs Figure out what light bulb you like the most.
You know, curate your light bulb usage depending on the room.
Like, You might want really rich orange bulbs in your bedroom so that your room feels like being inside of a womb. being inside of your mother okay that that might be what you want so you might want to use orange bulbs In your living room, you might just want to use soft, warm white bulbs.
You know what I'm saying? There's so much customization when it comes to building your own sort of light landscape in your home.
Not only does it look cute because now you have a bunch of cute lamps, but also it's truly the exact aura that you want.
You can create it. And I actually, I kind of underestimated this before I moved into my current home where I really leaned into the lamps and the moody lighting, and I really considered myself an aura architect.
I was like, fuck it. I'm going to make this feel exactly right.
I think oftentimes we just think of lamps as like, oh, it's just there.
It'll light up the corner and it looks kind of cute and that's it.
But like... If you place them in the right places and put the right kinds of bulbs in there, you can make things feel even more special.
Okay, moving on. A hack to make your home feel super decorated and warm and cozy and eclectic and tastefully done. is to take things that are normally just for function and to find a cute version, okay?
I promise you, They're out there. I'm talking about the toilet brush in your bathroom.
Don't just buy... a white plastic one with like a rubber handle.
Go online. and find something special. Like you can find really cute toilet brushes.
Like I personally found these really wonderful, simple, But chic plunger and toilet brush sets.
And I have one in each of my bathroom. And you know what?
It comes in handy because you never know when you're going to... used too much toilet paper and clogged the toilet, et cetera, et cetera.
You know, that could have been an ugly item in my bathroom, an eyesore.
But now, because I took my time and I found something that was a bit more aesthetically pleasing, that item is not an eyesore.
And it's actually almost satisfying and kind of really amusing that an item can be functional and aesthetically pleasing.
And the other thing is aesthetically pleasing options are often not even more expensive.
Like maybe a $5 difference. It's more just a matter of putting effort in.
It's just a little bit harder to find sometimes.
I'll give you some other examples from my home.
I have a paper towel holder, ironically, because I just was telling you about how I'm trying to get into reusable paper towels. but I do still have paper towels out and they are on a paper towel stand.
I actually got this stand as a gift, so I can't even take credit for it.
But it's like a little ceramic, or maybe it's not ceramic.
Pottery. Cat with a super long tail. And the super long tail holds...
Paper towels or toilet paper. It is so cute.
And it takes something that would normally be ugly.
Like I've seen some ugly... Ugly, ugly, ugly paper towel holders.
This one is so cute. It's a cat. And it's actually aesthetically cool looking.
That's one great example. I also bought some cute match boxes online because I keep matches around the house to light candles.
I also keep lighters around the house. to light candles.
My lighters are not very aesthetic. I have not found super cute lighters yet.
I also already have enough ugly ones and it's like, I don't need to buy new ones.
But if these ever run out of gas, then maybe I'll find a cute option.
But All of my little matchboxes around the house are so cute.
Like I bought this random pack online of these ones that have a bunch of different little kitty cats on them.
Super cute. It's like matchboxes are usually kind of hideous.
You know, like the standard, I don't even know what the match brand is, but like the standard, ew, it's like not that cute.
Matches can be cute. Another great example, I have various different wall hooks in my house for various different reasons.
Some of them are for hanging up towels, say, in the bathroom.
Some of them are for hanging bags on or in my kitchen.
I use hooks to hang aprons or in my... I have hooks that hold some of my purses or whatever.
A lot of times when we want to install hooks in our home and we're shopping for hooks, We're just trying to find a goddamn hook.
You know, we're not finding a cute hook.
Well, we should be. Okay, because hooks can be so cool and so cute.
They don't need to be ugly. They don't need to be the first ones that you find.
Search a little bit harder and you'll find a cute hook.
And now that's another piece of decor, you know?
Another great example, aesthetic candles.
There are so many aesthetically pleasing candles out there.
Listen, I know the ones from Bath and Body Works smell really good.
They do. But the packaging is choogy. It is choogy and it is ugly.
Listen, do I sometimes whip out my Bath and Body Works candle anyway?
Yes. Sometimes you just have to. I actually peeled the label off of one of my Bath and Body Works candles.
And that allowed me to keep it out because actually, but I think when I peeled it off, it like left part of the sticker and it looked kind of bad.
So then I just flipped it around. Anyway, listen, I love a Bath & Body Works candle, but the packaging to me is not, it's not for me.
So I work really hard to find candles that are, equally delicious smelling, but also aesthetically pleasing on the outside.
I've been known to like the glass that a candle's in. but not like the logo on it, I'll peel the logo off.
Like that is something that I do beyond that one time with the Bath and Body Works candle.
I do that in general. And I've often had success with it, but it depends on what type of sticker is on it.
Either way though, you can find so many different kinds of candles that smell good and look good.
Another thing, Cool salt and pepper shakers.
There are so many vintage salt and pepper shakers out there that are so cool.
You need to soak that thing though. Soak it, clean it, make sure it is spotless because it's a little bit gross to get that vintage, but I've done it and I use it.
I don't know. It can be tempting to just buy like a simple... salt and pepper shaker, the first one you find online or the first one you see at like Target.
Like it's tempting, but that's not... That doesn't have as much character as... perhaps thrifting one, getting one vintage, getting one from a flea market, whatever, or just finding something really specific and unique to you.
Again, that's something simple that could be decor if you just took a little bit more time.
And the last one I can think of for now is blankets.
Pick blankets in beautiful colors that... complement the room that you're putting them in, you know, perhaps get blankets that have a beautiful pattern on it.
Blankets can be an accessory as well. The whole moral of the story is take the time to find the most beautiful version of functional items that you can find.
Because... At the end of the day, that's what home decor should be.
Functional items that look beautiful as well.
I do think that there's a little bit of room in home decor to add things that bring a certain energy to a space.
Don't get me wrong. That is also... in my opinion, maybe like 30%, 40%.
No, not even, I'm gonna say 30%. interior design of home decor.
The rest of it is finding functional items that look really beautiful. that you like the way that they look.
And again, it doesn't need to be expensive.
It's not about how much it costs. It's not about that at all.
It's about taking the time to find these items.
That's the thing about it. The difference that it makes in the aura of your home is very palpable.
And the thing is... I think oftentimes we can choose certain functional items on a whim, like, oh, this paper towel roll holder is fine.
It's kind of ugly, but it's fine. You know what?
I'll make up for it by... putting a beautiful piece of art on the wall.
But it's like, you can't, No, like make the whole world, build the whole world if that's something you're into, why not?
I don't know if that's really a life hack.
It might be more so a piece of advice, but...
Anyway, okay, moving on. Strategically place clocks around your house, okay?
Don't just put them where they look cute.
Put them where they make sense. Like for example, I have a clock in my bathroom.
It's like a little standing clock on my bathroom counter.
And I love having that there because in the morning, when I wake up and walk into the bathroom to go to the bathroom, or to like brush my teeth or whatever, I can see what time it is.
Obviously I kind of know what time it is when I wake up. because I'm looking at my phone to turn my alarm off, or I'm getting up to turn off my physical alarm clock because I have one of those too.
And I use both. But there's something really nice about my first conscious moment, which is me in the I would say 99.9% of mornings, I'm in the bathroom.
Like that's my first action, right? It's my first action while I'm awake.
I'm conscious at that point. Then I get to see the time again.
And then again in the evening when I'm getting ready for bed, a lot of times, I don't know what time it is, to be honest.
I have no clue. And it's helpful to, I don't know, look down while I'm brushing my teeth and be like, okay, it's, you know, it's 1030. what time do I need to get up tomorrow?
Am I going to be exhausted? Am I going to need to take a nap tomorrow?
Should I schedule that in? Like it's all very subtle things, but There's something really nice about having a clock in my bathroom.
Also when I'm in the shower, if I'm showering and getting ready for something, it's nice to be able to look over at my bathroom counter and know what time it is.
See if I'm running late or not. I also have a clock by my front door on this little entryway table because when I'm leaving, I like to see what time it is and when I get home, I like to see what time it is.
That's very helpful. My alarm clock in my bedroom, okay, used to be in a really good spot.
But then I ended up moving it because I didn't like how it looked.
But now it's not in as convenient of a location for me to look at.
I actually have it on my nightstand. I have a fireplace in front of my bed.
Like if I'm laying in bed, I'm looking at my fireplace.
And I used to have my alarm clock, my physical alarm clock sitting there by the fireplace.
And so to turn it off, I'd have to like get up and turn it off.
But it didn't look good there. It was very functional there because I could see what time it was.
And I'd have to get up to turn it off, but it just looked ugly.
Whereas on my nightstand, it looks amazing.
It looks amazing. But it was nice to be able to lay in bed and look at what time it was and also wake up in the morning and look at what time it was.
I don't know. It was kind of nice. So I need to figure out a solution to that.
Maybe I need to get a different. I don't know.
But anyway, strategically placed clocks.
Like really think about when you want to look at the time the most and then put clocks there.
Like don't just put a clock on a wall because it's like kind of cute there.
If you're never going to check the time there, it's a fucking waste of space.
Put something else there. That's my opinion.
Life hack, make it so that you don't have to be checking your phone every time you want to know the time.
Ideally, we're placing items in our home where they're actually going to be utilized.
You know what I mean? Okay, next. One of my biggest pet peeves. when it comes to home decor, is ugly cords.
Like a lamp... with an ugly cord. You could have this gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous lamp.
But the cord is hideous and it sticks out like a sore thumb.
There's nothing worse. I actually am having that issue every, In one of my bathrooms right now, I just put a new lamp in there.
Well, not a new lamp, but I moved... a lamp from one room into that bathroom because it looks so much better there and makes so much more sense.
However... Where this lamp was before, you couldn't see the cord.
Now you can see the cord. And the cord is bright white.
And the rest of the room is very like... dark and woodsy.
And then there's this big white cord. It looks hideous. don't worry.
I have a solution for myself and for you if you ever find yourself in this predicament.
It's a little bit extra, it's a little bit high maintenance, but I promise you it's worth it, okay?
I've tried to like make a cord blend in.
I've tried, you know, clipping it to the wall, like clipping it to the wall and, There's little clips that you can get to like kind of tape it flat to the wall.
That doesn't look very good. I've tried it.
It doesn't look that good. I've tried just like wrapping the cord up tight so that it's not like all bundled on the ground.
Perhaps even... you know, taping it to the back of the lamp.
I've tried all these different things. Nothing works.
You can't hide the cord sometimes. Sometimes you just can't.
So don't. Make the cord cute. My mom is very crafty. sometimes even more crafty than me.
And she turned me on to spray painting lamp cords. so that it matches the wall or it matches the floor or whatever.
And listen, you know, you might need to do a little bit more cord management.
You might want to twist it up and like push it behind the lamp or like, I don't know, you might need to do a little bit more after you paint it.
But once it blends in, as long as the cord isn't just like all over the ground, Looks pretty good and you don't even think about it.
Another option is a cord cover. I actually have this wonderful sconce in one of the rooms in my house.
It's like this big green flower with a big bulb in the center of it, this big sconce.
And the sconce is not hardwired into my house, right?
It's something that we hung up almost like a floating lamp, but there is a cord that that's connected to it.
And the cord basically just dangles onto the ground.
Now that's not the cutest, just like a raw cord out.
So, There's a cord cover on it. A cute one with stripes.
And I love the way it looks. Like, I genuinely prefer the way... the cord cover looks with this sconce.
I prefer that over it being hardwired into the wall and and there be no cord.
Like I love the way that the cord looks.
So you might have to get a little bit crafty, but if a cord is bothering you, don't give up and don't hide it.
Own it. Own the fact that there's a cord.
Own electricity, okay? We're not at a point yet where we have magic light bulbs that you just twist into your lamp and they just are lit all the time and you don't need electricity and you never need to charge them.
We still need to plug our goddamn lamps into the wall and we should own it.
Don't try to hide it. Okay, moving on. Another life hack. when it comes to decorating your home.
This works. If you're rearranging stuff or if you're just moving into a new space and you're trying to figure out what to do with all of the furniture that you already have, or you're trying to figure out what you need, and what to choose for various spaces, I always like to choose some sort of aesthetic theme for each room.
Now, I know what you're thinking. Emma, like we all have our own personal home decor style.
Like, is that what you're talking about?
Like, that's pretty self-explanatory. No.
I'm talking more hyper-specific. Every single room in my house has a sort of aesthetic code and theme.
That really only makes sense to me, to be honest.
Like I wouldn't expect anybody else to understand it, but it makes sense to me.
I'll give you some examples of how I use this, and then maybe that'll help you figure out how you can use it.
You get what I mean? So for example, downstairs, I have a sitting room that kind of connects to the pool.
It's like we call it the pool sitting room, a place to hang out on a warm summer day.
This room is nautical themed. So all of my nautical home decor ended up going in there.
When I was buying pieces for that room, I was trying to stay in a nautical world, right?
I have a little fish pillow in there. I have a bunch of little trinkets that relate to the ocean in one way or another.
I have a little lighthouse sculpture and a little fisherman sculpture.
And I have nautical books in there. I like nautical things.
I love the ocean. I love all of that stuff.
And So I wanted that room to feel sort of nautical.
And so I took all the stuff I already had put in there.
And then when I was shopping for that room, I kept that in mind.
It doesn't feel like so on the nose that the room isn't livable.
It just helped me guide... my decorating and my shopping.
For whatever reason, I wanted that room to feel nautical.
So that's what I did. Is every single thing exactly super nautical?
No, but that's how I gave myself direction when building that room.
In my personal bedroom, I want it to feel like a mossy garden.
And my room was like 60% there for a while, but...
Recently, when I was redecorating for those four days, I really got my room feeling like a mossy, My room feels fully like a moss garden.
I added another plant in there. I took a bunch of the decorations out and added a bunch of like supernatural things looking ceramics with a bunch of dried flowers. colors in there are really mild and easy to look at.
Like I just, I wanted my room to feel like a mossy garden.
Again, is it exactly like a mossy garden?
No, it's not. But... I'm buying things that to me feel like they would be in a mossy garden, even if it's inaccurate.
Like it's, again, a lot of this is just personal.
It's just about figuring out the vibe that you're going for before you go and start decorating the space so that you have some sort of intention. of how you want the room to feel.
Otherwise, it's gonna be really hard to build a cohesive feeling. you know?
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This episode is brought to you by Welch's Fusions, the newest drop from Welch's fruit snacks.
Isn't it so satisfying when you combine two of your favorite things to make something even better?
It's like when I'm putting an outfit together and I pair two of my favorite pieces together that I've never put together before.
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Please fuse responsibly. Another example would be In My Kitchen.
I really wanted to incorporate some 50s vibes.
I have a very much green kitchen, okay? Everything is green.
The cabinets, the countertop, everything is green.
And it also feels a little bit modern. You know, like all of the... I don't know.
It doesn't look modern, but... It also doesn't look vintage.
It's sort of somewhere in between, I guess.
But I really love 1950s kitchens. Like I love all the enamel jars and bowls.
I love little ceramic bowls. fruit bowls I love that are shaped like fruit.
Like a bowl for fruit that's shaped like fruit.
Like shit like that, okay? I love that stuff.
And so... I wanted to make my kitchen feel kitschy.
So I put all of these different items in my kitchen that fit that criteria.
Like I have this little rolling cart that's vintage and it's red with cream accents.
I put that in there. I got this vintage jar that has cherries on it.
I put that in my kitchen. I have this large enamel bowl that I discussed earlier, actually, this massive enamel bowl that's cream with red.
I wanted to feel retro and bright and poppy and fun.
So that was sort of the vibe I wanted to go for in my kitchen.
Like, I wanted to bring some of that 1950s kitchen into my kitchen.
And so over time, I've collected those items.
And listen, I could go on all day about this, but The moral of the story is it's so helpful to know what feeling you're going for, to know what aesthetic you're going for.
Otherwise, you'll end up with a space that just doesn't feel quite right.
And that was really what I worked on during those four days of redecorating.
I really... really went into each room and asked myself, what do I want this vibe to be?
What is this exact vibe? And then... I moved things around in my house.
It was almost like a puzzle. Like, I'll give you an example, okay?
In my kitchen, I had this little wooden thing sculpture of a fisherman.
And I had this epiphany. I was like, wait, this doesn't belong in this room.
This belongs... in the room downstairs that's super nautical.
Why is that not down there? So I moved that down there.
And then I had this vase downstairs in that nautical room that honestly wasn't that nautical.
And I was like, that looks super natural, almost like... a rock.
Like, it looks very natural, almost as though it would be in a forest.
I'm going to move that upstairs into my bedroom."
Because I want my bedroom to feel like a mossy forest.
And this pot feels like it belongs in a mossy forest.
You get what I'm saying? That was very much the puzzle I was solving. during those four days.
And I guess I just didn't really ever think about decorating a room in that way before.
I was never like, okay, what is the specific feeling I'm going for?
What is the exact... aesthetic in my head.
It doesn't need to make sense to anyone else.
It's not going to be like, oh, I want this... room to be super cottagecore.
Like that's not specific enough. It needs to be hyper specific to you.
You know what I mean? But once you have that and you figure out what materials and colors and symbols make that up, it all just falls into place.
And sometimes you might need to go out and buy some new things.
Other times it's just rearranging stuff you already have to make things feel more cohesive.
I don't know if that's a good life hack.
It might be too abstract. So anyway, hopefully you can use that.
Okay, my next hack, if you're trying to decorate something, let's say you're decorating a wall, decorating a surface, whatever, and it's just not feeling right, like you're rearranging, you're adding stuff, you're like squinting at it and it's just not working.
Like you've been playing around with it for... an hour and it's just not working.
My life hack is to take everything off. Just try to add one thing.
There's a chance that you're just doing too much.
Sometimes the answer to decor is much more simple than we think.
Sometimes it's just putting one vase with flowers.
Sometimes it's just hanging one piece of art on the wall.
I think a lot of times we think of decoration and we think of like a lot. more.
It needs to feel full, you know? But sometimes that's just not right.
And so we can drive ourselves nuts trying to get the balance right.
But really, the answer is much more simple.
It's just one pot. It's just one vase. It's just one lamp.
It's just one thing. Sometimes it's not like in the rule of odd numbers, we might be trying to push five or seven items, right? on a surface or on a wall or something, when what we really need to do is just put one.
And that leads me to my next life hack, which is sometimes asymmetry is the fucking vibe.
Sometimes symmetry is wrong. I love an occasional... randomly placed on a weird quadrant of the wall.
Like one of my favorite areas of my house is I have this credenza, right?
Like a long... piece of storage furniture.
And I could have put a piece of art right in the middle of the credenza, right?
Because I wanted to put a piece of art above the credenza.
I could have put it right in the middle, but no, I put it all the way to the left.
And I love it. And every time I look at it, it feels so good.
You know, not everything needs to be perfectly symmetrical.
And sometimes less is more. Okay, my next life hack, if you're decorating a surface and perhaps you're putting again like candles, vases, whatever the fuck. and you're putting things down and you're organizing them and it's looking really bad and it just feels empty, you need to put a book down.
Put a book down, maybe two, maybe three, and then put these objects on top of that.
Sometimes that just makes it make sense.
I don't know why, but I have that in multiple places in my house where...
I wanted to have a candle out and perhaps a vase and perhaps like a tissue box or whatever.
And like, I tried to put them all out and they just didn't look good.
I'm actually specifically talking about my makeup vanity.
I wanted to... decorate it, but also put out some functional items and I was trying to organize it and it just did not look good.
And then I put books down underneath the functional items and and the decorative items, and boom, it just looked good.
It looked complete. Sometimes that's just what it needs.
Okay, and then my last life hack. is go to flea markets, okay?
I just had the most wonderful flea market run recently.
And I got so many wonderful things. Not so many, but I got a handful of wonderful things.
Actually, I shouldn't say a handful either because a lot of the items were very large.
I just think flea markets can be such a great source of unique home decor. that you can't find anywhere else, that is priced right, the price is right.
Like at my most recent... flea market run, I found this massive metal tree.
Massive. And immediately when I saw it, I was like, this is either the most ugly thing I've ever seen or it's going to be perfect in my dining room.
And it's, the statement piece I've been waiting for.
It was 150 bucks. This is a massive piece of like art.
And art is not cheap, okay? I was shocked that it was only 150 bucks.
Not the cheapest item, but this thing is big, okay?
Got home, hung it up. It's amazing. It literally looks like it could be $5,000.
It was $150. If somebody told me, I'm not even kidding.
If somebody told me that that metal tree that is now in my dining room hung up on the wall was $50,000, I'd be like, maybe.
Art is so expensive. So this is my point.
You can find such amazing things. from the flea market and the prices are usually pretty good.
So I would say if you're buying decor items, that's the place.
If you're buying furniture, mm, be a little bit more careful.
Like you don't want to buy a couch from the flea market.
It might have fleas in it. I'm a little bit frightened of buying a used couch.
Like Who jacked off on that couch? And how well can you really clean it?
You know what I mean? I'm a little bit more skeptical of that.
Whereas like, A vintage bowl? Ceramics?
Art for the walls? Coasters? I don't know.
There's little knickknacks that speak to you for whatever reason. that really are cool to you, there's nothing like going to a flea market.
It's just the best. I think it's the best resource, at least. in my area where I live, okay?
I think it's the best. So if you have one near you, hit it up.
Don't underestimate it. It's the vibe. I don't think I'm...
That's not a hot take, but I don't know.
I think that's all I have for today. Those are all my home decor hacks.
I'm realizing some of it was advice. But that's kind of like a hack advice.
It's kind of the same thing. To be honest, I am so hungry.
I need to eat dinner. And I'm so excited because I'm gonna make a really yummy bowl for myself right now.
And so I'm really looking forward to this.
So I have to go and eat my dinner. But I love you all and I appreciate you all and I'm so grateful that you hung out with me today.
And if you enjoyed it, Have no fear because there are new episodes of Anything Goes every Thursday and Sunday.
Watch me talk on YouTube and Spotify and listen to me anywhere you stream podcasts.
Anything Goes is on the internet at Anything Goes.
I'm on the internet at Emma Chamberlain.
And my coffee company is in the world and on the internet at Chamberlain Coffee.
I love you all. I appreciate you all. And luckily, I'll be speaking to you in a few days, so you don't have to miss me too much.
Sometimes when I give advice or life hacks, I'm like, is this shit so fucking obvious?
Like, is it so obvious that it's like too obvious?
Yeah. Well, that's fine. Okay. Talk to you later.
Love you. Bye.
