It’s funny but when styling a space, I’ve often found it difficult to define a ‘look’ which is probably because I work to a scheme instinctively and in an explorative manner. If you asked me though, I would find it easy to tell you how I want my space to feel and when you think about it, that’s exactly what we should be motivated by. Why create a ‘look’ when you can create a feeling?
We’ve partnered with Air Wick Essential Mist to show you how to style a space to create a mood and, a feeling within a room. I’ve never consciously thought about what creating a feeling entails so I’ve really had to think hard about this to break it down for you. There are three main points that need to be addressed to achieve a desired feeling: texture, colour, and scent.
To re-style my hallway console, I’ve used the Air Wick Essential Mist in ‘Fresh Water Breeze’ scent as my starting point (their Essential Mist comes with 3 other scents: Peony and Jasmine; Cinnamon and Crisp Apple; Mandarin and Sweet Orange). From there, I’ve come up with some key words to inspire the space purely based on what I think of when I think, ‘Fresh Water Breeze.’ A fresh water breeze to me comes with a strong sense of calm and reflectiveness and as scents tend to do, this smell takes me straight back to childhood holidays spent near the ocean and with that comes adventure and excitement.
In terms of colour, I’ve gone pretty hard with the blue in this vignette, which is an obvious choice when you think of water breeze but the richer tones of the bricks, the amber vase, and the timber console are of equal importance here to create warmth. The rustic form of the teak timber stool and the rattan basket and pot plant are key in adding the right texture and a natural element to this story.
No matter what space you’re curating, make sure your space is true to you. Books and globes are symbols of adventure to me and I’ve avoided representing water and the sea in a really overt (overdone) way like with shells and coral. The photographic art captures our family at the beach with our vintage van, is both, a proud moment and happy memory.
To complete the space I’ve addressed scent, an important but sometimes overlooked element. There are numerous ways to create scent in a home but I’m a little bit terrified of the combination of candles and kids and the Air Wick Essential Mist releases scent via a gentle mist infused with essential oils. It’s the icing on the cake in creating the desired mood in this space. I love that you can control the amount of fragrance released by choosing from 3 intensity settings. This is key for me because whilst I love a mood-evoking scent in the air, I don’t want to be overwhelmed by it. The diffuser is also super lightweight, doesn’t require any water, and is battery operated, which is a major plus because I hate being dictated by power points in a home (there are never enough) and there is just no way to make cords look pretty. Important too is that the refined look of the diffuser, with its simple clean lines, makes this item really easy to slip into any scheme without it dictating the overall feel.
That’s my hallway story. Are you picking up what I’m putting down (calm, introspective, adventure and exhilaration) or does this space make you feel something else? That’s OK too, as long as you feel something, we’re good.
