Guest Author - Cheryl Lewis

A friend of mine is a Manager at a very upscale gift boutique and I recently went to visit her at work. The first thing I noticed about the shop is that it smelled wonderful! As you go in the door you smell vanilla, coffee and something spicy and slightly exotic. As you proceed to walk through the store you smell other aroma's, but all have an underlying coffee fragrance. It's incredibly relaxing.

I asked my friend how they had achieved this aroma splendor. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I'm a scent-a-holic. I like for my house to smell good, my clothes (dryer sheets every time), my food, everything. My friend laughed and proceeded to tell me that the vanilla and spicy overtones were achieved by the candles at the front of the store by the door. Then throughout the shop they had carefully placed refillable sachets, and fragrance packets in mostly hidden places. The coffee undertones were achieved deliberately by placing fresh coffee beans in crocks, decorative bowls and whatever else creative they could come up with. They also lit two coffee scented candles.

I thought about this on the way home. I decided if it was good enough for the shop, well then it was good enough for me. I love old stuff, antiques and unusual household things. I knew I had plenty of neat containers, it was a matter of placing them strategically around the house.

I went to my local coffee house and asked for their most aromatic whole beans. They pointed out the brand they thought was the most aromatic, and packaged up a pound for me. I've now placed small containers filled with coffee beans around my kitchen and my living room.

My favorite coffee bean decoration is an old rustic pie tin with a spicey scented four wick candle and coffee beans all around the bottom of the candle to fill in the extra space of the pie tin. I have several of these scented candles in the living room, two plug in air scents in a spicy apple fragrance, and the coffee beans. It smells heavenly. I love it when people comment on how wonderful it smells when they walk in my front door.

In my kitchen, I burn hazelnut scented candles and when I added in the coffee fragances it was a perfect combination. When I have visitors they comment on how wonderful it smells and appreciate the fresh coffee.

The point is to be creative and if you love scents and the smell of coffee, don't be afraid to try different decorating techniques with things you wouldn't ordinarily think of.