Scent Your Home

Keep the potpourri in your sock drawer and save the scented candles for your next romantic dinner. There are now equally effective ways of scenting your home and getting the benefits of aromatherapy (which promotes relaxation and helps relieve stress). And they don't even require a sachet or a match.  
 
The new Reed Diffuser from the Thymes(thymes.com for  $45, )  has thin bamboo reeds that store and emit fragrance from an oil scented with verbena, cypress, or amber. When their aroma fades, simply flip them to renew the scent. The diffuser will last six months - about five months longer than a $15 scented candle.  
 
For a more subtle scent alternative, try the lamp vaporizer from Floris at Home (florislondon.com for $27.50 for .34 ounce of oil and three rings,  which uses heat from a lightbulb to disperse your choice of fragrance throughout a room.

Well-Lighted Room

You decorate, you clean, and there's still an element of Dickensian drear in the corners of your rooms. Aha! Light-bulb-overhead moment: Trade in your regular light bulbs for GE Reveals, which give off a crisper, more vivid light that doesn't make you look washed out. The secret behind these powder blue bulbs is neodymium, an element that filters out the dull yellow cast emitted by ordinary incandescents. The bulbs are $3 to $4 for a four-pack and are available nationwide at home centers, hardware stores, supermarkets, and drugstores.

Instant Hallway Makeover

Transform a high-traffic area, like an entranceway, by painting a runner. It's a creative, low-cost alternative to carpeting or refinishing your beat-up wood (or painted wood) floor. 
 
Map out the runner with blue tape, such as Scotch Safe Release one-inch-wide blue masking tape (about $5 at hardware stores), to create a strip with a seven- to nine-inch border on each side. If the floorboards run lengthwise, use the seams as your guide. 
 
If your floor has a polyurethane finish, sand the designated area and wipe away the residue with a damp microfiber cloth. 
 
Apply two coats of acrylic-latex paint, such as Ace Royal Touch Satin from Ace Hardware ($22 for a gallon,) within the tape border. Let dry 24 to 48 hours. 
 
Apply one to two coats of acrylic polyurethane, such as Varathane (about $20 a gallon at hardware stores), as a sealant. Let dry overnight.

Frame Fabric for Quick, Inexpensive Art

You've stared at the bare spot above the couch for one too many years. Until you find art you can commit to - or in place of it - try a quick, inexpensive, attractive, and changeable-with-your-mood alternative: a framed piece of fabric.  
 
You'll need a staple gun, a stretched canvas (sold in art-supply stores), and some fabric, preferably heavy linen or cotton in a pattern without straight lines. Cut out a piece of the fabric that is four to six inches longer and wider than the frame. 
 
Place the material pattern-side down on your work surface, and center the canvas facedown on top of it. Then staple the cloth to the back of the frame. Start by placing one staple in the center of the left side of the frame. Pull the fabric tight, then do the same on the right side. Continue stapling on opposite sides, keeping the fabric taut as you work out from the center toward the edges of the frame. Repeat on the top and bottom sides, and make neat hospital corners when you reach the edges.

Display Hand Towels in a Window Box

You worked for hours helping Mom plant pachysandra way back when, but that doesn´t help you now, as you try to nurture a briefly blooming geranium display in an outdoor window box. It´s time to throw in the towel - literally. A standard window box installed inside, just below the sill, proves fertile ground for storing a colorful array of hand towels and washcloths. Stick to one shade or mix it up and you´ll have your own version of a window garden. Even Mom may reap the benefits.

Switch Your Switch Plates

Many of us repaint, repaper, or repanel our rooms but keep the old plastic switch plates and outlet covers, which are low-key eyesores (and magnets for fingerprints). You can improve the look of any room by replacing them with ones that either blend in with the walls or make decorative statements of their own. Whether you have single toggle switches or three dimmers together, there are many on-line sources that offer switch plates and outlet covers in all sorts of configurations.  
 
For a Painted Wall 
If you have leftover paint, you can always try to paint your switch plate so it disappears into the wall. But it's easier to choose a prefab one that complements your color scheme better than basic white does. 

For a Paneled Wall 
Paneled walls are tough to match. But even when the grain is different, a switch plate in the same wood as the walls will make your room look more pulled-together.  

For Striped Wallpaper 
A switch plate covered with wallpaper can look like a craft project gone awry. Instead, slide a piece of wallpaper into a clear plastic one for a look that's seamless and easy to clean.