In an apartment of thirty to forty-five square metres, everything sits beside everything else. The kitchen is ten steps from the bed. The desk looks out at where the towels dry. The smell of dinner and the smell of sleep share one body of air, and that is what makes choosing scent here different from a house with many rooms.
At this size, one candle jar is usually enough. What needs balancing is where it stands and when it is lit, not yet how many there are. We still tell those of you in small flats that one 200 gram jar in the right place does more than two jars in the wrong place.
One scent for the whole home, and one habit for a day
Because the air in a small apartment passes through every corner, we tend to advise choosing a single direction of scent for the whole home in each stretch of time. One direction only, and you change it by the hour rather than by the space. In the morning open the window to let the air change; in the afternoon light the candle as you start work; in the evening blow it out about an hour before sleep so the room is left with a very light layer of scent.
The best place in a small apartment is usually the dining table or a shelf in the middle of the room, meaning the middle point of the home. From there the scent travels out evenly in every direction. Avoid standing it on the fridge, because that surface is warm and it vibrates; avoid right beside the stove, because the smell of food lies over it; and avoid the head of the bed, because the scent will be too thick when you lie down.
An open kitchen is a shared matter in small apartments. Our way is to run the extractor while cooking, open the window for about ten minutes after eating, and only then light the candle. Light a candle while stir-frying and the smell of food and the fragrance stand on top of each other, and both lose what is good in them.
How far does a 200 gram jar go in a month
Our two hundred gram glass jar candle burns about thirty-five to forty hours. If you burn one two-hour round each evening, that jar stays with you about twenty days. If you burn it every other day, it goes more than a month. The two hundred and twenty gram version adds a few hours more.
On the first lighting, let the candle burn until the wax melts evenly out to the wall of the cup, usually about two hours. This lays the ground for later burns, because soy wax will melt along exactly the edge it went to the first time. After that, trim the cotton wick to about five millimetres before each lighting.
In a closed apartment, remember to keep the candle on a level surface, away from curtains and away from papers, and put it out when you leave the room. In a small home everything is close together, so a little care here goes a very long way.
A few questions you often send us
How many candle jars should a small apartment use
One jar is enough for thirty to forty-five square metres. Stand it at the middle point of the home, such as the dining table or a shelf in the middle of the room.
Will the scent get mixed up with an open kitchen
Run the extractor while cooking, open the window for ten minutes after eating, and only then light the candle. Follow that order and the two scents never meet.
What should I choose for a closed room with a small window
Burn rounds of two hours and then let the room rest, or use a reed diffuser with three or four reeds for a light base of scent all day.
Read more scents for the bedroom and the living room, the story of safety when burning candles at home, and the four scents of the glass jar candle range.