Every single thing I added to my home in 2025
It wasn’t much!
Last December, I decided to make a list of every new-to-me thing that I brought into my home over the course of the year (inspired in part by my friend Shira’s insanely detailed inventory of everything she owns). To my surprise, it was one of the most popular posts of the year. I thought I’d revive the practice as we close out 2025.
As I looked around me to write this newsletter, I realized we’d brought shocking little into our home this year. I’m always a minimal shopper, but 2025 was apparently even more so than other years. However, my home did get some big upgrades–they just weren’t purchases. After much hemming and hawing, we had our beloved Paul McCobb chairs and coffee table refinished (which I wrote about back in May). I also finally got around to hemming a bunch of curtains that were not quite the right length.
Obviously, I bought other things including clothing (almost all secondhand) and consumables like groceries and soaps. Various toys and child-related ephemera have also made their way in (the pile of foam swords is definitely larger!). But the list of home items that I deemed worth adding to our small space was very slim.
Here’s every single thing I added to my home in 2025 (and nary an affiliate link!):
1 Houseplants
We brought more new plants into our home this year for my houseplant-loving kid. We’ve managed to keep a fleet of plants alive for the last year, but the meyer lemon tree he convinced me to buy in August on deep discount at the nursery is struggling right now. It’s blossoming (and smells heavenly), but dropping leaves like crazy. Tips? We don’t get a ton of daylight in winter.
2 Books (of course)
Books are always coming into our home–and constantly cycling out, too. There are too many to list, but a few stand-outs include ones I was inspired to write about in the newsletter: The Harmonious Home by my lovely friend Rebecca Atwood and Gardenista The Low-Impact Garden by my colleague Kendra Wilson.
3 A serious water filter
When we moved in more than a decade ago, I installed an under-counter osmosis water filter. Almost immediately after our kid was born, we realized we wanted a dishwasher more, which meant sacrificing the space under our sink and our built-in water filter. So when Rorra asked me if I wanted to test drive their countertop model, I enthusiastically answered yes. I’ve been using it for a year and I feel pretty confident recommending it. The Rorra is plastic-free, easy on the eyes, and its third-party testing (something not all competitors have) impressed me. It’s pricey but on par with other design-y countertop models.
4 A proper task light
Back in 2022, the Wall Street Journal asked me to write about task lights and I tested about a dozen of them. My top pick was the Nova task lamp by Humanscale. I spent three years thinking about buying one before finally purchasing a used one on eBay. In a comedy of errors, I bought the clamp style, but it didn’t work on my desk, so then I scoured for a base, but I accidentally bought a grey one instead of white. Now I have a two-tone lamp. C’est la vie!
I also bought the most basic wrist wrest for my laptop, which has made a world of difference, and a wool laptop sleeve. Why did I wait so long to improve my work station comfort?
Read on for more things I loved and what I’m longing for in 2026