Ever wonder if an influencer really uses the products they peddle when it’s a gifted or sponsored post? Me too! So I thought I’d share what home products I still use all these years later
I’ll be the first to admit that my job is weird. I say this to anyone who doesn’t follow me online and can’t grasp why only one of the sides of my house is painted white. I find myself saying the strangest things “Yeah, because of my job, I need to put new cabinets into my house” or “Yeah, I’m working with a company to wallpaper my son’s room 4 times this year” or “I’m learning how to DIY an epoxy floor for a client”. It’s strange.
My influencer background
So what do I do? Well, I started this blog, The House that Lars Built 16 years ago in 2008 when I didn’t know you could make money blogging, back before there was even a term called “influencer”. I wrote blog posts, guest blogged, Since then the blog has morphed into a creative services company where we show people how to make projects and live an artful life. At this point, we have a large presence on Instagram, Pinterest, and here on the blog and a lot of times I’m considered an “influencer” because I’m oftentimes hired not only for my design skills, but also to spread a company’s message.
When I first moved to my old apartment, I got an email from a cabinet company asking if I’d like to work with them on installing some of their cabinets into my home. They probably didn’t know I was renting, but I still I asked my new landlords–“hey, would you like some new cabinets installed?” This was about 2013 and I didn’t know them and they didn’t know me well, and they were a bit confused or didn’t believe the offer so they said no…hahahaha! What I would have given to own a home at that time! I would have snatched that up in a heartbeat!
Sometimes I look around my house and the strangeness of my job stares right back at me–the sofa I’m sitting on, the tv that looks like a piece of art, the console that my tv sits on, the antique Mora clock from Sweden, the cabinets in my kitchen, the hood, my bed, vanity, etc, etc. They were all from companies that gave me product in exchange for coverage on my social media.
In fact, the reason I was able to do an episode of a home renovation tv show in such a short amount of time was because a lot of companies who I have worked with before were eager and willing to donate items in order to be seen on tv. It was a good deal for me because the long-term renovation I was planning on in order to stretch out my budget, was now 3 months and I just couldn’t afford to do it all in such a short amount of time.
The job of an influencer has changed and morphed over the years and continues to change by the day (yes, it’s very frustrating to run a business built on it!). All that said–I’ve tried out a number of new products over the years and there are still some that I stand by and I wanted to share them with you. No one if paying me to talk about them again. Some of the companies have been so wonderful to work with while others have been less so. Some products have been such a game changer while others get forgotten and given away. These are the tried and true home products and I will continue to recommend them!
1. The Frame TV
The most obvious one to me is The Frame TV because you know how important my shows are to me. I was first hired by Samsung to share about in back when it first came out in 2017. The thing with new products is that you don’t have reviews to base your opinions on, you just have your own experience. So I was basing it off of having the product for a week, but let’s be honest, mostly by how awesome it looked in my home. And to this day, I’m so happy with how it looks. There’s just nothing else like it still! How is that possible?!
At our old apartment it started to get buggy every so often. Vertical stripes would appear across the screen and it would pause every once in awhile. For some reason, we haven’t had any problems with it since we moved 4 years ago other than going through 8 remote controls because little boys like to put them in “special places”.
I will say that the Samsung app is better for newer tvs than it is for this one. We bought another Samsung to go in another room and that app is much better. I’m sure it’s the age of the product, but it’s still kind of annoying. Would I recommend the Frame though? Absolutely!
You can shop The Frame TV here
2. Article sofa
By far the most questions I get asked are about our green Sven Article sofa from 2016. At the time it was perfect for our needs both in the scale, since we were in an apartment and in color because we wanted a way to bring in without doing much to the apartment. Green velvet was having a big moment and we were totally riding the wave.
After having kids, we started to notice the durability of the velvet was hard to maintain. Any slobber left a mark on the fabric was hard to get out and soon it just looked like stain city. Eventually we switched it out for the Sitka sofa in a fabric that was way more durable for kids and I’m so glad we did. It hides the dirt and stains well, we can take off the slipcovers and wash them. I’m considering this a full on kid sofa and it’s been great! Sturdy and in destructable–great for forts and castles.
You can shop Article sofas here.
3. Cliq kitchen cabinets
A few weeks ago I visited a friend of mine who recently built a beautiful home. She pointed out how her kitchen cabinets were peeling from the laminate and it made me so bummed out for her. Here’s she’s invested so much money into a beautiful home and not even 5 years later the cabinets are peeling. It made me immediately grateful to have worked with Cliq Studios. We partnered with them on the tv show and though it’s only been two years, I’m so so happy with them. There’s a few things about the style that I would have preferred differently–like inset cabinets in a fun color, but overall, I’m very happy with them.
I did make the mistake of not putting on knobs right away, and still haven’t, because there are some style things we are going to change in our kitchen and I didn’t want to commit to anything quite yet. Because of that some of the pull outs are a bit uneven on each side, but that’s totally our own fault.
Mary also used them for her kitchen and has a great experience with hers!
You can shop Cliq Cabinets here
4. Nest
We worked with Nest back in 2018 when we lived at our rental apartment. I always found it a bit funny to install things that were permanent to our place when we weren’t going to live there forever, but we ended up living there for 8 years and we loved our landlords so much that it ended up being a good thing. The Nest was one of those items. Mind you, we moved 4 years ago and I haven’t used it since, but I honestly dream of using it still. Ha! I loved seeing video footage of packages being delivered. The doorbell at our new house has never worked and I want to get something else to replace it. I know there’s a lot more products on the market now so I don’t know if it would be a Nest or not, but I sure did like it when I had it.
You can shop Nest products here
5. Le Creuset
This one might seem obvious since it’s such a renowned company, but my Le Creuset products are dreamy. I mean, come on, the whole collaboration was a bit of a dream. We loved working with them. We tried out a few of their products like the cast iron skillet, dutch oven and they’ve held up so well. We use them all the time. Worth the investment!
6. Ilve Oven
This is another one we did for the tv show. I didn’t have much time to plan the kitchen out as much as I was hoping for and I’m making some changes to everything else, but I will never regret this stove/oven. It’s been two years since we installed it and my only complaint is the adjusting of the temperature. It’s digital and sometimes hard to get to the exact temperature because it’s on a slider. Otherwise, I’m pleased as punch.
7. Spoonflower
I talk about Spoonflower all the time, but it’s for good reason. We’ve been working with them for awhile now and I’m constantly surprised at how they keep raising the bar on their quality and environmental standards. They are consistently adding in new products, new fabrics, new wallpaper types. Plus they are such an inclusive company that it’s really nice to support them.
8. Casetify
I first started using Casetify cell phone cases when they sent me a bunch for a promo box. They’re pricier than the norm, but all the hype is real. They really do protect your case in the best of ways especially if you get the works. To be transparent, we have our own collection with them, which we’ve been doing for 3 years now, but honestly, I’m so happy with them that I’d shout them from the rooftops.
9. Shine BB Cream
This is such a random one for me because I’m not much of a beauty product experimenter, but I was gifted this Shine Costmetics BB Cream about 4 years ago at Alt Summit from the founder because I had literally forgotten my make up bag. It’s so good! I haven’t stopped wearing it since!
You can shop Shine Cosmetics here
10. Black and Decker Cordless Handheld Vacuum
I was gifted this little cordless handheld vacuum awhile back and I will die with it. It makes clean up so much easier. Sometimes it’s the simple things!
Honorable Mention recommendations
There’s a number of home products that are so good, but are less of an every day purchase and a much bigger purchase. I’ll continue adding to this list as I go!
Flooring: Stuga
Tile: Fireclay
Hardware: Signature Hardware
Let me know if you have any questions! Happy to answer!