How to Make Your Home Smell Good: 10 Ideas That Aren't Candles
I’m going to show you how to make your home smell good. I'm even going to include various tips for people who are sensitive to scent or allergic to fragrance.
Apart from the more obvious methods of scenting your home, like using scented candles or things like that, we will explore a few lesser-known methods that are easy to implement.
How to make your home smell good
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1. Baking goods smell
All you need to do is grab a couple of tablespoons of vanilla extract, pop it in an oven-proof dish, and then put it at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour or so. You don't want to cook or boil the vanilla extract; you just want to warm it to diffuse the baked goods' aroma throughout the house.
2. Open your windows
For all those people out there who are allergic to scents and get angry when I talk about how it's essential to make the home smell good, this one's for you. Open your windows.
You'd be surprised how many people forget to open their windows to let fresh air in. Opening your windows is the easiest way to freshen the air in your home without lifting a finger.
3. Perfume as room scents
This tip is excellent for people obsessed with scents and perfumes like myself. You probably have a fair collection of perfumes that you just don't use anymore for whatever reason.
If you still enjoy the scent of those perfumes, you can try using them as room sprays.
Another excellent use for your abandoned perfumes is to make cotton scent bombs.
All you do is grab a cotton ball and spritz it with a good amount of perfume, cologne, or essential oils, and then you just hide them in strategic places around your house, like behind a curtain or up on a shelf. They'll provide a beautiful scent boost in that corner of your home. Keep them out of reach of any pets and children.
Another thing you can do is put one inside the canister of your vacuum so that you can spread the scent around your home as you are vacuuming.
4. Fabric refresher spray
We all know that fabric spray is a fantastic way to freshen up the smell of your home because certain areas are a little bit more challenging to clean and don't get cleaned as often as we'd like, like upholstery, curtains, rugs, and things like that. So, fabric spray is a great option.
I like to make my fabric spray. All you need to do is fill an empty plastic spray bottle, which you probably already have around the house, or if not, you can buy one at the dollar store.
Fill it with warm water, add a tablespoon of baking soda and 10 or 20 drops of your favorite essential oil, give it a little shake, and you're good to go.
5. Light bulbs as diffusers
Did you know that heat makes smells, whether good or bad, spread faster? All you do is dab a couple of drops of essential oil on a cold light bulb, and then when you turn your lights on, the light bulb's heat will diffuse the smell into the whole room.
The same technique actually will work with your radiators as well. Just dab a couple of drops on your radiator, and the aroma will be diffused within the room when you turn the heat on.
6. Dryer sheets
If you are one of those people who loves the smell of fresh laundry, then you'll love this tip. You can make your home smell like fresh laundry in many ways by using dryer sheets.
Place them anywhere you feel like your home could use a little boost of freshness, like under a garbage bag, in a shoe rack, in a clothing drawer, or a laundry basket.
You can tuck a dryer sheet inside your toilet roll so that every time it spins, it diffuses the laundry smell into your bathroom. You can also tape a dryer sheet to a fan or wipe down your furniture to freshen it up.
7. Rug and carpet deodorizer
Muddy shoes and other accidents can make your carpets and rugs questionable. The great news is that you can easily deodorize your carpets and rugs. All you do is mix some baking soda and a few drops of essential oil, then sprinkle it on your rugs or carpets. Again, watch out for pets.
Leave it overnight, vacuum it in the morning, and enjoy your fresh and fragrant carpets.
8. Bars of soap
I don't like using bars of soap because I feel like they take forever to use up, they get messy, and they just look a little gross after a while. However, bars of soap are one of those things that, for whatever reason, I always seem to end up with them.
So, if you're the same and you have an unwanted stash of strongly scented soaps that you know you're never going to get around to using, what you can do is take them out of their wrapper and then wrap them in fabric. Just like with the dryer sheets, you'll just place them anywhere where you need a nice boost of fresh scent.
9. Reed diffusers
Reed diffusers are a great way to change the scent of your home. They're eco-friendly and release a beautiful slow stream of scent into your room. If you don't love the reed diffusers at the store, why don't you try making your own instead? It's super easy.
All you need to do to make your own is take a small glass container and fill it with an unscented carrier oil, then mix in a teaspoon of your favorite essential oil and give it a little stir; pop in some rattan sticks, and you're done. You can even just use barbecue skewers. Don't forget to flip your sticks now and then for a fragrance boost.
10. Simmer potpourri
Another wonderful and natural way to scent your home is to simmer your favorite ingredients on the stovetop. You can also use your crock pot for this. There are many different stovetop potpourri recipes online, so pick your favorite one, fill your pot with water, put in your ingredients, and let the pot simmer.
If you leave it on for several hours, be sure to top the pot with water.
How to make your home smell good
I hope my suggestions for how to make your home smell good were helpful. What is your favorite home scent? Share your go-to scents in the comments below.
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