Natural Ways to Make Your Home Smell Fresh

When someone comes to your home, the scent is one of the first things they will notice. These are probably odours or scents that you no longer notice yourself because you are so used to it. The longer someone lives in a place, the less they perceive the smells there. This phenomenon is called sensory adaptation or nasal blindness.

It is but natural that between children, regular cooking, pets and the like, it is inevitable that a house or apartment will acquire some smells. Fortunately, there are clever ways to make those smells go away without resorting to artificial room sprays.

Wonderful fragrance all over your home

Here are a few simple, natural ways to make your home smell wonderful:

Essential oils

There are many methods of distributing the scent of essential oils around the house, from using a fragrance lamp to an atomiser. Essential oils have the further advantage that they can also be used in aromatherapy thanks to their beneficial effects. Choose the oil to create the mood you want and improve the smell of your home at the same time. There is a huge selection to choose from - clove, lavender and lemon to name just a few - which are completely natural and free from chemical additives.

Make potpourri on the stove

You can put together a scented potpourri with simple ingredients and let it simmer for a little while on the stove. Lemon, vanilla and rosemary or cinnamon sticks, oranges and apples are ideal for a cosy atmosphere.

Vanilla in the oven

If you are expecting guests at short notice and you want the house to smell wonderful quickly, you can put vanilla extract in an ovenproof dish and then bake in the oven at 150°C for an hour.

Tea lights & coffee beans

Place a tea light in a small container filled with whole coffee beans and light it. The heat given off by the molten wax will release the aromas of the coffee beans surrounding the tea light.

Eucalyptus leaves as decor

Real eucalyptus leaves are not only beautiful to look at as decor in a vase, but they also exude a wonderfully pleasant and refreshing scent.

Bake cookies

This will not only make your home smell warm and wonderful but also delicious! After all, what is more inviting to guests than the smell and heavenly taste of freshly baked cookies?

Get rid of unpleasant odours

Instead of overlaying unpleasant smells with other, more intense scents, it is better to try to remove the unpleasant smells. Here are two tips that can go a long way.

Take out rubbish regularly

Especially in the hot summer months, the waste bin can quickly start to stink. One common culprit is food residue left behind on packaging that begins to ferment at warm temperatures.

Deodorise carpets and rugs

Carpets also start to smell unpleasant over time. Just sprinkle some baking soda on the carpet, leave it in for at least 15 minutes and vacuum. Baking powder has a deodorising effect and is extremely cheap.

Of course, there are many other possible sources of unpleasant odours. Our tip: try to address as many of them as possible. Then your home will smell neutral rather than unpleasant. An added advantage of a neutral smell is that the fragrances that you then use to make your home smell pleasant will not need to be as strong or intense.