Burning Question: Clear The Air
This week’s burning question is all about smells. Namely: do you use any form of air freshener in your house to keep it smelling… well, fresh?
Is it a plug in? Potpurri? A scented candle? A diffuser? Some sort of heated oil? Or something a bit more natural (like lemons down the garbage disposal or a bowl of coffee beans on the counter)? Feel free to weigh in. In fact we whipped up this handy little poll to keep everything tabulated… but we’d also love to hear more about the why (and any other explanations) in the comment section.
[poll id="2"]
Image courtesy of West Elm (a few years back)
Psst- Wanna make your own reed diffuser? Check out our simple tutorial right here.
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I clean often and help myself with primavera organic hot oils, mostly something fresh like lemongrass or orange. And near the toilet http://picnica.ciao.com/de/20278252.jpg
I work a second job at Bath and Body Works, so I always have BBDubs merchandise. I love their candles and oil burners because you get the smell without heavy aerosols in the air. Plus they’re easy to change up according to your mood.
Once I got rid of all of my commercial cleaning products 6 years ago, my husband became really sensitve to scents, even more so then he usually is. So that means no scented candles here, or air freshners or perfume. I just keep my house clean with my natural cleaning products, take out the garbage regularly, open a window for fresh air and we’re good. Plus I always worry about VOC’s from scented candles and air-freshners… do they pollute the air? I’m just not sure.
Nature Clean has a great all natural air freshener (Geranium & Orange)that doesn’t act up my chemically sensitive nose but fulfills my husbands need to spray something into the air.
I love reed diffusers. I’m just paranoid, my brother is a firefighter, and I’ve heard horror stories about the plug in’s and fires, so I don’t like leaving them ‘plugged in’ 24-7
I’m a fan of the Slatkin candles and plug-ins and Bath and Body Works -those are the least artificial/fake/cheap smelling that I have found. I’m just curious how oil like that in a plug-in would release large amounts of toxic chemicals into the air? Many people seem to believe that. Other candles that are my favorites are the Volcano from Anthopologie (smells like sugared lemons, limes and oranges- yummy) and the Archipalego candles in Pomegranite, especially during the holidays.
I stumbled across the fabric you used in the nursery while looking for home fabrics…
http://www.fabric.com/ProductDetail.aspx?ProductID=8268a845-163d-46bb-9d6c-60838ab6d235&CategoryID=6423f11d-06c1-47f6-8dd1-a9299821269f
Thought I’d share for those looking for it…
That’s too funny! Thanks for sharing the link!
xo,
s
The first thing I did was rip up the carpet to make the house smell fresh (and I found beautiful douglas fir underneath, bonus). Since we live in California the windows are almost always open, but from time to time I squish a little CedarFresh real cedar essence spray – such a clean smell.
I can’t STAND scented candles, diffusers etc, they always smell sickly and fake to me – although I have noticed that really expensive ones smell better… is there a lesson there?
My mom and sister introduced me to a Scentsy. It melts scented wax and is in a decorative holder…smells wonderful and fills a room. Love it.
I have lots of houseplants– they naturally filter the air. Seriously, astronauts have plants on the space shuttle to keep the air from going “stale.” Plus, houseplants are much prettier than a plug-in.
the slatkin candles from bath & body works are YUM. i used the spiced cider during the fall, balsam in the winter, and am now onto the lilac. the lilac is so amazing. these are the only candles i’ve ever found that actually make the whole house smell good, not just when you’re near them. highly recommend!
I use a Lampe Berger and have for a long time. I love them an it is the best way to keep your home smelling nicely. I also have reed diffusers hidden in most (all?) rooms. I also have candles in all rooms. I use Febreeze on the furniture and carpet every month or so. And I use lemons in the garbage disposal. I have a huge fear of Housatosis and I have a very sensitive nose. People often complement me on how nice our home smells (it’s not too heavy – very subtle, years of perfecting this!) and it is one of my favorite complements :)
Fresh-Wave works great on absolutely everything! And it is all natural- and unscented.
check out website if interested: http://www.fresh-wave.com
There are a lot of scents that are too fake for me, but I do like the Lavender-scented plug-ins. I’m surprised every time a friend walks in and comments how nice the house smells. It’s very natural, which is perfect for me.
I should also mention that I recently tried the trick of putting coffee grounds in the fridge to get rid of an onion smell. Wow did that work wonders!
Good scented candles, fresh flowers, scented oil w/ reeds, etc. but please NO Febreze! Smells of thrift stores—where I do shop on occasion for my antique booth, so nothing against them just against Febreze. I will spritz rugs w/ lavender linen spray (from Tuesday Morning).
We use Scentsy Warmers! They are WONDERFUL! Just one warmer works for our whole apartment. There are over 80 scents to choose from and they are in the most stylish ceramic warmers I’ve ever seen. I used to use glad candles, which smell great, they just didn’t last too long and only worked in one room.
Check it out if your interested: laurendru.scentsy.us
I have read that plug in air fresheners are very dangerous for our pets and children. Has anyone seen any research on this?
I like to use lavender sachets in my closets and drawers. For the whole house my favorite thing is opening the windows. I do that as soon as the weather starts to warm..and once in a while even when it’s very cold out, just to freshen everything up! Other than that, it’s mostly just trying to keep things fairly clean.
Natural scents all the way!
Cut roses from the garden in every room in summer.
Eucalyptus branches in big vases in winter.
Cut lemons in the dishwasher.
Eucalyptus oil in the bathroom.
Homemade lavender sachets in the bedrooms.
Lots of indoor plants to filter the air.
And the windows open as often as possible.
I don’t want to add one more synthetic product to the house if I can help it.
Incense! I have some that smells like a wood-burning fire.
By chosing the answer “I use another method to keep things fresh” I meant I air the rooms daily by leaving windows wide open for half an hour or more if the weather is warmer. There’s nothing like the fresh smell of a well aired room (if you don’t live in the center of a big town with high level pollution, of course).
BTW, and totally off topic: I have notice that you don’t have “Desire To Inspire” site under your Link Love. They have only moved their address to http://www.desiretoinspire.net/ and are still a beautiful site with loads of great style photos, updated on a daily basis.
Thanks for the tip! We’ll definitely update things and add them since we devour their site daily via Google Reader. Because we had so many urls in our Link Love section, we used an automated program to remove any that weren’t updated- and since they moved addresses it must have registered as “unupdated”- we’re on it!
xo,
s
Having pets in the house, I like to douse our fabric stuff with the Febreze Allergen Reducing Spray or the Pet Odor one. It doesn’t have that strong smell, but it really helps to cut the smell and allergens.
Also, about once a week when I’m doing the more weekly cleaning type stuff, I like to boil sticks of cinnamon (the kind you get in the Mexican food aisle of the grocery store) for a few hours. It makes the house smell like you’ve been baking for hours and lasts a good while too! The regular ground up kind you get with the spices works too, but I prefer the sticks as they last longer and are a bit less expensive in the end. ALSO! Beware to not let your water boil out! I’ve accidentally toasted up a couple of pots real well. lol
I love scented oils in a burner with a candle underneath…my fave is Satsuma from The Body Shop…SO good! It lasts longer and fills the house better than scented candles, but I do go through a lot of tea lights this route (good thing you can get 50 for less than $5). I also like our Lampe Berge (ours is actually Lamp Avenue, but same thing), although I cap it pretty soon after lighting because it can get very strong.
Just have to say that the reed dispensers have never worked for me! I can’t ever smell them!
I like to open my windows. I also do the candle route and the glade plug ins. And I do use the lysol spray and febreeze in the kitchen after the trash gets a little too stinky.
I know this might sound obvious, but when I want my house to smell good, I just clean it! I find that if you keep your house tidy and clean, you don’t need to add fragrances. As for cooking/lingering odors, a simple opening of the window for fresh air does the trick!
My house is having it 102nd birthday this year and I am paranoid about it smelling like a nursing ward of the hospital. It smells so musty, especially as we are in the middle of renovations so the floorboards & skirting boards have been pulled up and not yet replaced :(
I live in Australia and use Orange Power Air Freshener in Orange/Lime oil. It smells so good, just one or two sprays and everything smells zesty and fresh. I also use eucalyptus spray. I spray the windows before I open them and the smell wafts in the air for ages. I soak cotton balls in the oil and put them around the house. Its great, I use it to clean everything as well.
Just a quick question as well; I’m guessing Burger had accidently done his business in the house (hoping it isn’t just my puppy so how do you get rid of that lingering smell?? Thanks a million xx
Hey Brooke,
Burger’s actually 100% house trained so we’re fortunate not to have to deal with any accidents anymore, but back when we were potty training him three years ago he used to have a few accidents as he learned. Luckily, we trained him in the den when it had a faux-parquet linoleum floor, so we didn’t have to worry about him staining our wood floors or our rugs (although he did occasionally sprinkle on the jute rug that’s still in there, but we had this all-natural orange spray from the pet store that neutralized the odor and totally saved our rug). I don’t know if they have it in Australia but we think it’s called Citrus Magic (and it says “pet odor eliminator” on the spray bottle). Hope it helps!
xo,
s
I keep my house smelling fresh in the way that I clean.
Kitchen: I clean counters with a spray bottle filled with vinegar, water, and a few squirts of castile soap, clean sinks with baking soda, clean garbage disposal with lemons/or other citrus.
Bathrooms: I clean the counters and showers with the vinegar/water/castile soap solution and keep a “renuzit” freshener hidden in the bathroom to keep it fresh
Living/Bedrooms: Let fresh air in! And scented candles :)
I really like using the vinegar/water/castile soap solution because 1) I don’t get sick to my stomach from toxic fumes 2)It’s easy on the budget 3)Vinegar inhibits the growth of mold and mildew which tend to thrive in bathrooms and kitchens and create a stale smell in the room!
Nothing beats fresh air. I open the windows whenever we have a sunny day and let the fresh air just blow through in every corner.
Hi! This is my first time commenting on your site…great job, I love it!
My husband and I use a few different things…for incense, the ONLY two we’ve found that smell great burning (and they even scent up the room if you leave the box on a bookshelf!) are: Nag Champa (satya sai baba) – the one in the blue box; and Song of India – India Temple Incense. Every time someone asks what that great smell is in our living room, we point to our unopened box of Song of India on our bookshelf. :)
We also love the Glade Plug-Ins Scented Oils, particularly the Clean Linen scent. Very fresh and not too cloying or artificial. During the Thanksgivng/Christmas months we use the Apple Cinnamon scent. We also like the Hawaiian Breeze scent. We have these in our bathrooms.
Our front room has three reed oil diffusers: Beauty Bureau Stick Scents in Vanilla, Sea Petals, and Morning Dew. They’re 100% natural fragrance oils, and they smell INCREDIBLE; we have one on each end table at the sides of our sofa, and one on the coffe table. Everyone who walks into our house comments on the great smell in our house and wonders what it is. These might be my favorite for scenting our house…especially the morning dew and sea petals scents…excellent!
I use Yankee Candle tarts in an electric tart burner. Love, love, love tarts!!!
I love the Archipelago candles but too many scents going in different rooms bother my husband, so I really light up the house when he is gone.
Hi youngsters — great topic! I think everyone is concerned with having a nice smelling home.
A previous owner of my home was a smoker and though it’s been a while since they moved out, the smell comes back from time to time, especially in the basement. I find that ZEP Smoke Screen works very well in taking out just about any smell. I put drops of it in my floor cleaner each time I scrub and put some in a squirt bottle with water and some essential oils and have found that it really distinguishes any smells and leaves a really fresh scent behind (the oils help A LOT). It is my go-to odor remover! We removed the carpet from the upstairs, but don’t have that option downstairs, so I use Tide with Febreze in my Bissel carpet cleaner instead of traditional cleansers and that really freshened up the carpets. I rinsed with vinegar and water to make sure the soap came up completely and it made a big difference.
Our new apartment building has a very distinct “smell” to it. Since it’s now finally warm enough to open a window, we tend to leave them open as long as possible before we get too cold.
We also clean with baking soda, white vinegar and just plain old Ivory soap. We even make our own laundry and dish detergent.
If you have a piece of furniture or something upholstered that’s getting a little stinky just sprinkle a little baking soda on it and then vaccum it up about half an hour later. You can also do this on your mattress. We have slipcovers on our furniture so I just wash them every few weeks.
We use Yesterday’s News cat litter and that works really well to combat the ammonia smell (and – no more grains of litter everywhere in the bathroom!)
I tend to light Nag Champa incense once a day in the living room and bedroom. It has a lovely scent that just makes me happy.
Also – a tip I learned is when you eat any citrus fruit (especially an orange) put the peels in a little water in a small sauce pot on the stove. Add some spices (when mixed with an orange I use cloves, cinnamon, vanilla and allspice) and let simmer on your lowest heat for a while. Or if you have a crock pot or oil burner this would work in that sort of thing too. This makes the whole kitchen smell yummy without buying expensive or synthetic oils. When you’re done, just throw them out or in the compost bin if you have one.
I imagine you can do this with just about anything that has oils that smell nice.
Like Amy, I use Nag Champa incense. And I also love essential oils.
Oh, I forgot to mention this really nice stuff… http://wisdomofthemoon.blogspot.com/2007/12/surface-freshener.html
i saw someone mention feline pine up above me. i can attest to the fact that it really works hard to hide kitty smells! it’s soso much better than regular cat litter. <3
I use a diffuser with a special essential oil blend called Immunity of Thieves oil. The oil kills 99.6% of airborne bacteria in just 12 minutes of being diffused. It also helps keep my family from getting sick and it smells sooooo good! (It’s made from pure essential oils of clove, lemon, cinnamon, eucalyptus, and rosemary). It’s definitely my favorite way to keep my indoor air smelling yummy and clean! You can get the oil and the diffuser through Simply Jen Naturals at http://www.shopsimplyjen.com
My name is An-g and I love my home to smell good. I also sell Scentsy candles and love them so much I could never do without! Scentsy is a wickless, flameles, smokelss candle so no harsh chemicals, no black soot and no danger! The wax is melted by a 25 watt ligtbulb in a decorative warmer. The wax only heats to body temperature so safe for kids and pets. Seriously best scent carry in the industry. The second I open my door to my house I smell the scent! Check out my site!I also love do terra essential oils – 100% certified theraputic grade oils! I have signed up to start receiving these and can’t wait to start using! Once I have a website I will give out to anybody interested- as this is also a business opportunity. as you can tell I am into anything that smells good and have tried everything and these are my 2 favorites!!!
Fresh air is my first choice, but you can’t beat quality scented candles along with the ambiance it provides.
I love to open the windows when possible. However, I still love my scented candles. Very Vanilla is one of my favorites and a nice Macintosh Apple is nice too. We make and sell our own. Flaming Fragrances Everyone has there own favorites.