Your home should be your sanctuary — a place where you can leave stress at the doorstep and nurture your soul. A place you can return to after the chaos of an overpacked daily schedule, hectic workday, overbearing bosses and colleagues. In today’s ever connected and hectic world, it’s more crucial than ever to find a way to relax and de-stress. Just by adding a super-easy fragrance to your home can make it feel like a retreat, and will help lift your mood and make you feel more positive and relaxed.
Our sense of smell is extremely powerful when it comes to our mood. Aromatherapy will fill your home with pleasant scents, and can instantly create the sanctuary you need to recharge. Scents actually trigger more emotions and memories than images do, since our sense of smell is directly connected to the limbic system, which is where emotions and memories are stored. Adding a delicious scent to your space is one of the fastest ways to turn a bad day around, create ambiance, and even make events more memorable.
You’ve probably experienced entering a space and feeling a positive change in energy. Energy surrounds us and it can powerfully influence our mood, our work, and our productivity. Scents/aromatherapy makes good vibes flow, and creates a space that helps us get into a relaxed, de-stressed “zone”.
The best part of all is that you can create all the amazing scents you could ever think of from what you can easily find in the aisles of your local grocery store.
Ways to make Home Scents
There are many many ways that you can infuse your home with amazing, restorative fragrances. Read on to find ideas for:
- Home Fragrances with Essential Oils
- Home Fragrances with spices, herbs, and fruit
- DIY Home Scent Recipes
Home Fragrances Made with Essential Oils
Essential Oil Spray. This is the quickest, and easiest way to spruce up the smells in your home. All you need to do is add three or four drops of your favorite essential oil to about a cup of water in a spray bottle. Shake before use, and you’re ready to go. You can spray it in the air, or on fabric items such as pillows, a comforter, or even your couch!
Q-tips and Essential Oil. Another way to use essential oils in your home to freshen up a room is to take a cotton swab and dip each end in the essential oil. Fasten it inside your toilet paper roll or behind the toilet bowl for a fresh smelling bathroom.
Bedroom Pillow Scents. For a sweet nights sleep take a cotton ball and dip in lavender or chamomile and slip into your pillow case. This will give you a subtle but wonderfully calming fragrance. For something a little stronger add several drops of essential oil to a damp washcloth and throw the washcloth in the dryer with your bed linens.
Hanging Air Freshener. A quick and easy way to create a hanging air fresher for your car or home is to take some fabric (an old t-shirt or a piece of an old towel), and soak in 20 drops of your favorite essential oil. The more drops you add the stronger your freshener will be.
Scented Wood Blocks. Find some small wood blocks, and paint your oil onto them with a small paint brush, covering the block. After covering the blocks, you can also put them in a closed container with extra oil to make the fragrance stronger. Let the block sit in the oil overnight and voila – a wonderful fragrance block that you can put anywhere your home needs a scent boost. You can refresh your wood blocks over time by simply adding more oil to them.
Essential Oils on Pine Cones. For a beautiful and great-smelling decoration, add a few drops of essential oil (like lavender or cinnamon) to pine cones, one to two drops per pine cone. Arrange the pine cones in a basket or decorative container and you have a fragrant decoration that can be moved from room to room.
Baking Soda Jars. Create air freshener jars that will work in any room of your home. Simply poke holes in a small mason jar lid, add 1/2 cup baking soda, and 4-6 drops of essential oil to the jar. Cap it, and place wherever you want your house to smell wonderfully fresh. Refresh every few weeks with a few more drops of oil.
In the Dryer. As a great alternative to dryer sheets, put a few drops of oil on a damp cloth and toss into the dryer with your clothes to make them smell amazing.
Home Fragrances Made with Spices, Herbs, and Fruit
Lemon Fridge Refresher. Take a large lemon and slice it in half. Remove the insides, and fill with coarse salt. Put the lemon rind and salt in the back of your refrigerator to absorb refrigerator smells.
Vanilla Extract in the Oven. Put two caps of vanilla extract in an oven-proof coffee cup (or other oven proof dish) and place it in the oven at 300 degrees for one hour. Within minutes your whole house will smell amazing!
Stove Top Method. This is one of the best ways to get your home scent to spread to more rooms the fastest. Simply combine the ingredients in a pot on the stove, heat them up, and then lower the heat to a simmer. This will immediately begin to scent your kitchen and spread the wonderful fragrance to other rooms. Keep a close eye on the water level, as you’ll need to replenish the water as it burns off.
Uncovered Slow Cooker Method. Put your ingredients with water in your slow cooker on the lowest setting, leaving it uncovered, and let the wonderful fragrance waft through your home. Replenish the water as necessary.
Fondue Pot Method. A fondue pot can become a portable scent station. Put your ingredients plus water in your fondue pot and get it heating to release the wonderful scent. Keep an eye on it just like the other options to ensure the water doesn’t burn off.
Mug Warmer Method. A mug warmer can be used to keep a jar or small bowl of scent mixture warm and releasing it’s delicious scent. You may need to microwave your mixture first to get it hot enough to begin releasing its scent, as the mug warmer will only keep it warm. But the low heat releases a soft, subtle scent. Again, watch the water to ensure it doesn’t entirely evaporate.
Home Scent Recipes
Oranges, Cinnamon, and Cloves. Combine 2+ cups water, 1 sliced orange, 2 cinnamon sticks (or 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon), 1/2 Tablespoon whole cloves (or 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves).
Lemon, Rosemary, and Vanilla. This is one of my absolute favorites. It’s clean and fresh, yet cozy at the same time. Combine 2+ cups water, 3 sprigs of fresh rosemary, 2 sliced lemons, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Brilliant!
Lime, Thyme, Mint, and Vanilla. This is another wonderfully fresh-smelling fragrance. Combine 2+ cups water, 3 sliced limes, 3-4 sprigs fresh thyme, 1/2 teaspoon mint extract, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract.
Orange, Ginger, and Almond. A sweet, delicious scent to refresh your home and mind/body. Combine 2+ cups water, one sliced orange (or just the peel from 2 oranges), one 4″ piece of ginger, sliced up (or 1 teaspoon ground ginger), 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.
Pine and Nutmeg. Smells like the great outdoors! Combine 2+ cups of water, a handful of pine twigs or needles, 4 bay leaves, and 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg.
Gingerbread. This one reminds me of Christmas baking goodness. Combine 2+ cups water, 10 slices of fresh ginger, 1 cinnamon stick, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
Minty Lime. A super fresh and clean scent. Combine 2+ cups water, 2 sliced limes, 2 sprigs of fresh mint, and 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract.
Cinnamon Apple. For when you can’t wait for fall to arrive, or you are craving the wonderful scent of homemade apple pie! Combine 2+ cups water, 2 sliced apples, 3 cinnamon sticks, 1 lemon rind, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 3 whole cloves.
Pumpkin Pie. Ditto for when you can’t wait for fall, or pumpkin spice season. Combine 2+ cups water, 1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 2 cinnamon sticks.
Calming Scent. Combine 2+ cups water, 2 sprigs fresh lavender, 1 teaspoon whole cloves, 1 Tablespoon ground nutmeg.
Coffee Cake. When you want that coffee-house fragrance throughout your home. Combine 2+ cups water, 2 cinnamon sticks, 1 cup leftover coffee grounds, 2 teaspoons vanilla.
And there you have it — everything you need to infuse your home with wonderful, mood and productivity-improving scents.
Happy fragrancing!
