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The Best Ways To Make Your Home Smell Amazing
To make your house smell good, it’s best to tackle the process in two stages: first, getting rid of musty smells, stale air, and other unpleasant odors, and second, introducing fresh, clean aromas that that will keep your home smelling great. And since I try to avoid synthetic scents and harsh chemicals when I can, many of the tips and tricks you’ll find throughout this post are totally natural ways to make your house smell great — my homemade air freshener spray, as an example!
Whether you’re looking for the best tips to get rid of odors, or easy and cost-effective ways to fill your home’s square footage with pleasant smells, you’ve come to right place! (We’ll start with the former, then move on to the latter.)
7 Ways To Deodorize And Freshen Your Home
1. Use Scented Cleaning Vinegar To Clean Your Home
If bad odors are making your home fragrant in all the wrong ways, start with a good cleaning session to eliminate odors at their source. I suggest whipping up some scented cleaning vinegar with a clean, refreshing fragrance like mint for maximum odor elimination. (Brush up on the dos and don’ts of cleaning with vinegar first for a reminder not to use it on porous stone and certain other surfaces!)
And if you can, open a few windows after deep cleaning your home to let in some fresh air — even a few minutes will make a huge difference! (Too cold out? An air filter or purifier makes a great alternative!)
2. Remove Bad Smells From Your Garbage Disposal
If your garbage disposal is a source of some unpleasant odors, the easiest way to clean it is to make frozen disposal cleaning cubes using white vinegar and lemon or orange peels. Just toss a couple of cubes down your sink drain, grind them up in your disposal, and it’ll make a huge difference.
3. Get Smells Out Of Carpet
Smelly carpet is one of the most overlooked sources of bad odors. Eliminate those odors by making your own deodorizing carpet powder with baking soda (a natural deodorizer), borax, and cinnamon or essential oils. Sprinkle the powder on your carpets, wait for a few minutes, and vacuum as usual. Not only does the powder help pick up dirt and hair, it also leaves behind a light, fresh scent of spices. This is the one of the easiest ways to help make your home smell nice all the time!
4. Fix Stinky Towels To Make Your Bathroom Smell Better
Residue from dryer sheets and detergents can cause bath towels to smell funky after a while, especially if dampness and mildew are added to the equation. Luckily, I’ve got a simple 3-step fix for smelly towels that will have your bathroom smelling fresh once more, and all you need is a bit of baking soda and vinegar.
5. Keep Pet Odors Under Control
To keep pet smells at bay, make sure to wash their bedding and toys regularly, and vacuum diligently to keep pet hair under control. Also, be sure to clean up pet stains immediately (sprinkle baking soda over it, if nothing else), and make sure any air fresheners or sprays you use are safe to use around pets.
6. Give Your Curtains A Whack
It’s all too easy to forget that curtains can develop a stale odor after a while. If your curtains are machine washable, toss them in the washer with your laundry. If not, try one of the expert tips from hotel housekeepers — take a hand towel and give your curtains a few good whacks to get the dust out of them!
7. Freshen Upholstered Furniture
Furniture can get smelly in a hurry, especially when pets are allowed on it, so it’s important to keep upholstered furniture clean by vacuuming it regularly. For a quick refresh, sprinkle baking soda over upholstery, let it sit for half an hour or so, then vacuum it up.
Once you’ve eliminated any musty, dusty, or unpleasant odors from your home, you can move onto the next step: filling your space with your favorite scents! (Not sure what aromas to use? Check out the bonus section near the end of this post!)
16 Ways To Make Your House Smell Good
1. Run A Diffuser To Make Your Whole House Smell Good
When it comes to fragrance and freshness, it’s hard to beat the results of an essential oil diffuser! Simply fill it with water, add a few drops of essential oils, and turn it on to emit a fine mist that will carry the fragrant oils throughout your house. (‘Tis the season to diffuse essential oils that smell like fall!)
2. Freshen Fabrics With A Scented Fabric Spray
Another quick and easy way to fragrance your home with essential oils: make your own fabric refreshing spray à la Febreze! Just add water, a bit of baking soda, and your favorite essential oil to a small spray bottle, then use it to lightly spray furniture, drapes, linens, or bedding.
Lavender oil is a great choice for this spray because of its calming properties, but citrus oils like lemon, tangerine, sweet orange, and grapefruit smell great and offer a natural energy boost as well! For wood furniture, try a DIY lemon-scented dusting spray — people associate the smell of lemon with a clean house!
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3. Use Wax Melts To Fill Your Home With Fragrance
Those little warmers for scented wax cubes are another great way to fill your home with the scent of your choice — no need to light a candle! You can save yourself a lot of money by making your own scented wax cubes with beeswax, coconut oil and essential oils. It’s surprisingly easy, and you have full creative control to create a scent that is uniquely you.
4. Make Your Car Smell Great With DIY Air Fresheners
Okay, you car isn’t exactly in your home, but since most of us spend quite a bit of time in the car, I thought I’d include it anyway! Freshen up the air in your car by making one of these three homemade car-sized air fresheners.!
5. Make Any Room Smell Great With DIY Gel Fragrance Jars
Gel fragrance jars are another great way to put essential oils to good use around the house. It’s surprisingly easy to make gel fragrance jars to freshen the air, and they make great gifts, too! All you need is water, unflavored gelatin, and essential oils to make them. Put one by an air vent to diffuse the scent throughout the room (like many hotels do!)
6. Use Plants To Clean The Air
All potted plants are natural air purifiers, but some of the most effective ones are palm trees, orchids, and peace lilies. They not only look great, they help clean the air in your home around the clock!
7. Simmer Stovetop Potpourri For A Pleasant Scent
I love simmering stovetop potpourri during the holidays, but there’s no reason you couldn’t do it to freshen the air any time of year! Realtors and interior designers make use of this hack to give homes an inviting scent like citrus or cinnamon.
There are lots of great simmering potpourri recipes, and they are really simple to make. Fill a saucepan with water, add some aromatic herbs, fruit slices, or spices, and simmer on low heat. (You can also do this in a mini crockpot!)
8. Use Your Vacuum Cleaner To Freshen The Air
Use this vacuum hack to accomplish two things at once: clean your carpets and freshen the air in your home! Just add a few drops of your favorite essential oil or oil blend to a cotton ball, then place the cotton ball in your vacuum’s dust cup. As you vacuum, the air flow will disperse the scent of the essential oil and freshen the air as you go — sort of like a diffuser!
9. Prevent Stinky Trash Cans To Keep Your Kitchen Smelling Fresh
To avoid stinky trash cans, make sure to clean them well, and try to take the worst offenders (ex. seafood and produce scraps) outside instead of putting them in your kitchen trash can. Clean dirty trash cans using a solution of equal parts vinegar and water, add a homemade odor absorbing disk, and make sure it has a well-fitting lid.
10. Use Orange Peels To Neutralize Cooking Smells
Some people love the lingering smell of a home-cooked meal, but if you’re not one of them, you can easily neutralize those odors use orange or lemon peels. Just put a few citrus peels in a warm oven, and your kitchen will have a lovely citrusy scent in no time.
11. Make Your Bathroom Smell Like A Spa
Make your bathroom feel like a high-end spa by bringing fresh eucalyptus into a warm, steamy shower. The heat and steam will activate and release its beneficial compounds that can clear your airways, and also help make your bathroom smell great. To take advantage of this aromatic eucalyptus shower, all you need are some fresh eucalyptus branches, which you can pick up at a florist (or from your own garden!)
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12. Keep Your Refrigerator Fresh
Ever get a weird smell in your fridge, whether from a bowl of forgotten leftovers or a stray piece of fruit in your produce drawer? Go through the contents of your fridge and toss out anything smelly, then wipe down the surfaces of the fridge with hydrogen peroxide to clean and sanitize them. Leave an open box of baking soda in the fridge to absorb odors and keep your fridge smelling fresh.
13. Clean Your Kitchen Sponges To Keep Funky Smells At Bay
Deodorize stinky kitchen sponges with an overnight soak. Add a tablespoon of baking soda to a bowl of warm water, then place your kitchen sponge in the water. Let it soak there overnight to give the baking soda time to work its odor-eliminating magic! You can also pop a wet sponge in the microwave for a minute or run it through the dishwasher on the top rack.
14. Trap Toilet Odors To Avoid Bathroom Stink
Instead of using sprays to cover up bathroom odors, keep them where they belong — in the toilet — with a DIY toilet spray (a homemade version of the popular Poo-Pourri spray). Spray it before you go, and those bad odors will never have a chance to get into the air!
15. Use Vanilla For A Comforting Scent
Few scents are more comforting than aromatic vanilla, and you can fill your home with it quickly and easily! Just put a couple tablespoons of pure vanilla extract in an oven-safe dish, then pop it in your oven at 275°F for about twenty minutes before pulling it out and setting it on a trivet to cool.
16. Use Pine Boughs Or Pine Cones
A basket of fresh-cut pine boughs will smell great and look wonderful, too. You can also collect or buy pine cones and add a few drops of pine or spruce essential oil to them. These tips are ideal to use around the holidays!
BONUS: What’s The Best Fragrance To Fill Your Home With?
We all have different fragrance preferences, so “best” is relative. But after consulting a number of different sources where experts share their best home fragrance recommendations, there were a handful that were clear frontrunners, including:
- Citrus (especially lemon)
- Pine (preferably the real thing!)
- Jasmine
- Vanilla
- Cinnamon
Any of these scents is sure to make your house smell wonderfully fresh and have a comforting, calming effect. Using these scents in the form of essential oils is a great way to enjoy their genuine aroma, and they last longer than a lot of other fragrance options normally would.
What’s your favorite way to make your house smell good?
