Does your home have a ‘signature scent?’ Mine sure doesn’t, and that was proven true when I walked into my friends house the other day and was like “WHAT IS THAT INSANE (in a good way) SMELL?” It was like Christmasy cinnamon, cozy, apple cider deliciousness. And every person that walked in after me said the same. exact. thing. Wanna know the best part? It wasn’t just a candle, it was the smell of apple cider in the stove and a DIY room spray she MADE (plus there was a candle or two that probably helped) but still. I was blown away. Returning to my home later that night was somewhat of a dissapointment. It smelled a lil musty and just, well, like the scent of ‘nothing.’ So, I decided to come up with ways to make my house smell INSANELY DELICIOUS beyond just lighting a candle –– and just in time for the holidays 
Put Spiced Apple Slices In The Oven
My mom is a real estate agent and this is her open house/showing hack she’s used for YEARS. She said it’s an old realtor trick that lots of people have used, but it’s time it goes beyond the real estate agents and you can count me in. Basically what you do is slice up some apples, sprinkle cinnamon and even a little vanilla if you want and put it in the oven at 250 degrees for up to an hour. You can also make mulled wine or apple cider on the stove or in a crockpot (which is great for holiday parties anyway). Melissa (that’s my mom) specifically said she’s done apple cider on the stove with cloves poked into oranges & a cinnamon stick
Make Your Own Chicken Broth
Emily SWEARS by this. She specifically said this makes her house smell insanely good for 24 to 36 hours and it’s part of the reason she makes her own broth so often. Here’s what she had to say: “I’m not sure anything smells better or more homey than roasted chicken, but that’s not where it ends. I started ‘Brothing’ in the original Souptember, 2018 mostly to save money. I was making 4-5 soups a week, using 1-2 boxes of organic broth which was costing me around 100 a week in JUST broth. $400 a month!!! So I started roasting a happy (pasture raised + local) chicken every sunday for dinner and then brothing overnight to can up enough broth for the week (and often more that I would freeze). I bought this soup book (which I can’t recommend enough) and it has a lot of different broth recipes in it – but its so easy, I PROMISE. One of the added benefits is that it makes your house smell so good for a full day and now my kids associate the smell of chicken soup to home. It’s my hope that even when they are grown and gone they’ll smell chicken soup or broth somewhere and think of their mama and her crazy love of soups.”
Okay enough with the ‘making stuff’ on the stove, here are some other even easier, more instant hacks…
Drop a Lemon in the Garbage Disposal
Grab a lemon, cut it in half or quarters, then throw it in your garbage disposal and crank that baby ON. I love to do this with lemons that are almost dead, so they don’t go completely to waste. If you have more than 1 lemon that is about to go bad, you can also put them in a pot of water and just simmer them on the stove for hours – it will make your space smell amazing too!
Put Coffee Grounds in The Fridge or Freezer To Absorb Bad Smells
Step one should be to clean out your fridge, then once you get the gross moldy foods out, put a little bowl of coffee grounds in your fridge and it will absorb the grody smells. I tried this for the first time the other day and was so surprised with how well it worked!!
Put Baking Soda In Your Trashcan
I just tried this for the first time too and was shocked at how smart it was. Part of making your house smell GOOD is eliminating the BAD, so while you might not notice an instant difference, eliminating the gross trash can smell can make all of the other good smells shine.
Add Essential Oils To Your Air Conditioner Filter
This is genius. If you add a few drops then your AC will just pump delicious smells through your house…SO SMART. Hot tip: make sure you test out the essential oil first to ensure you really like it…I had an oil diffuser once and realized I hated the smell of the essential oils I bought. It would be a disaster if you put it through your house and THEN realized the smell gives you a headache. Test before you try on this one, guys.
Hang Eucalyptus On The Showerhead
I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST FOR LOOKS, FRIENDS BUT IT’S NOT. Apparently if you hand eucalyptus on your shower head then when you turn on the shower the steam will make the smells waft perfectly through the air. Might get annoying to have on your shower head if it’s TOO big, but it’s definitely something to try (or just get a small bunch). Comment if you’ve tried this!
Make a DIY Room Spray
This would make such a cool and affordable gift!! Use a water-base with essential oils, citrus, herbs or anything else your heart fancies. The Spruce has a whole list of really good ideas for DIY room sprays that you can check out.
Oil Diffusers and Incense
If you want the ‘candle’ feeling but don’t want a flame for peace of mind (or to avoid an incident from small kids/dogs) then these are awesome stress free options.
1. Scarpa Incense | 2. Essential Oil Diffuser | 3. Lavender + Eucalyptus Diffuser | 4. Casaluna Diffuser | 5. Japanese Incense Pack | 6. Incense Sticks
A Deliciously Smelling Candle, Obviously
Nothing sets a vibe like candle light, so we’ll never not love a good candle (and a good lighter), especially for the holidays. Some of our favorites are this one that Jess loves, this apple cider target one that’s VERY affordable and cute, and lastly this one that Caitlin is obsessed with.
1. Scented Candle | 2. Replica Candle | 3. Citrus & Cedar Candle | 4. Capri Blue Volcano Matte Black Jar Candle | 5. Black Leaves Candle | 6. Escapist Votive Candle Set
So, hopefully this is helpful and has inspired you to get your home smelling it’s best during the holidays and beyond (I know I’m inspired). If you have any more hacks on how to make your house smell good let me know in the comments below! This is fun!
Opening Image Credit: Design by Emily Edith Bowser | Photography by Sara Ligorria-Tramp | From Emily Bowser’s 32-Sq-Ft Bathroom Reveal
The post How To Make Your House Smell Good appeared first on Emily Henderson.
from Emily Henderson https://stylebyemilyhenderson.com/blog/how-to-make-your-house-smell-good
No comments:
Post a Comment