What makes your home smell like home? We’ve all walked into the house one day, taken a deep breath, and known that we were home. Similarly, we’ve all likely walked into the house, taken a deep breath, and wanted to walk right out again. Yuck! Whether it’s the smell of an overcooked meal that still lingers or the smell of all of those delightful furry critters we share our homes with (I may or may not mean the kids), sometimes the house smells a little under the weather. What can you do to make your home smell like home again?
Clean it out. Remove the items with an offending odor. Sometimes it’s easy: you know that the sports shirts on the laundry machine need washing. Other times you may need to do a good spring cleaning of a closet or other space that has an interesting odor. Small children do lead to some interesting finds in the back of the closet. Find those hidden gems, and get rid of them.
Air it out. Opening the windows and creating air flow through the home is important. Try to do this on a warmer day to save energy. There are also many house plants that scrub the air clean. These include common plants like the peace lily and the corn plant.
Do scentsible renovating. When you’re buying furniture, avoid furniture that comes with or requires a lot of creams and polishes. Buy secondhand or antique to avoid chemical offgassing. Sometimes a funky smell in the home can be a combination of all of the lotions and potions that our furniture uses.
Add natural scents. The smell of fresh-baked bread or apple pie is a clincher when it comes to house sales. I do a cheaper and easier method. When the house smells a little bit like a barn, I clean it, then I set a pot of cinnamon and water simmering on the stove. The house smells delicious, and that catty odor just disappears.
Add essential oils. In this area, I tread a little more warily. Your choice of scents in your home really depends on whether you have regular visitors who are very sensitive to smells. If I’m going artificial, I tend to dab on a few drops of an essential oil, perhaps around the doorway. Tea tree makes the house smell fresh, but there are plenty of other oils to choose from as well.
What do you do to get rid of those funky odors?
Image courtesy of pischulet at Stock Exchange.