Ever tried using seashells to scent your bathroom? What about misting your pillows with your favourite perfume? Here are several other creative ways to obtain that fresh and sweet-smelling home.
Taken off joyfuldesignsinsoy.com
7 Ways to Scent Your Home
Adding various methods to scent your home or office or even car is so soothing and relaxing to the senses, There are a myriad of methods to accomplish this, so today we'll be exploring a few.
1. Carpet Freshener - Very easy to make your own, take about a pound of pure baking soda and mix to it a few drops of essential oil or fragrance oil and blend it up in a food processor. Then pour this out on a shallow try to allow to dry for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally. After this has dried, put in an airtight container.
This carpet freshener can either be sprinkled on your carpets directly, left a few minutes and vacuumed up, or simply put some in your vacuum cleaner bag and you'll get scent as you vacuum your carpets.
2. Simmer a scent by taking a saucepan on your stove and adding apple cider, cinnamon sticks, cloves & some orange peel. Simply let this simmer on low, adding small amounts of water as necessary so it doesn't run dry. This is a very homey, comforting scent that's so easy to do.
3. Try scenting a centerpiece. Here's an idea, bake a fresh bundt cake then take a small jar and fill it with fragrant flowers and then set this small jar of flowers in the center of the bundt cake. Experiment with different scent combinations. Lemon is beautiful with honeysuckle for example.
4. Perfume your pillows. Either by lightly misting with your favorite perfume, although be sure to test color fastness first on a hidden out of the way area to make sure it won't ruin the fabric. You can also use a purchased linen spray for the same purpose and is safer for the fabric in general. Another way to scent the pillow is to insert a small amount of potpourri inside a small sachet bag and either pin it to the side of the pillow, or insert it into the pillow case.
5. Scent your linen drawer or closet by tucking dried sprigs of lavender in between the layers of towels and sheets. You can also tuck them near the sides of the linens directly in the closet. Lavender not only provides a soothing, calming scent to those linens, but also works as a moth and insect repellant as well.
6. Scent seashells for your bathroom. If they are small shells, simply soak the shells for a few minutes in olive oil with a few drops of essential oil. For larger shells, add a few drops of essential oil right into the middle of the shells. Then set the shells on some type of decorative tray or basket in your bathroom or bedside table for a sight & smell treat.
7. Scented powder puff. Get some of your favorite scented powder, or even baby powder if that's your preference. Get one of those luxurious powder puffs, and take a long bubble bath. After the bath, pamper yourself with these beautifully scented powders applied with the soft powder puffs. The scent stays with you a long time and is one of those small ways to feel truly pampered and destressed.
Beautiful scents can be so calming in today's rushed, stressed filled lives. Finding ways to incorporate different scents, textures, sights & sounds can truly help relax and remind us to slow down and to enjoy life. Sometimes these simple things help us to refocus and not stress so much about those things we cannot change.
By Valerie Garner
