Think of all the smells that you encounter in a day – whether you work on the twelfth floor of a city building or on the ground floor right at the heart of the city. Our sense of smell is intricately connected to our emotional being and can trigger emotional responses such as happiness, anxiety, anger, and much more.
After a long day’s work in the hustle and bustle of the city streets, walking into a home with a fresh fragrance can be calming and refreshing. That fresh aroma will make your house feel more homely. What’s more? This can be achieved in the most natural form possible.
Windows are one of the most important elements of your home in terms of regulating temperature and light — if they are not properly dressed they can easily contribute to heat loss or excessive solar gain. That’s why it is essential to consider eco-wise curtains and drapes that help regulate sun exposure while contributing to a healthy living environment and do not waste precious resources.
Here are also some unique ways in which you can bring that aura of freshness right into your home.
Essential oils
Essential oils are blended, distilled extracts from nature. Their sweet scent has the remarkable ability to ignite our senses. As such, there are several ways in which they can be used to revitalize a space. A few drops of essential oil with water in a nebulizer can change the essence of your space. The scented mist it emanates gives a lovely feel to your home, bringing back a calming effect.
A cotton-wool ball can be used by dipping it into the essential oil and placing it on a saucer and keeping it in the room of your choice. A cotton swab dipped in your favorite essential oil can also be fastened on your tissue roll or placed below the toilet seat in your bathroom.
Another way to maximize essential oils is to fill a small spray bottle with water and a few drops of your favorite oil. This combination makes a perfect room spray. Due to its calming properties, lavender is an exquisite choice for the bedroom. Citrus oils like lemon, tangerine, wild orange, and grapefruit, are great smells that will add a cool scent to your living space.
Herbs
Before fresheners were born, a myriad of herbs was used to bring the beautiful scents of nature into homes. If you have fresh herbs in your garden, getting a few sprigs, and placing them in a vase is a brilliant idea. Fragrant herbs such as sage, mint, and lavender will leave a welcoming scent in your space for days on end. As the herbs begin to wilt, you can place them in sachets or use them for potpourri.
Bowl of Potpourri
The great thing about having a garden right outside your backyard is that you can collect flowers during different seasons and combine them in a bowl making a perfect potpourri. There is no right or wrong way of doing this. Different flowers can be mixed with herbs, oils, and spices for a more unique and refreshing scent. Fragrant herbs such as chamomile, dried peppermint leaves, rosemary, cinnamon sticks, and fennels seeds are known to mix well. Every few days, these herbs can be freshened by sprinkling with herbal oils such as lavender or Verdana. Your bowl of potpourri can be displayed in your kitchen, living room or even the bedroom.
Dried herbs bundled and tied into a newspaper and placed on logs in your fireplace will also emanate a pleasant smell.
Citrus with other ingredients
There are many ways to combine citrus with other ingredients to let out a breathtaking aroma that you will love. How about grabbing an orange from the kitchen, peeling it, and pressing about six cloves into the orange? This exercise guarantees you a fresh smell for a period of not less than two weeks. The orange can then be wrapped in fabric and placed in your kitchen or living room.
There is nothing wrong with having a close relationship with vodka. This well-known cocktail drink is a great extractor. To infuse vodka with a natural scent, simply take a few citrus peels – this could be oranges, lemons or grapefruit. Place them in a jar and pour the vodka over the peels. This can be left for a fortnight in order to achieve a strong scent. A few drops of your favorite essential oil, as well as 2-3 sprigs of mint or rosemary herb, will also help in making the smell more personal to you. Lemon or orange peels ran over the garbage bin will also help in eliminating its bad odor.
Houseplants and gardens
Ever thought of having some house plants? Well, this could just be what you need to purify the air around your house. Plants generally let out natural scents that leave your home feeling fresh. If you have extra space around your home, a small flower garden could do the trick. Flowers like the African violet, orchids, roses, and fuchsia improve your environment while giving a grandiose and attractive look to your home.
Besides these, there are numerous natural things that you could use to create the signature scent that you love. Try out different smells for different seasons and different rooms. Lavender and chamomile are bedrooms favorites.