Thursday, November 21, 2013

A Naturally Scented Home

I've never really cared for air fresheners. I think they tend to smell artificial, or sicky-sweet, and they usually give me a headache. But I do love a nice, fresh, natural scent, which is why I've been experimenting with essential oils more and more. So far I've picked up lemon and lavender oil from the local health shop. I'm really pining after some jasmine oil (one of my favorite scents!) but the store didn't have any in stock. I'm keeping my eyes peeled!

Since we're heading into the holiday season and it's the time of year for hosting out-of-town guests, I thought it would be fun to put together a list of ways you can use essential oils to make your home smell lovely. Some of these ideas are my own and others I came across while doing a little research. I'm focusing on lemon and lavender because those are the oils I have and I think they're really natural smelling, but you could easily substitute in eucalyptus, pine, peppermint, or others!


Make homemade lavender spray with water and a few drops of lavender oil. Use it to freshen sheets and pillows and towels.

Drop some essential oil into a small bowl of boiling water. Set the bowl in a bathroom or a guest room for a few minutes and allow the smell to diffuse.

Put lavender oil on a cotton ball and tuck it into dresser drawers.

Make homemade lemon spray with water and a few drops of lemon oil. Use as a natural air freshener for your kitchen and bathrooms.

Add a drop of lemon oil to the dishwasher when you're running a wash cycle.

Put a drop of essential oil directly on the lightbulb in a lamp (when it's off and cool). When the lamp is turned on, the heat will diffuse the oil. (I love this one!)

Place a cotton ball with a few drops of lemon or lavender oil on it in your vacuum bag. When you vacuum, the scent will be dispersed.



Do you think you'll try any of these? Have any other great tips for using essential oils? A few of these I haven't tried, and I'm excited to see how they work in my home!




7 comments:

  1. Yay, another non-Febrezer! I'm glad you believe in natural scents too. My own favourite scents are vanilla, jasmine and anything spicy (though I have yet to find an effective way to get that spicy apple-cinnamon-like scent naturally...you know, without baking a pie)! Well, thanks for the post because I am referring to it in my own post for my blog for my sustainable practices class! :)

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  2. If you add a frew sprigs of fresh rosemary to the boiling lemon water you get a really nice scent. You can also just boil a lemon cut in half and sprigs of fresh rosemary.

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  3. Oh the smell of food cooking in the kitchen is the best of all smells! I'm glad you'll be able to use this post for your class :)

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  4. I had some rosemary in the fridge so I tried this this morning. Lovely!

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  5. I bet that combination is the best for clearing your head when you're sick!

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  6. I really like all of these suggestions! My mother used to put oils in a little ring around the lightbulbs, but I've had trouble finding a place that sells them. Maybe I should check the hardware store? Anyway, you can never go wrong with lavender or eucalyptus. Mmmmm.

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  7. Oh that sounds neat! Maybe check Amazon too--they have everything!

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