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Keeping your rooms smelling fresh/pretty

CJ2008

CJ2008

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
4,750
I'm trying to find something that keeps the rooms smelling pretty and I'm wondering what you guys found to last the longest.

I went out to the Body Shop and bought a room spray, diffuser, and some oils (I have a couple of - I guess they're electric diffusers? You put the oil on top and plug it in) - but I am thinking the spray is probably a waste, and won't last in the air more than a couple of minutes. And I'm also thinking there's probably less expensive brands that smell just as nice!

I tend not to like candles...I don't like the way they look after you burn them and I'm always afraid of leaving them on.

What have you found to be the longest lasting? And what brands do you like?
 
Interesting topic! When my house starts to get stuffy (like after it's been closed up all winter...) the first thing I try to do is air it out by opening all of the windows. Our house is almost 100 years old, and we have old closets that get very musty/stuffy when it's hot outside. (No AC in the closet!!) I find the easiest thing to do is to put a box of baking soda in there. The must immediately disappears! I also really like the oil/reed diffusers. They are pretty and stylish, and the smell lasts. The down side is that some of them don't have the biggest "smell radius"... But for a bedroom it would be good, and for the whole house, perhaps multiple rooms,
 
I am big on fresh air. I love to open all of the windows and let the house breathe. While our house is older it is well insultated so it gets stuffy when it's been closed up all winter. My in-laws have some reed diffusers and they work pretty well too.
 
Open the windows to air everything out. Room freshening sprays/oils etc are very unhealthy. If you have carpets and want to refresh sprinkle baking soda on the carpets and vacuum after a few hours.
 
Thanks, guys!

I agree, there's no replacement for fresh air! I make sure to open our windows often.

socool...really? Oh, no, I wouldn't want that! Is it just the sprays? What about burning essential oils or the diffusers?
 
soocool said:
Open the windows to air everything out. Room freshening sprays/oils etc are very unhealthy. If you have carpets and want to refresh sprinkle baking soda on the carpets and vacuum after a few hours.
Click to expand...

Like soocool was saying-- artificial scents can be awful- I'm highly allergic to febreze and a lot of room sprays like it and I just don't understand why someone would ever just spray a bunch of unnecessary chemicals into the air in their homes. I suggest air and baking soda -it won't make your house have a "pretty" smell but at least it would be scentless!!!
 
I'm a big fresh air fan too - I've never liked any of the scented things.

For whatever reason, I do really like the smell of orange pledge. I spray down my coffee table and the whole room smells nice for a day or so.
 
With things like cancer, autism, asthma on the rise and the cause unknown I avoid the addition of optional chemicals in my life like fabric softeners room/car fresheners.

I'd eliminate offensive odors by cleaning and opening a window.
I have the expectation of no smell - not a pretty smell surrounding me.
But perhaps that's because I don't watch TV; I don't get whatever message advertisers are sending about what to expect and what it means.
 
Well, when you have a 100 lb. dog who likes to roll in deer guts opening the windows won't always help so I have some special strategies. What types of odors are you trying to eliminate?
 
I like no scent too. Febreze and other scented things bother me. I open the windows and air everything out and that seems to work well. I have hardwood floors and just a few area rugs so I haven't done the baking soda thing, but I might try that on my area rugs.
 
CJ2008 said:
Thanks, guys!

I agree, there's no replacement for fresh air! I make sure to open our windows often.

socool...really? Oh, no, I wouldn't want that! Is it just the sprays? What about burning essential oils or the diffusers?
Click to expand...


Consider a burning candle. Candle or paraffin wax is a hydrocarbon(all waxes have hydrocarbon components) that comes from crude oil. The wick of a candle is like an asbsorbent towel because it has to be able to absorb the melted wax in order to flame. Initially you light the wick and it burns, the heat from the burning wick then melts the wax and the melted or liquid wx is now drawn up the wick. The heat from the flame vaporizes the wax on the wick and it is the wax vapor that burns. When wax vapor is burned it turns into soot that you then breathe in.

From how I understand diffusers or oils may work, the thinner the oil the more it will evaporate meaning less particles you breathe in. But oils that sit around can thicken so you are inhaling more molecules released into the air. So the oils that you are releasing into the air will coat the inside of your nose and you breathe the stuff in.

So whatever scents or smells you release into the air will contain molecules of whatever chemical compounds that will enter you nose or mouth or will settles on your skin, clothes, hair, furniture etc.
 
soocool said:
Open the windows to air everything out. Room freshening sprays/oils etc are very unhealthy. If you have carpets and want to refresh sprinkle baking soda on the carpets and vacuum after a few hours.
Click to expand...


I second the baking soda idea as well. When we had our two dogs/two cats in a carpeted home it was one of the things we did to keep the pet smell out. Now we only have one dog and our house has hardwoods so it's not as much of an issue. I also use the Dyson a lot to keep the free-roaming fur picked up.
 
I love Scentsy. I'm not sure how easy it is to get outside of my state. The wax heats at a very low temp, is very safe and smells great! Tons of scents and burners.
 
I was just on the hunt for something to use to keep our guest bathroom fresh (it's where we keep our litter box). I ended up getting one of those plug in things from Yankee Candle and I really like it. You can buy replacement bottles which you just attach to the plug once the original one runs out. They last for a month or maybe a lttle longer, and you can decide which setting to put it on. As with all things Yankee Candle, the scent can be a little strong. I only wanted a fresh, clean scent, nothing floral or anything heavy. So far, so good!
 
I use the little scented oil things with sticks sticking out of them. I like them, and they aren't overpowering. I put them up high so the kitties and the pup can't get to them.

When we have a bad smell in the house we put out bowls of white vinegar and the vinegar sucks up the scent ASAP. It worked so well when the pup was skunked, and thanks to many great suggestions from PSers, those bowls of vinegar took care of the horrendous smell. I'll put a bowl of vinegar in the fridge, too, if I forget about something in there and it stinks up the inside. I wash it too of course, but sometimes the smell lingers.)
 
oranges said:
soocool said:
Open the windows to air everything out. Room freshening sprays/oils etc are very unhealthy. If you have carpets and want to refresh sprinkle baking soda on the carpets and vacuum after a few hours.
Click to expand...

Like soocool was saying-- artificial scents can be awful- I'm highly allergic to febreze and a lot of room sprays like it and I just don't understand why someone would ever just spray a bunch of unnecessary chemicals into the air in their homes. I suggest air and baking soda -it won't make your house have a "pretty" smell but at least it would be scentless!!!
Click to expand...

Ditto.

The only way to make a house smell good is to clean it IMO.
 
I'm another that has problems with the chemical smells. But sometimes I want the house to smell like something other than nothing. :wacko:

Just before I vacuum, I sometimes sprinkle some lavendar (the dried flowers) on the floor and then vacuum them up - it scents the whole apartment as I vacuum. I've done the same thing with essential oils, but sprinkling a drop or two directly into the canister (bagless vacuum).

I also burn candles if I need a quick scent boost for some reason.
 
I adore the Airwick wall fresheners. You can get refills for them and to me they last a very long time and keep rooms smelling really nice in whichever scent I choose.
 
Thanks for all your ideas and suggestions, guys...just so you know, I wasn't looking to cover up any smell - like Gecko said - sometimes I want the house to smell like something pretty, not just nothing.

But - what some of you said about the chemicals makes sense...I went out and bought a few boxes of baking soda and plan on using that on the carpets from now on. And I kept the windows open to let some fresh air in - which I will now do more often.

I don't think I can do with never having any pretty scents in the house - but if I can lessen how often, and just be more aware in general, then it's an improvement...I've also been moving away from toxic cleaners so that's really good.
 
CJ, if you want some nice fragrances wafting through your house, in addition to opening the windows, sprinkling baking soda on the carpets I plant some nice flowers shrubs outside my windows, like lilac, lily of the valley, butterfly bush, or just an nice evergreen bush, etc (can't think anymore off the top of my head right now). These always bring in a nice fragrance.

Other things, cut flowers (usually from the garden) or just fruit in a bowl on the counter, like freshly picked apples, lemons (sometimes I slice and simmer in some water and let cool on the counter), or what my DD did one year was make something out of cinnamon ( I think it was pine cones dipped in some sort of cinnamon concoction that they made in school). These are all natural and what I consider your "green" options.
 
For a health-friendly option, try (1) light bulb oil diffuser rings, used with (2) pure lavender oil. Whenever you put on the light, the heat from the bulb warms the ring which in turn warms the oil, diffusing the scent into the room. Very natural.

An example: http://www.amazon.com/Totally-Awesome-Diffuser-Lavender-fragrance/dp/B003T8ED9O

Like so many others here, I'd prefer to avoid the ingredients in commercial sprays. Though I currently live in an area where one can leave the windows open 360+ days a year, that wasn't always the case. Oil diffuser rings went a long way towards a welcoming home when I lived in a locale with snowy winters!
 
I have really light things that I do that seem to work well and that people always comment on. First, I do a boil of sorts on the stove top. I will do things like oils and fresh herbs and let them boil and fill the house- always is nice. The other thing that I do is that I go to Bath and Body and get the Wall flowers- I do the Eucalyptus and some other more earthy tones- no lie- my house smells so good and it is a light scent. I love it. Also, a little tip that my family all seems to do- my mom and my Nana anyway- a bar of Irish spring in the linen closets- drawers, whatever- it is amazing how light but nice it is for the linens. . :)
 
My husband is a clean air freak so we also throw open the windows all the time. We do the baking soda in the rugs trick (we have a dog and cat). I'm definitely going to try the vinegar trick because sometimes our fridge has a smell. We have a box of baking soda in there but maybe cause it's old, doesn't seem to be doing anything.

For scents I love Pacifica candles. I'm addicted to their sandalwood votive candles. I don't like most air fresheners, candles, etc but their candles have a nice but natural scent to them.

My sister swears by orange essential oil for making things smell "clean".
 
I do the bath and body works wallflowers as well. I live in a house that is 84 years old and it has old house smell. I clean all the time and vacuum daily but it still has its smell. The more humid it gets, the more odors that come out.
 
You know what else works wonders and is SO much better for you than the chemical stuf? Mrs. Meyers sprays. OMG, a friend of mine is super housewife/vegan/clean freak and her house smells DEVINE all the time. I use the counter cleaner for my granite tops but they always that the Clean day aromatherapy spray and the room/laundry freshener that is fantastic. They are also organic, if I am being informed correctly. They are light and beautiful. Here is a link to the site:

http://www.mrsmeyers.com/


PS- I love their tag line " Clean like the dickens yet smell like a garden" Hooray. ;)
 
Nobody has mentioned it but I think one thing that can improve air quality indoors is a central vac.

All vacuum bags leak, even HEPA bags.
If they didn't they'd explode like a balloon.

With a regular vac, the smallest particles (mold, pollen etc) get through the tiny holes in the bag and are blown back into the room.
With a central vac that dirty air is sent outside via a pipe.

Central vacs are also great for people with pets and allergies or asthma.
They may not be as expensive as you think.
They may not be as hard to install as you think.
I put one into our house myself.
I think it was less than $700.

Also, I've bought a bouquet of fragrant flowers and split it up to make several small arrangement to put into several rooms.
Besides the nice smell a few flowers can really brighten up a room.
 
Strawdermangrl said:
You know what else works wonders and is SO much better for you than the chemical stuf? Mrs. Meyers sprays. OMG, a friend of mine is super housewife/vegan/clean freak and her house smells DEVINE all the time. I use the counter cleaner for my granite tops but they always that the Clean day aromatherapy spray and the room/laundry freshener that is fantastic. They are also organic, if I am being informed correctly. They are light and beautiful. Here is a link to the site:

http://www.mrsmeyers.com/


PS- I love their tag line " Clean like the dickens yet smell like a garden" Hooray. ;)
Click to expand...

I must be strange, because I have yet to find one of those that I like the smell of! :twirl:
 
Geckodani- LOL, I am not sure what L uses but her house smells amazing. I use the counter stuff and it doesn't have a greatly strong smell but doesn't stay around long. I also love the following that I have a lot of around my house- Trapp Candles Orange No. 4 Orange Vanilla and Henri Bendel Vanilla Bean (smells NOTHING like Vanilla) and the Orange Blossom. Nom Nom Nom. Try one of those, they are pretty fantastic and light. :)
 
just cleaned all my wood floors - smells great

Mrs. Meyers Lemon Verbena, the whole line is awesome.
 
My go-to method is to open the windows (even if it's freezing outside!) for a few minutes. I can't do candles (inquisitive, destructive cats) and I don't like air scents like Glade Plug-ins. I prefer just a fresh outside air smell (though my bedroom usually smells of my perfume since I keep the door closed and usually spritz in their).
 
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