How to make your house smell good

By Catalogs Editorial Staff

Guess how to make your house smell good: candles, of course!

You have two dogs, a cat, three children and a husband who sweats like nobody’s business. How in the world can you keep your house smelling good and not like the inside of a combination animal shelter/locker room? Knowing how to make your house smell good, considering what you are up against, is not the easiest task, but it is certainly doable.

Highly fragrant jar candles consisting of a natural wooden wick, not only make your home pleasing to the nose but also produce the comforting sound of a cracking fire. A large candle lasts up to 180 hours. That means, if, for example, you burn the candles for five hours a day the candle and it’s lovely scent and soothing sound lasts for 36 days or more than seven weeks. That’s a lot of bang for your buck (and your olfactory senses) particularly if you are paying less than $20 for the candle.

Consider using a diffuser, which is spill proof and works like a reed diffuser but without the untidiness. Purchase sachets and put them in your drawers, closets, suit case or throughout the home, wherever there is a need for fragrance. Sachets contain concentrated fragrance beads and generally last about six weeks.

Humans and their sense of smell

Humans respond to scents in various ways. If the scent is bad, the reaction is, of course, negative and can clear out a room in no time flat. If a room is delightfully fragrant, a person may become energized, or feel cozy and safe and want to hang around.

Human have scent receptors called olfactory receptors. When a person inhales the scent into the limbic system in the brain this triggers feelings of pleasure or disgust, good or bad memories and various other emotions. This is the reason we are drawn to or driven back by certain scents.

Candles not only do the functional job of removing bad odors or at least disguising them, but they also awaken memories and emotions in those who sniff them.

If, for example, you were wearing a patchouli scent when the love of your life, your very first boyfriend (in ninth grade) broke up with you, it is very likely you will have an aversion to patchouli the rest of your life because your brain is connecting the scent with a bad and hurtful experience.

If your mother-in-law, who despises lavender, is coming to visit, do not opt to burn lavender scented candles. (Shame on you for even thinking about it!)

Vehicles

Does the inside of your vehicle reek of stinky feet and McDonald’s food? There are scents designed specifically for vehicles that get rid of bad odors. You can attach to the scent to your air vent or put canned scent on the floorboards. These work quite effectively at removing gross smells.

Which scent?

You probably already know which scents you adore and which you abhor. Experiment with various candles and determine which pleases you the most, lasts the longest and does the best job of getting rid of the stench that all too often is produced by a family as it goes about living life.
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When there are children and animals in the mix, it is difficult to maintain a clean home and keep it smelling good, but it can be achieved, and it isn’t going to cost you an arm and a leg.

Tips

Fresh, clean scents may be your favorite or you may prefer earthy fragrances, such as vanilla, spice, Frazier fir or amber. You know what your preferences are in fragrances based on the type of perfume you were.

If you live at the beach, choose beachy scents, such as ocean mist, coconut or anything that denotes the tropic and complements the sea, the sea breeze, sand and sunshine and not something one would expect to smell in the mountains of Colorado. The scent should complement your home’s interior.