Photography: Sue Ferris
Scent is a powerful sense and can impact the way you feel in your home as well as your mood and energy levels. Plus, whether you like it or not, one of the first things guests notice when they step into your home is how it smells. So, if you’ve ever wondered how to make your house smell fresh all the time, you’re not alone!
Scented candles and essential oils are a great way to up your home fragrance game but they’re not the only players in this space. Here are 11 ways to ensure your home always smells divine, for you and for your guests.
1. Ventilate
The easiest way to make your home smell fresh is to let the air circulate. Throw open windows and doors and turn on a fan, if you have one, to get things moving. If you live in a metropolitan area or near a busy roadway, consider investing in an air purifier to filter out particles that can cause bad smells or even trigger asthma or allergies.
2. Eliminate odours at the source
It goes without saying that there’s only so much home fragrances can do. If you notice a persistent odour in your home, it’s important to target it at the source. Here are practical tips to keep common less-than-pleasant scents at bay:
- Clean drains at least once a year to avoid clogs and bad smells
- Replace bin liners often and rinse out the bin with soap and water weekly
- Clean air conditioner filters once a fortnight
- Look for signs of water damage or moisture build-up as these can lead to musty, mouldy smells
- If you have indoor pets, wash bedding regularly with pet-safe washing detergent and wipe surfaces with an enzymatic cleaner
3. Fresh flowers
Flowers can add so much to a room; beauty, elegance and fragrance, of course! The best flowers for making a room smell amazing include: roses, lavender, jasmine, gardenia, peonies, lilies, lilac, viburnum and more. Grow them yourself in a cut flower garden to save on buying bunches at your local market or florist.
4. Essential oil diffuser
Essential oils are incredibly versatile, and the potency of their fragrance can be adjusted depending on the method you use to disperse them. You can use an oil burner of course, but you can also add a few drops to your dusting cloth, mop water, or use an ultrasonic diffuser. An even gentler way to enjoy essential oils is to invest in an aroma stone that emanates the scent over a 1-2 hour period and requires no electricity or water to do so. Essential oils can be purchased as standalone oils or in blends designed to make you feel more relaxed, energised or uplifted.
5. Fragrance as you mop
I’ve never been a huge fan of store-bought floor cleaning products (they tend to either smell too strong or leave behind a cloudy residue) but there are two cleaning solutions specifically formulated for floors that I think are worth every penny. The first is Wash Wild’s Floor Cleaner and the second is Koala Eco’s Natural Floor Cleaner. Both of these products smell absolutely divine, and leave floors shiny and squeaky clean.
To make your own fragrant floor cleaning solution, dilute a couple of drops of dishwashing liquid in a bucket of hot water. Add a cap of methylated spirits and 2-3 drops of your favourite essential oil (eucalyptus, tea tree, peppermint or lemon myrtle are great choices) for squeaky clean floors that smell amazing, too.
How to make DIY floor cleaner
6. Add perfumed plants to your garden
Make your home smell amazing from the outside in! Allow floral scents to enter your home naturally on the breeze by placing fragrant plants in strategic locations:
- In pots by the front door: Dwarf citrus trees, roses, lavender, boronias
- In a window sill kitchen garden: Rosemary, basil, lemon thyme
- Climbing on a fence by a window: Jasmine, climbing roses, Stephanotis
- Beneath a window: Lilac bush, boronias, gardenias
Live an apartment? Try growing fragrant indoor plants instead!
7. Stovetop simmer
Did you know you can use your stovetop to make your home smell fresh? Add fresh or dried herbs to a pot of boiling water to create a natural, steamy fragrance that permeates your entire home. Cinnamon cloves, citrus peels, rosemary cuttings, ginger, vanilla pods and star anise are just some of the things you can try adding to the mix to create a scent you love.
8. Scented candles
Scented candles are a go-to for a reason. They’re convenient and effective and there are so many fragrance options available, ranging from fresh and fruity to woody and earthy. But not all candles are created equally. Look for candles made from high-quality natural materials such as soy wax, coconut wax or beeswax.
Popular candle brands
- Circa
- Glasshouse Fragrances
- Hunter Candles via The Iconic
- Ecoya
- Fazeek
9. Room sprays
There are plenty of store-bought room sprays to choose from, but you can also easily make your own using affordable ingredients.
In a spray bottle, combine 6 tablespoons of water with 10 drops of your favourite essential oil, 2 tablespoons of vodka (or Witch Hazel) and mix before spraying. You can use this as a room freshener or when ironing.
Watch: Juliet Love makes DIY home cleaning sprays
10. Deoderise with baking soda
Baking soda is excellent at absorbing odours. Sprinkle a fine layer onto rugs, carpet or upholstery and leave for at least 10 minutes before vacuuming away. If you notice a strong, unpleasant smell in any room, add 2-3 tablespoons of baking soda to an open dish and place it on a table and leave for 24 hours. You can also use this method to deoderise your fridge!
Shop home fragrances
Defend and strengthen essential oil bundle
$51.16 (usually $56.85), Oil Garden
Essential oils are so versatile, whether you want to fragrance your home as you clean, or you want to create a welcoming atmosphere using a burner or diffuser. This essential oil bundle from Oil Garden contains three scents often associated with a clean, fresh home: eucalyptus, lemon and tea tree.
Want your home to smell luxurious and decadent? Consider House of Scandal’s ‘Trophy Wife’ scented candle. It’s refreshing and woody in fragrance, with Labdanum, black pepper and moss. It’s made of soy wax and features three cotton-braided wicks.
Wash Wild Floor Cleaner
From $9 (1L), Amazon
What can I say? Wash Wild’s Floor Cleaner just smells delicious. The bottle says the fragrance is lemon-eucalyptus, but when I mop my floors all I can think of is how fresh it makes my house feel.
It is made with 99%+ plant-derived ingredients and features W4C – a unique blend of native Australian oils developed by CSIRO and is proven to effectively kill a range of bacteria and fungi including E-coli, staphylococcus, moulds and salmonella. It produces very few suds and can be used for more than just floors – it’s also perfect for dusting furniture, skirting boards and walls.
Pear and lime soy candle
From $39.95 (350g), Circa
Fruit-based fragrances can be polarising, but there’s something undeniably fresh about the smell of pear. Light this candle and it’ll make you feel like you’ve cleaned the house from top-to-bottom and washed and folded your entire laundry pile (even if you haven’t).
Ecoya Wild Sage and Citrus laundry dryer ball set
$44.95, Ecoya
I’m still not one-hundred percent convinced that wool dryer balls speed up drying time or soften clothing, but one thing I do know they’re great at is making clothes (and your home) smell amazing – especially on short notice. If someone calls and tells you they’ll be at your place in 20, add a drop of essential oil to a dryer ball and let it spin for 10-15 minutes (preferably with a load of washing to make it worth your while) – and your home will smell like just fresh laundry.
In Essence waterless diffuser matte
$109.95, In Essence
Essential oil diffusers are a powerful way to make your home smell fresh. But dealing with water diffusers (filling, re-filling, washing etc.) can be tedious. Skip the fuss and consider investing in In Essence’s waterless diffuser. It looks sleek, runs quietly and will disperse incredible scents throughout your entire home.
Shark NeverChange5 air purifier
$349.99, Shark
Want your home to smell neutral, rather than fragranced? An air purifier is the way to go, and is a safe option for those suffering from asthma or allergies. Shark’s NeverChange5 features a filter that lasts up to five years and can capture 99.97% of airborne particles like allergens, dust and dander. This machine can cover a room up to 60 square metres. Shark also offers free shipping on all orders and a two-year warranty.
DOG by Dr Lisa dog wee cleaner
From $47, David Jones
We love our pets but let’s face it, they can be smelly at times. This enzyme-based cleaner is designed to clean and remove the toughest odours (urine is a particularly tricky smell to remove, IYKYK). It can be used on hard surfaces, carpets and soft furnishings. The base of the bottle is also a silicon brush you can use to work the product into the fabric.
