Light-hearted! Anyone noticed how posh people's homes smell really nice inside? Not perfume, just generally. What is it?

[localnotail]

This, basically! Something I've been wondering idly for a long time, since I was a kid. I remember going to my wealthy middle class friend's houses and wondering how they smell so nice - I cant explain it, general very nice, clean, warm smell, like maybe so many nice new thing? Like maybe you get inside an expensive furniture store, plus something else I cant quite explain. But its definitely there! I can always tell if someone "posh" or not (in my head) depending on how their house smells. I never mentioned this to anyone up until now as I think its a bit weird, sniffing around people's homes ))

I would add that I have been to posh homes - mainly big old houses - that totally stank of cat wee, mouldy dust and boiled veg, but its still different somehow, still mixed up with that nice affluent smell. The smell is also there even if the house is filled with old tat or ordinary IKEA furniture. Also, when I say "posh" - I mean middle class, kind of very comfortable wealthy lifestyle but not aristocracy, obv.

So would like to know if I'm a bit mental or is there anyone else who noticed that? What is it? Your thoughts ))

I found them on Naturally Norfolk! 😆

https://www.norfolknaturalliving.com/collections/reed-diffusers/products/gemstonediffuseramethystcalcite

Our house is quite posh, but the kitchen quite often smells of wet Labrador and games kit. Or cooking, as we slow cook often, which normally smells quite good.

However, other rooms smell nice because we have hardwood floors which our cleaner washes with proper (natural) floor cleaner each week, and we have real wood furniture (by no means posh new stuff), that gets polished too. The house isn't cluttered, so she can hoover the upstairs carpets every week, including under the beds etc.

We don't use any fake scents about the house, as they make me feel sick. We have a Diptyque candle in the snug and each bedroom, which throws a light natural scent even when not lit. And I'm a bit obsessed with fresh air, which means the windows get opened everyday, however cold it is. I learned this from my French mother, who thinks that the English have filthy habits when it comes to living in stale air (it's one of her favourite topics of conversation.)

I'm now off to spend my lunch hour researching scented Sicilian stones!

Thanks for clarifying, OP. I was going to ask, dis you>

We weren't rich at all, I am still not, houses smell nice and comfy, probably not what you mean by posh though. I think it's a lot about proper ventilation (I blast air 2x a day no matter what weather), no dump and natural smells. In mine you can often get ever so subtle whiff of honey because I like besswax candles. Plants make difference as well imo. Now at Christmas it's a slight whiff of oud or cinnamon.
I don't like smell of new furniture 😶
Vinegar and soda are what I use for bathroom and kitchen for cleaning, it stops smelling very quickly and you are not left over with the artificial clean smell, just clean smell.

Very clean, nice cleaning products and very nice candles/incense. Not febreeze. A decent candle smells delicious.

I think it's fresh air. I'm not posh but I am a fresh air freak. Stale air smells. People will say it doesn't but it does, they're just nose-blind.

So many people's houses smell a little stale and a minority downright stinks. It's mainly whether they air the rooms daily but also things like do they launder clothes often and shower daily themselves. Some people have a permanent laundry mountain festering away or only wash clothes when they smell badly of BO, change their bedding less than once a week, don't wash towels enough etc. Same goes for carpets and sofa covers, in many homes, especially those with pets, those fabrics are a bit disgusting once they're a few years old.

People with no serious money worries are able to clean things more often. Eg laundry, they're not saying they can't put another wash on because the last one has been drying on the airer for 3 days in their small unheated flat so they've nowhere to hang it. They don't keep windows closed to save on heating costs (how many times on here does someone ask why let all the slightly warm air out just to have to heat it back up from cold again? So your home smells fresh, that's why!).

The better off can afford those extras like carpet cleaning and new sofas every 5yrs etc.

They also have more time to do things like strip washable covers off sofas because they can afford to outsource jobs that would otherwise take up their time such as washing the car, gardening, bathing the dog or general cleaning.

And Lapsang (the smell of my childhood home).

Oh I love threads like this, you always end up getting responses like this "We're posh,...." or "Middle class here, ...." from people self-declaring themselves as middle class 🤣

I love the smell of posh hotel lobbies, I’ve read they have a special air filtration system and pump the gorgeous smell in, so a bit like a giant diffuser I guess! I love the smell of my kitchen, it generally smells of cinnamon purely because I have toasted cinnamon bagels every day for breakfast and it lingers, it’s a lovely warm comforting smell.

The show flat I went to was for Holland Park Villas, London W8 - where a 3B flat will cost about £8-10 million (it was work related, I don't normally go to show homes). It was not empty, it had amazing furniture and fabrics. It also, somehow, did not smell "new".

Ortigia crystals - I only smelled one variety - fig, I think - and they are not "chemicals" as such - (not artificial chemicals) - its tree sap and natural oil. They are not strong enough to cover bad smells, its not an air freshener ))

Try this in a diffuser. I think it smells how you describe, sort of warm but fresh and like an expensive shop

Yep - in my experience it’s expensive natural fabrics. Heavy curtains. Good quality sofas. Hard wood. And the clothes they wear will be better quality so smell nicer (no polyester!). Generally it’s fabrics which retain the most smell.

I have always assumed it's due to cleaning properly. Usually by a paid cleaner. This means the beds are changed frequently, the floors are mopped/hoovered several times a week, the laundry is kept on top of. Most of us are working long hours, or juggling too much, or have I'll health, and just can't keep up with it all so take short cuts. If you do it properly the windows are usually opened whilst cleaning so that adds to the freshness.

In short, having the ability/money to clean properly.

EDIT - I also thought OP had nicked a fist sized rock 😂

@LaChienneDesFromages , @undercover5 - I feel I need to come and smell your houses (I'm joking, of course) - they sound lovely. Also, sounds like a lovely, idyllic lifestyle ))

I think it explains it for the house - but what about a flat? Like, modest sized London flat - very expensive since being located in a good area - but still displaying the same phenomenon?

I wish i knew, plug in air fresheners set my asthma off as do alot of cleaning products sadly 😥

I think the wet and muddy shoes that sit in the hall and kitchen put paid to any attempt at posh!

Small house. Don't care. I am a professional, financially independent lone parent.

I'm definitely not at all posh but this bit is wrong imo regular replacement of the fabrics and furniture
On the contrary, proper posh people very rarely (if ever) buy new furniture. They inherit it or buy antiques.
As for rugs, many have those massive threadbare but still beautiful Persian rugs that will be decades old (antique/junk dealers in my family is how I know!)
Synthetic anything smells awful (I'm also a smell nut). I cant even walk into a carpet shop without wheezing and hate air freshener. So, it's wool, leather, cotton, linen, silk, beeswax, fresh flowers, woodsmoke or coal from a real fire etc. No plastics crap at all generally, including laminate ( kitchens would be solid wood/ granite with tile or old school linoleum or stone flag floors).
It's hard to re create the aesthetic entirely, but if you know where to look you can furnish a house in natural materials quite cheaply, as long as you are not really into fashion/ trends particularly. My house is a bog standard box but I have lots of inherited furniture and wool rugs etc. Not cos I want to be posh, just prefer the look/ feel/ smell, plus decent quality lasts!

This!

People often say our house smells nice. My secrets are Zoflora & Diptyque. I change the scents for different times of year! x

In my first job there were banks of ionisers on the top floor of the building where the directors were based. The lift doors opened and it was like stepping onto a mountain top - rather than the smells of grubby South London that assaulted the rest of us.

I wish I hadn't started reading this bastard thread.

I've got so much work to do but all I want to do is go and deep clean my house, strip the beds, open all the windows, wash every single washable item I own. Argh.

It's the lack of damp. Due I guess to affording heating and airing the house.

I can't do spray ones. End up with so irritated sinuses it's painful for days.
They are everywhere 🙄

Ever seen those scented candles or diffusers that cost a ridiculous amount of money?