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 think it’s probably quality. Quality materials wool, cotton, things that don’t hold smells and breathe. Building materials being more natural, wooden floors, stair cases. Candles with oils in that smell when they aren’t lit and not artificial. Very minimal dust and general minimal dirt. Lastly space, we have a lot of space and it helps. Whenever I visit others homes I’m always reminded just what we accept in the UK when it comes to room sizes.

Alas though I don’t know what my home smells like, the only times we get a glimpse of that is when we go on holiday because you get used to it. When we come home it always smells like happiness to me though.

Yes!
My sons love to cook. Get the oil nice at hot for the steak or the salmon.
The mess is bad enough, but the smell.....eugh.
I restrict it to once a week (it's expensive as well as stinky and messy!).

Most really posh people do not use artificial scents or fragrances, sorry but that’s actually a really working class thing.

is it the lack of cigarette smoke?

I'm not rich but my house definitely smells better during the summer - Open windows, fresh laundry airing, the odd scented candle lit.

In winter, with the cost of heating the house through the roof especially, it is harder to keep my home smelling nice because we don't get the air in! Cooking smells fester (although we do have the back door open - it just gets everywhere).

I'd also wager that if someone is rich they have a cleaner in every single day. I know I would if I could afford it, or at least every other day!

this - natural materials instead of man made fibres and mdf makes a big difference.

Well the late Lady W house stank of cat piss and she was very posh.

Loads of poshos smoke!

Since starting your read this thread, I've cleaned all the cat hair off the rug, put bicarb down to absorb any smell, cleaned the sofa with proper leather cleaner and put all the throws in the wash!
This was not my plan for this afternoon - I intended to sit down with a nice cuppa!

What might help is washing floors with a steam mop that has a bit of essential oil in.
And using a dehumidifier with an air purifier function.
And leaving windows on a latch, so there's air movement.
Aldo been seeing adverts for perdy and fig cleaning products - I'm a sucker for a good advert but they are sold as smelling lovely.

OP you should bring out your own diffuser/air freshener line for aspiring posh people:

"Luscious Leather"
"Just new car"
"Simply Hot Climate Multistorey Car Park"
"Pilfered Show Home Rocks"
"Pure Scent of Wealth"

DH says IL very working class used to in spring every year put all furniture outside on good sunny day and hire carpet cleaners and do whole house. It was normal practise where they were that's died out - my working class parents never did this and their carpets are decades old. Died out in 90s and it got much harder to hire the equipment.

MIL also regularly washed nets and curtains till about decade ago when she found one wash and they'd be falling apart despite being on expensive high street side.

MIL and Mother have lovely second hand wooden tables that need polish - which smell nice - we have an Ikea one that doesn't.

So I think it's gotten harder to get that nice smell than it once was - hence it now being related to money.

I’ve pondered this many times. I can smell that same smell off middle-aged people in the clothing department in M and S. Hard to describe!

Beeswax furniture polish and elbow grease.

My DM’s house smells lovely. She has a few of those expensive candles dotted around. Including in the loo!

Price's chef's candles are good for eliminating cooking smells.

I worked for an UHNW couple and they had a walk in Jo Malone cupboard, it was the size of a box room. Thousands and thousands of pounds of the stuff in there. It was very discreetly dotted about everywhere!

I know exactly what you mean and always notice how a house smells.

Houses of affluent people usually smell lovely, in my experience it's a combination of - most importantly - being able to afford a regular cleaner, larger houses so cooking, dirty shoes, drying clothes etc smells are further away from the living spaces, expensive and subtle scented candles and soaps, and natural good quality furniture.

Houses of people less well-off are often damper, smaller, people don't have money or time for regular cleans so musty smells build up, cheaper MDF furniture and synthetic fabrics, less money to pay heating bills so windows opened less frequently... I know because I grew up in the former and now live in the latter 😭😭

Having said that, this has finally given me the motivation to spend an hour cleaning the house and getting the diffuser out, so thank you all!

A well-off friend of mine (not posh, new money rather than old money) has a lovely smelling home. I spotted that she had Molton Brown diffusers in her hallway and bathroom.

Same, I just want to open all my windows, clean and wash everything in sight! There was a thread on here years ago, a lady was looking for tips as she had ben told that her family smelled, and the replies and help she received were sooo motivating, this feels like similar thread..

I’ve always been hyper aware of having a home that doesn’t smell of ‘people’ IYKWIM. One of my friends when I was a kid had a house that had lots of people crammed in and it had a very distinct smell - I remember saying that to my mum and she said it was because they didn’t open the windows enough. I’m obsessive about opening windows in every room every day, even in winter - it makes the rooms feel
completely different. We sleep with the bedroom windows open all year round. Someone I work with who earns more than me so I know they’re not desperately poor mentioned the other day how damp and mouldy their house has become, and he said they don’t open windows at all autumn-winter. The thought of all that stale damp air circulating not good.

I have natural beeswax candles, no artificial air fresheners and also know that we’re fortunate to be able to have the heating on so we don’t have damp.

Ahhhh the underground car park in Puerto Banus is my favourite

Probably the lack of new furniture and furnishings! New carpets and soft furnishings smell terrible and significantly add to the indoor pollution.

Anyone remember the put down Alan Clark used against Michael Heseltine "
"The trouble with Michael is that he had to buy his own furniture"

Posh people don't regularly buy new furnishings, that's the mark of the "not posh but just rich". They don't use masking scents like candles and scented plug ins.

I have a lot of inherited furniture (old but not grand) which I polish with beeswax and it smells lovely. I also occasionally polish the wooden floors but as it makes them lethally slippery that is very rare.

We are MC comfortable but house doesn't smell nice. Smell of cooking, or the youngest is chronic for not flushing and our cellar has a musty smell in ybe summer when we dont have the heating on all the time.

Maybe we are not posh enough. We are still LMC and your nose can sniff my immigrant / working class roots!

We are well off but not posh - everyone assumes we're poor and gives us free stuff until they see our house which is kind of big.

I digress anyway, our house smells slightly less than our last one because it's big and well ventilated. But also because of the size our mess is hidden so there's a slight tint of dust. Often posh people cook with spices and buy expensive coffee so there's that. Plus the old wood of antique furniture. Previous owners used diffusers maybe this is the icing on the cake but since they're giving us all cancer we don't. A 'posh' friend of mine uses natural cleaning products and regularly has flowers that smell lovely.

Exactly my thoughts