to ask a boring house keeping question?

[HugeGlassofMalbec]

I'm shamelessly posting for traffic!

We're renovating a shithole and although it is now infinitely better than it was when we exchanged I'm still haunted my the scent of excrement and urine. It doesn't smell anymore but I want to give the house a scent of its own.

Are there any natural/non-chemical air fresheners that won't leave us all with migraines available to buy?

*If not Sid you stupid iPad!

Just remembered a tip i got from a National Trust place; put a cinnamon stick, dried orange peel, nutmeg and a few drops of vanilla in a pan with some water and let it simmer.

It's lovely, if a bit Christmassy... but then you might have your kitchen by then!

If the floorboards have been replaced, new carpets going down and fresh paint on the walls, your home will smell fresh. I'd open the windows ~ fresh air does wonders. Be careful you don't start associating diffuser smells with the previous shitty condition.
Good luck in your pristine new house 🍾🍾

Agree with PP open windows often or leave them on a locked latch so the house is always fresh.

I got some really lovely reed defusers from Next last week. I don't like the thought of constantly spraying or burning things. Apparently the air pollution in some homes is worse than the pollution outside of the house.

I would burn good quality scented candles round the clock.

I think Diptique are the best. Choose a fragrance you love and burn the fuck out of it.

Feu de Bois is gorgeous.

Sounds like an excuse to make gallons of mulled wine.. might be worth investing in the camping stove!

The windows have been open for 2 weeks. We've done so much work in the house I can't smell anything other than the house now.

Two weeks ago I had to wear a mask due to the smell.

I also recommend white company Seychelles diffuser.
When I light a tea light I put under a burner with soy wax melts from a company called botanical candle company, they smell amazing and natural.

Would emptying a huge bottle of essential oils over the floor boards be a good idea or bad idea?

I’ve got a Muji atomiser thing. You plug it in and fill with cold water and then drops of essential oil. Smells lovely , pet and child safe ( ish) and natural. I like a mix of lavender and eucalyptus. We’ve two small hairy dogs but I don’t think my house smells too ‘doggy’.

Open Window by Prices is a lovely gentle refreshing scent. You can get it in a reed diffuser or candle. We have just had our living room carpet replaced, it was manky & I'm guessing decades old & stunk of mice. Im going to be using Open Window to get rid of the memory smell of mouse wee.

Go cautiously with essential oils if you have cats, they can be very sensitive to some of them. You can put a few drops on cotton wool and put inside the vacuum cleaner, that releases a nice smell. A few drops in the kitchen bin can be nice too, the scent is released every time you open it!

We've had a whole lot of dried lavendar in our hall - originally a bunch of prunings hanging up. As it has started falling off, I've found that vacuuming it up tends to spread the scent rather nicely. You might find that liberally sprinkling lavendar around the place helps - if you have access to a ready supply!

You can do the old house-selling trick of an egg cup full of vanilla essence in the oven - the heat helps the smell travel.

A fresh lavender stuffed cushion on the sofa would be good too - every time you sat down it’d release the scent.

Sympathies tho, we moved in to our doer-upper in January and it still smells weird to me. It was clean, but just had 60 years of smells built up. Can’t wait to replace the carpets and get the damn wallpaper off!

Definitely look for candles that are strongly scented without being lit - i have a couple that i leave the lid off, they do help.

Muji has an incredible air purifier/freshener thing which is quite pricy (£60 I think) but works wonders

I’ve renovated a house and so for the cost of a candle or diffuser compared to the cost of the house head over to space nk and just blow some money on a fab candle / diffuser especially if it’s upstairs - you can splurge on luxury. It won’t get polluted with the kitchen.

Enjoy your new home x

One that won't give you a migraine and shouldn't irritate the cats either is to fill a ramekin full of coffee beans, stick a tealight in the middle and the heat from it will leave a lovely subtle coffee aroma around the place.

Ashleigh and Burwood fragrance lamps smell great.

I've come on to recommend Price's products too but a previous poster has beaten me to it :) the open window one would be perfect for your situation.
Iirc the candle is £5 and the reed diffuser is £10, I got mine from Tesco.

They just smell "clean"

Good luck in your new home op

Yes go for thr Seychelles one, room spray is good as is the diffuser. It's a lovely smell honestly.

Agree with Sahzkiwi on the Prices candles. Their cooks candles (odour eliminator) are lovely, and they also do ones for getting rid if animal smells. The Open Window one is great too, saw it in Tesco when dropping ds back at uni and doing his first shop of term, and stockpiled them, as I live abroad.

I like essential oils - for summer I like anything floral. Lavender is nice, & very cheap. Lemonbalm is (IMO) much more redolent of bathroom detergent, than plain lemon oil. For winter I like citrus, spice scents etc. Benzoin, frankincense & orange is my favourite wintery blend.

Zoflora diuted in a reed diffuser bottle or essential oils such as orange or lemon.

Just finished my renovation and our house really stank for a good while so I know what you are talking about , we opened all doors and windows whenever possible and let fresh air in , it was much the best way , then painting etc gave it back a " new " smell

I also recommend the Price's candles, they are really subtle but effective. I also swear by the Method cleaners, they smell amazing and linger but in a clean way, not headache inducing like so many scented products!