Help me make my house smell nice, please.

[Stirrings]

Okay..any recommendations for nice smelling houses..what products do you use..what do you do?

Don't use products. Open the windows as much as possible, keep everything clean (curtains, carpets, bedding, cushions, sofas especially and don't have dirty laundry sitting about in baskets), cook nice cakey things and don't ever use air freshener or strong smelling chemical cleaners. If you do want to use a scent, make sure it is a natural one eg an expensive candle or essential oils.

yep, TPL has just said everything that I would.

I do use room diffuser thingies but they have natural smelling oils as do my lovely candles.

I have never smelled an air freshener that doesnt smell of chemicals. yuk

Baking soda sprinkled on carpets and soft furnishings before vacuuming gets rid of smells. I also keep a little container in the fridge with half baking soda and half vanilla essence in (divided in two so they don't run into one another) to soak up onion/etc smells and give a little bit of vanilla off.

Fresh flowers if you can swing it; I can't afford cut flowers, but I plant scented things like hyacinths and lilac near windows so the scent drifts in.

I burn Yankee candles they are brilliant for fragrancing a whole room.

Thanks..that sounds good..will buy yankee candles today too

Exactly as TheProvincialLady says.

Well I just sold my house and frankly yes the Airwick instamatics came into the mix there and did help. Nowt wrong with mild air freshener use now and then, though I do prefer cleaning and opening windows obviously

Ok, me and DH are obssessed with our house smelling nice. These are the things we do:

Open windows/doors when possible as much as possible.

Oil burners: really cheap from B&M ffor 99p each, I have two, one in the kitchen/dining area and one in living room. DD (2) is well trained not to touch or go near it. We buy bumper packs of tealights cheaply from asda or pound shop, and burn all sorts of oils and fragrances in there and it lasts all day.

Reed diffuser: Ive got one of these in my living room, an air wick one, and it smells gorgeous.

Scented candles in the bathroom and bedroom and living room. And dining room.

Plug ins in hallways. (the one with three in it, forgotten which brand it is now)

Fragranced Vacuum cleaner discs : you can buy these for a quid or so from asda too, and they smell lovely every time you vacuum.

A cut lemon in the fridge does the trick to keep the fridge smelling nice.

And I use the highly concentrated Zoflora disinfectant whenever I mop hard surfaces (just afew drops in boiling water) and it smells good for ages.

Hope that helps.

I bought the large Yankee candle today (£12.98 fom B&Q) in fragrance Sweet Pea, it smells lovely, fresh and clean.

I also agree with Bicarb Soda on your carpets before vacuming, we have a Golden Retreiver and the doggy smell lingers but Bicarb is great at ridding it.

I honestly think my sense of smell must be different from other people's, because the smell of airwick et al makes me feel sick (genuine sick, not snobbish sick!). I get the same feeling from fabric conditioners and strong detergents. Those air fresheners you get that dispense a squirt every now and then are unbearable to me, I can't breathe when they squirt. Am I a particularly sensitive little flower, or do others feel the same?

no provincial lady you are not alone, I can't stand aerosols air freshener or plug ins and when I was pregnant I couldn't even stand the smell of washing powder or fabric conditioner. It used to make me physically sick

I@m not so bad now but to this day I can't stand the smell of Bold and I now fragrance my house using candles etc.

Not thought of incence burners though.. where would you get the oils from?

ProvincialLady, I'm the same. I find all those smells too artificial and chemically and much prefer fresh air or baking to make my house smell nice. I don't use fabric conditioner and our laundry detergent is a non-smelling one (Ecover). But I have mild excema and most detergents/chemical aerosols make my skin prickle, so I've developed an aversion to most artificial smells.

Oh so it's not just me then. I always struggle at my mum's house, which is full of the things, squirting at me every time I move!

TPL do we have the same mother?

I swear my airways close up when I visit my parents place. She thinks its nice, I go around turning the things down/off. She has one of those squirty things in the bathroom, it has nearly blinded me a few times!

I do like the smell of fresh laundry though.

I woulnd't use anything like a plug in, not only do they smell naff they're not very good for you to be inhaling all the time....
scented candles or burn essential oils, make sure the candles are not paraffin wax though.
Alternatively, Attitude do a solid air freshner wich contains real lavender and eucalyput oil, as well as charcoal to absorb smells/pollution