How do you make your house smell gorgeous?

[carolmillen]

I try to keep my house well ventilated but as we have a pet, I think the house needs a bit of extra help. Are diffusers any good and do they keep their smell?

Well, I have my White Company Seychelles diffuser and it is divine! I shall definitely try some of the tips on here though for the rest of the house - thanks all

Sorry to be a bore but for some people diffusers, plugs ins etc are extremely unpleasant and actually make us ill.

When I read the post by the person who actually sprays the curtains with a fabric conditioner solution I felt a kind of rage and recognition - sometimes you are in a house that pongs so strongly you think "it is as if they have actually sprayed the vile stuff on the furniture" - and then to find that people do - ugh, it all falls into place. But please please please don't do this if you ever have guests that you don't know super well, who could tell you they are feeling ill or getting wheezy

by the way I am no pet expert and don't have much of a thing for dogs but surely the sensitive doggy nose would find all this ugly scent noise very hard work? It is like someone shouting a single horrible regular tone, all the time.

Rage - really?

I've never done this before but here, have the first one on me

Lillies.

They can be smelled from anywhere in the house!

youretoast - I'm with you. Fake smells make me very ill, headachey, tired and sometimes nauseous and I never feel able to say anything but found out many others are the same and also wont say anything!

Natural smells like real flowers don't make me ill.

How bizarre Mildred. What a strange thing to feel so passionate about.

Zoflora fans....they have lots of different ones in Poundland at the moment including one that I read about on here but had never seen until this week - I can't remember whats its called but its a 'Christmassy' one ie. spiced, orange/cinammon type one.

It's called winter spice.

That's the one!

I read about it on MN about a year ago and have been vaguely looking for ages.

I burn wax tarts. Mainly j&j bedtime lotion scent in the bedroom, and citrus/spicy ones in the living room
I hate air freshener type things but these just smell pleasant

If I do anything,it's oil burners or the odd incense stick.

I did the old rubbing fabric softener on the radiator thing in winter and it was really good, but as others have said about flowers when I bought scented Stocks it was the only time this year that I walked in and it smelt bloody lovely.

Oil burner with essential oils. Natural and effective!

Yy to oil burners. I've got an electric one and it's brilliant.

No need to seach for offers on Zoflora as it is always a pound in icelands.

I make my own kitchen and bathroom cleaners with stardrops and Zoflora. It brings the marble tiles up in the loo lovely as smells devine.
A bottle of each sets me back £2 and will last 6 months so works out alot cheaper than branded sprays.

Yankee Candles.

definitely clean the carpets. . my house would never seen to smell clean/neutral whatever I did until I cleaned the carpet in the one room that has it.

I use a Lampe Berger with neutral oil - it doesn't leave an artificial scent (which would give me migraines) but it's brilliant at getting rid of cooking/wet dog smells and I think it also has antiviral/antibacterial properties.

I burn incense sticks. Its the cheapest and most effective way to make you whole house smell nice, the smell even travels upstairs.

these NagChampa are the best fragrance, and longest lasting

You will need one of these incense holder to burn it on.

Cheap too - just over £2 for the lot!

I've just bought a couple of diffusers from the White Company. Really impressed plus they look nice too. I do have a few candles from the WC as well but I can't use those during the day with DD about and I find they take a while to get going. they look nice though

I make my own reed dispensers (re-using bottles of ones I have been bought as presents) I use vanilla oil downstairs and peppermint in the bathrooms. Loads of websites will give you the mix and you just use any oil you like....I do have a secret fear that someone will see the cheap bottle of vodka under the sink in my bathroom and think I'm and alcoholic

I do like yankee candles (but am too tight to buy them myself so they have to be presents)

Use zoflora (bouquet) in our stinky shower - you can always get this in the pound shops.

Massive fan of ordinary bleach to clean toilets, only Tesco own brand so less than a £1 for a bottle (have never understood those "duck" cleaners - they don't seem to clean at all)

I'm not super sensitive but I cant use air fresheners in the car or the plug in ones as they give me headaches and I feel sick.

The only spray we use is Sainsburys "Christmas spice" which we buy a few bottles of to last us through the year.

Making copious notes

If you want to avoid all the dangerous chemicals, get Zenbow (cheap on amazon, well cheaper than neil's yard, and much cheaper than buying plug ins all the time) and then you can use any essential oils that you like,

All you do is add water and a few drops of oil, it cuts out when empty.

but open you windows everyday, and your house shouldn't smell anyway.

Don't have dogs, bake chocolate chip cookies several times a week and open the windows to air out rooms, Victorian-style, every morning.

We have a bakhoor burner.

It is amazing and we love it!