Natural Ways to Fragrance Your House

Cinnamon Sticks or Cloves

• When your kitchen smells like last night’s dinner or the trash spoiled overnight, you can make the room smell pleasant again with cinnamon sticks or cloves. Pour water into a cooking pot and bring it to a boil. Once the water comes to a full boil, add a handful of cinnamon sticks or cloves. When the steam rises from the pot, it fills the air in the kitchen with the pleasant and sweet scent.

Dry Spices

• Your home does not have to smell stale or boring. When you plan on having guests over, you can fill your home with a pleasant scent that smells like freshly baked cookies or bread. Heat your oven to 200 degrees F and sprinkle one or two teaspoons of ground spices onto a cookie sheet. Add spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg or cloves. When you bake the spices, leave the oven door cracked for 30 minutes to release the aroma.

Essential Oils

• Air fresheners are convenient because you can mist the air with a pleasant scent quickly when you need to mask an odor. Instead of purchasing aerosol air fresheners, make your own at home with two basic ingredients. Fill a spray bottle with cool, clean water and add 10 drops of your preferred essential oil. Available at craft, grocery and online stores, essential oils come in a wide variety of scents such as lemon, rosemary and vanilla. Mist the air with the homemade air freshener to fill a room with the scent.

Citrus

• Citrus adds a sweet and natural smell to the air. Fill bowls with citrus fruits such as lemons, limes and oranges and place the bowls in rooms throughout the house. You can also place citrus peels in the garbage disposal and turn it on to remove unpleasant smells. Run the hot water to help release the citrus scent into the air. Insert cloves into citrus fruit and hang them in closets or place them in a bowl to infuse a room. When you have extra lemons, rub them onto cutting boards or place the slices with the cut side facing up in a dish to enjoy the lemon scent.