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Whether you’ve got guests coming over or you simply love to catch hints of a certain favourite scent as you move between rooms, finding ways to make your home smell good can be just the finishing touch your abode needs to feel complete.
From a drop of vanilla to a waft of pine, finding the right smells to make your home smell good can make a world of difference to your mood, especially when you step through the front door after a long day in the office or if you’re settling into bed after an intense workout.
After all, by taking the extra time and effort to make your home smell good, you not only get to breathe in a pleasant scent, but it’ll show to anyone you have coming over that you take pride in your home by creating an inviting and refreshing atmosphere.
But as any proud homeowner will know, keeping your house smelling good all year round can be tricky business if you live a busy family life, want to avoid synthetic air fresheners, or don’t have the time to dedicate to lengthy incense routines.
So, to help you out, we’ve pulled together our top tips on how to make your home smell good for longer, and at short notice, including our preferred natural and inexpensive hacks, as well as how to get rid of any lingering bad smells.
Tips for how to keep your house smelling good all the time
Ready to welcome your favourite scents and smells into your home? Here are our top tips for how to make your home smell nice for longer:
1. Wipe fabric softener over your radiators before you turn them on
Mrs. Hinch - the Queen of cleaning hacks - has #CleanTock mesmerised with this simple tip for making your home smell good. Perfect for cold days, wipe some fabric conditioner diluted with water across your radiators with a gentle cloth, then turn the heating on. As the heat comes through the radiators, the scent of your fabric softener will spread throughout your home. Mmm.
2. Light a scented candle or two
The classic solution for anyone looking to make a certain room or two in their home smell that extra bit special, a scented candle is a simple and effective way to steadily introduce a new smell into a neutral space.
Simply light your candle in an open space, leave the doors of your room open, and take pleasure in the spreading scent as it naturally disperses throughout your home. Just make sure you light your candle in a space where it’s not at risk of catching anything or soot staining your cupboards.
3. Fabric conditioner repels dust from your skirting boards
Similarly to wiping it over your radiators, you can wipe a small amount of fabric softener across your skirting boards. You can get right into the corners of each room, and this will ensure a fresh smell throughout your entire home, wherever your guests are standing. Pop some on your door frames too, so when you or your guests enter a room, they're immediately greeted with a nice smell.
Interestingly, fabric softener repels dust, so this hack is a win-win when it comes to keeping your house smelling good and keeping it clean!
4. Strategically place diffusers
An aromatic alternative to candles, if you’re searching for natural ways to make a room smell nice over a long period of time, then strategically placed diffusers are going to be your best friend.
Diffusers work by placing absorbent reeds in a pot of scented oil. Over time, these reeds will naturally absorb the oil and its scents, causing the water to evaporate into the air, taking the scent with it. In other words, leave your diffuser for an hour and you’ll suddenly have a room that’s gently scented with your preferred fragrance.
Best of all, the strength of diffusers is much easier to control than a candle. Want a stronger scent? Simply add more reeds. Alternatively, if you want nice, gentle smells to send you off sleep, just remove the majority of the reeds in the lead-up to bed.
5. Dryer sheets in the back of your cushions are a game-changer
This is one of our favourite TikTok tips to help make your home smell good and can be done in no time at all. Simply pop a fresh tumble dryer sheet inside your cushion covers, and when your guest sits down on your sofa and put pressure on your cushions, they’ll be hit by a waft of fresh-smelling air.
This is also a great tip if you like to let your pets up onto the sofa or bed to chill out with you by helping to prevent their scents from lingering even once you’ve hoovered up all of their hair.
6. Scent the inside of your toilet rolls
A very niche and unique scenting option that we’re almost certain you’ve never thought of, if you’re not a fan of air fresheners or automatic diffusers in your bathroom, simply dab your favourite essential oil on a cotton pad and wipe the inside of your toilet rolls.
From here, your essential oil will be absorbed into the cardboard tube of your toilet without ruining the toilet paper itself, while simultaneously acting as a secret scent booster for a great-smelling bathroom!
7. Create homemade air-fresheners
If you’re looking to capture the same continual and regulated scents as those provided by air fresheners without using their synthetic mixes, then why not dip into your creative side and make your own?
Personally, we find the easiest way to do this is to soak some cotton balls in an essential oil of your choice and then place them in a jar with the lid off. Over time, the essential oils will evaporate into the air and bring their delightful smells with them.
8. Simmer off some scents
Continuing the theme of evaporating scented water to bring charming smells to the air of your home, it’s possible to get the same impact as diffusers and homemade air fresheners in a short time by simmering a pot of water that’s being seasoned with your preferred scents.
For example, if you love the smell of citrus, then cut up an orange or a lemon into slices, drop them in the pot, allow the water to simmer off uncovered, and smile as the scents of citrus evaporate with it. Alternatively, you could place some cinnamon sticks or vanilla beans into the water, creating a combination of Christmas scents for you to enjoy.
9. Give your curtains a summer spritz
The best way to make your home smell nice in the summer is to spritz your curtains with room spray, then leave the window open or at least slightly ajar. As the wind blows through, it’ll blow through your curtains and carry the scent of your room spray around the room.
You can make your own room spray by simply combining water and a few drops of essential oil. We’d recommend using a lavender scent on your bedroom curtains, as this scent will help you drift off quickly. The perfect hack for hot summer nights, you’ll stay cooler with the window open, with sleep-enhancing lavender smells drifting over you…
For your living room, perfumers Howarth and Lear suggest using sweet - but not sickly - scents like vanilla. Vanilla is the perfect smell to use throughout your home as it evokes a comforting, indulgent feeling that instantly relaxes you and your guests. You can use a fruity room spray in the summer for a more complex smell that complements the season, but vanilla is the best scent to use in your home year-round.
10. Bake your favourite foods
Studies show that certain scents can help trigger certain moods, memories, and emotions, with food smells being especially prominent. So, if nothing brightens your day more than the smell of freshly baked bread or a roast dinner, then you need to take advantage of your culinary skills.
Whipping out your trusty cookbook or preferred recipe website, the next time you’re cooking dinner or have some spare time for baking, go through the process of making your favourite food but keep the extractor fan off. This will stop all those delicious scents from being sucked up, letting them spread out through the house for everyone to enjoy.
How to get rid of bad smells in your home
Now that we know how to make your home smell nice, you might also be wondering how best to get rid of any lingering bad smells in your home, especially in your kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom.
Well, don’t worry, we’ve shared our top tips for getting rid of bad smells in your home below:
- Take advantage of baking soda – possibly the best item in your cupboards for absorbing bad smells, a small pot of baking soda placed in your fridge, freezer, or sprinkled on your carpet can rapidly clear bad smells and unpleasant scents in a confined space.
- Bottle coffee beans – another nifty hack to take advantage of, especially if you’re a coffee lover, is to place a handful of coffee beans in a jar and then light a tealight inside. Over time, the beans will absorb the bad smells in the room thanks to their porous nature, while the tealight will ensure such a jar doesn’t look out of place by acting as a homemade candle, ideal for a maximalist space or earth-toned bedroom.
- Add plants around your home – alongside being fantastic for adding a spot of much-needed colour to any room, plants are actually great at neutralising air-based odours in a relatively short space of time. All you have to do is make sure you water them regularly and most bad scents will be sucked up and eliminated by your potted pals.
- Ventilate your home – at the end of the day, the best way to get rid of bad smells in your home is to make sure it’s properly ventilated. This means taking the time to open your windows or put them on vent, open all the doors in your home, and allow the air to flow through. Within a few hours, the majority of any lingering smells will have been cycled out.
- Create a cleaning routine – most odours in the home tend to appear as a result of lasting dirt, such as unwashed dishes or an overflowing washing basket. So, if you want to avoid foul scents from lingering in your home, take the time to properly do all those annoying chores and run the hoover around. It’ll only take an hour or two and you’ll be left with a much fresher room once you’re done.
Add the finishing touch to your sleeping space
So, those were our top tips on how to make your home smell nicer for longer, and how you can get rid of bad smells that keep sticking around. We’re sure you already have some ideas in mind about how you want to freshen up your home with new smells, especially in the bedroom.
You might find that in your bedroom, a fresh set of bedding goes a long way in making the whole room feel refreshed and clean. If you're taking the time to tidy and add scents to your room, you'll only feel disheartened when you realise your old yellowing pillows are ruining the vibe of the room. Consider replacing them with our free next day delivery option, so you can get the bedroom you've dreamed of.
If you want more tips on how to create the perfect home, check out our guides on How To Make Your Bed Feel Like A 5-Star Hotel, which includes tips on creating the perfect guest-room. If you fancy even more of an upgrade in the bedroom, take a look at our stylish bed frames, including colourful upholstered beds.
