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In this post: Wanna know how to make your home smell amazing? Here are 15 different creative ways to do it!


It’s a known fact that familiar scents can bring back the best memories, and how we scent our homes can have a huge impact on the way our homes feel. Plus, did you know how your home smells is often the first thing people notice about it? It’s true!

make your home smell amazing reed diffuser and odor eliminator

15 Ways to Make Your Home Smell Amazing

1. Simmering Potpourri 

Simmer pot or stovetop potpourri is a super-easy way to make your house smell delicious and inviting! All ingredients can be kept on hand throughout the year to whip up the potpourri to make your house smell amazing whenever you want to!

How to: Fill a small saucepan or cast iron pot with water. Then add your simmering ingredients, using your own recipe or one of the recipes below, and simmer on low for a couple of hours. Add water as needed. 

Visit this post to find 16 Simmer Pot Recipes for All Seasons.

Homemade Simmering Potpourri

2. Use reed diffusers

Reed diffusers are liquid air fresheners in a bottle with long sticks or reeds inserted to draw the scent up and out of the bottle into the surrounding space. 

They’re also very simple to use – reeds are inserted into the fragrance-filled liquid, which then disperses the scent into the room. 

Click here to find a DIY Reed Diffuser + Homemade Diffuser Oil Recipes you’ll love.

3. Clean your garbage disposal/sink drain

Rotting food waste can stink up a space very quickly. 

If you have a garbage disposal, make sure you clean it regularly so its smell doesn’t start to waft beyond the sink. 

The same goes for your sink drain as well…give it a good cleaning from time to time. I like to do this by pouring some baking soda in the drain, then I add vinegar and put the drain plug in. The combo of baking soda and vinegar effectively acts like a mini volcano of cleaner, foaming away a lot of the scent and grime that can accumulate in the drain. 

4. Deodorize your carpets

There’s a reason so many have moved away from wall-to-wall carpeting and that’s usually because it’s so hard to clean. Dirt and dust tend to get trapped inside carpeting. And so do odors. 

Even if you only have area rugs, they too can get stinky just from use and being in your home. 

You can purchase a carpet deodorizer at the store or you can simply sprinkle baking soda all over your rugs, let it sit for several minutes, and then vacuum thoroughly. 

5. Make your own room spray

Homemade room sprays are easier to make than you think! With some simple mixing, your home will smell delicious in no time!

The basic ingredients for homemade room spray are Epsom salts, distilled water, and essential oils.

Click here to find the step-by-step instructions for how to make room sprays, plus 16 essential oil combos to make them smell awesome!

Odor Eliminator Bottle

6. Use fabric-safe odor eliminator 

Much like carpets, other fabrics in your home can absorb odors. But these can be eliminated by using a fabric-safe odor eliminator like Febreze

If you want to make your own odor eliminator, check out this post. 

7. Bake something, anything, even just vanilla

Baking something to make a house smell warm and inviting is a trick that realtors have used for years. 

Everyone loves the smell of baked goods!

So if you want to make your home smell amazing, try baking up your family’s favorite banana bread, muffins, or cookies. 

Tip: if you don’t really feel like baking, you could simply put two capfuls of vanilla in an oven-proof dish and “bake” at 300 degrees for an hour or so.  

8. Diffuse essential oils

One of my favorite ways to add scent to our house is to use our essential oil diffusers. Especially in the winter when our air is extra dry. 

If you’re not familiar with essential oil diffusers, this post will help. It’s filled with everything you could possibly want to know about them…but explained in a really simple way. 

And if you want to know which essential oils to blend together, check out these posts: 

make your own reed diffuser with essential oils

9. Take out the trash/compost

Like I mentioned when I talked about drains and garbage disposals, food waste gets stinky fast! 

Keep on top of it, by regularly taking the trash and compost out to the garage or shed until garbage day. 

10. Use wax melts or candles

Wax melts or candles are two other ways to scent your home and make it smell amazing. 

If you are at all sensitive to fragrances, try soy-based candles and test small candles before buying larger-sized candles or bigger quantities. 

Tip: Candles can also be used on a candle warmer if you don’t want to have an open flame in your home. 

11. Place plugins strategically

Before I became more sensitive to regular fragrances, I used to LOVE scented plugins. Especially the Bath & Bodyworks ones. And I still love the idea of them because they make scenting home so effortless. If you can use ’em, by all means, do! 

I have also found these AromaHouse Scentball plugins that use a little pad to warm essential oils. They work pretty well too and a little oil goes a long way. And you get to control what goes into them. 

12. Add live plants or flowers

Of course, plants can both clean the air and give off natural scents. If you’ve got a green thumb, include your favorite plants in your decor to make your home smell good too. 

If you don’t have a green thumb, buy fresh-cut flowers on occasion. They’re pretty and they smell good. (But not lilies. They do not smell good!)

13. Wash your pets (& their stuff)

I don’t know about your dog, but ours gets stinky real quick! 

Regular grooming of your pet and washing of their bedding and soft toys will help to keep your home from smelling like a wet dog. 

‘Cause no matter how much you love your pet, no one likes that smell!

14. Use scented surface cleaners

All of us mommas know how often we have to wipe down counters, sinks, cabinets, tabletops, and other often-used surfaces. #alot

Why not make it a little more enjoyable by using the scented surface spray cleaners you love?

My favorites include: 

You can also make your own…

In a spray bottle combine the following and give it a good shake:

Mrs Meyers hand soap dish soap and everyday cleaner trio

15. Choose a signature scent 

I’m going to talk about this more in another post. But choosing a signature scent for your home is a fun way to make your home smell amazing. 

Essentially, you choose a scent or family of scents that you love and place them strategically around your house. 

For instance, if you love cinnamon and baking scents, put a cinnamon plugin near the front door, simmer some cinnamon sticks and vanilla in the kitchen, and light a cinnamon bun candle in the living room. 

These layers of scent are sort of like the layers of your decor…they add depth and dimension to your home. 

tray on coffee table with old books antler candle and faux tree

Of course, there are other ways to make your home smell amazing too. For example, you could open the windows if you live where there is clean, fresh air. We live near some large farms in the suburbs, and a couple of times a year, the air is not so fresh or good-smelling. If ya get my drift! 🐮💩 😂

make your home smell amazing simmer pot and scented cleaner

More Home Cleaning Hacks

Do you use any of these methods to make your home smell amazing? Which ones are your favorite?

shannon photo and sig oct 2022