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flowerlady6

Scenting your small home

FlowerLady6
17 years ago

Hi all. What do you use to create a scented atmosphere in your home? Potpourri, candles, incense? Any recipes for potpourri out there?

FlowerLady

Comments (22)

  • weed30 St. Louis
    17 years ago

    I swear by Glade candles, and think they have the best lingering scent of any candle I've had, from cheap to expensive. The plug in works great too, but they are kinda pricey.

    My favorite scent is

    . I used to get some of the others, but Clean Linen is just so fresh smelling and (I think) non offensive, that it's all I buy now.

  • southernheart
    17 years ago

    Hi FlowerLady!

    I really enjoy Aromatique Potpourri (you can get it at gift shops or stores like Dillards). I especially like the Christmas scented one, and their Scent of Spring. You can use small bits of it at a time, so it does last long for the price.

    I will have to try those Glade candles!

  • FlowerLady6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    Hi Weed ~ Thanks for the info on the Glade candles. I'll have to give them a try also.

    SouthernHeart ~ I love Christmas scented potpourri and candles too. They just do something to my spirit. I'll have to see if I can find any of the Aromatique Potpourri.

    FlowerLady

  • mrsmarv
    17 years ago

    I like the Glade candles, too. They're not overpowering, kind of stay in the background. And from October on through the cold months, I love Spiced Pumpkin, Cabernet, and of course any pine and citrus-infused Holiday scent. Target made a scent a few years back called "Cheer". It was one of selection of four scents. It has juniper, cedar, and citrus. Thank goodness I stocked up on it because they don't carry it any longer. Hopefull I'll have enough for at least the next two years!

  • girlgroupgirl
    17 years ago

    Oh, boy. I spend so much time getting smells OUT of the air, I don't put them back in, lol.
    Our cats have "body odor". Not litterbox odor but the smell of heavy coats. So I now run an air purifier to get rid of what I find as offensive animal smell.

    Occassionally I burn insense but my hubby hates that. We prefer the scents of freshly cut roses, gardenias, rosemary, agastaches and other scented herbs (or herby scented foliage).

    GGG

  • janengland
    17 years ago

    Weed30, I too like the Glade clean linen scent! I use the spray (cans in both bathrooms, LOL) and the plug in nightlight combo in the guest bath. I also use Yankee Candle Sage and Citrus plug in fresheners in other parts of our house, along w/ a bowl of potpourri on the coffee table. I really like Yankee Candle...potpourri, plug-ins, and of course the candles! their scents seem to last, but aren't overwhelming. I guess that's another side benefit of a smaller home...easier to fragrance ;0)

    Here is a link that might be useful: Yankee Candle

  • georich5
    17 years ago

    Hi Everyone,
    Got the heads up about this new and interesting site and all you wonderful folks are here. Great minds ....

    My favorite scent is chocolate. Brownies or choc. chip cookies baking. Someone once gave me a sugar cookie candle that was divine. DH said it was a big teaser.

    I love the orange smelling furniture polish or orange clean for the floors. For my bedroom, if I hang the sheets outside to dry the great smell of sunshine fills the room. Hard to do in the winter!!!!!

    Nice to "see" you all.
    georgeanne

  • bzyathome
    17 years ago

    I love candles! I used to be an AtHome America homestyle specialist and they sold the best cinnamon candle called Cinnamon Bun. Before quitting I made sure I purchased several with my discount.
    I also love the Basil/Red Clover candle that Hobby Lobby sells. They're in the cutest country jar and I just love the scent. And of course I love Party Lite candles. I don't buy the candle holders but love the scents they offer.
    DH doesn't like candles so I burn them while he's gone and he always walks in and asks me what smells so good....go figure.

    I've always loved the way the little victorian gift shops smell so good and they always play the most soothing music. I visited a great shop in Boulder years ago and I've been trying to get my house to smell that good all these years.

    Marilyn in NM

  • FlowerLady6
    Original Author
    17 years ago

    MrsMarv ~ I'll have to check the Glade's candle scents. They sound good.

    GGG ~ Freshly cut wonderfully scented flowers are wonderful I agree. Unfortunately we can't have those all the time. I did just have a sweet smelling bouquet of roses for a couple of days from our gardens. It's past it's prime now and should be added to the drying roses and scented geranium leaves for potpourri. I just went to a website for Paine Balsam Incense (that is my all time favorite for a woodsy scent) and got some other sites and here is one for a candle for pet odors http://www.sensia.com/odorcontrol.htm

    Georgeanne ~ DH and I went to Walmart the other day for a couple of things for our upcoming camping trip and I wanted to get some candles for our cabin in the woods. I forget which make we got but they had a box of the tea lights and the one we both really liked was hazelnut. Some of the food scented candles definitely are a tease. The smell of freshly laundered and sun-dried laundry is wonderful. I do not have a drier so do have that year round.

    Marilyn ~ I love the cinnamon scented candles at Christmas time, plus wonderful pine ones. There is a wonderful incense from up north Paine Balsam incense that is my very favorite for the holidays.

    Thanks everyone for you input.

    FlowerLady

  • josh-2008
    16 years ago

    Personally i use the Aromax design by Air Aroma. Its a great product, works much better than all the others i have tried. Most have a cheap smell to them, where as the Aromax uses 100% essential oils and doesnt heat them nor does it use a fan. Great product, very safe if you have kids to since theres no candle or flames. Have a look here: www.air-aroma.comn

  • blue_velvet_elvis
    16 years ago

    I love the smell of fresh baked bread. I waste a lot of flour making my house smell like fresh bread. My bread machine gets a work out and the birds are happy.

    For other smells I like the little candles which I can't recall the name for. They come with a flat odd candle holder and melt into a pool. I like the brownish ones, the name of the scent also escapes me.

    I think I need more coffee. :~)

  • FlowerLady6
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Happy Thanksgiving morning Blue and the rest of you small home dwellers.

    Reading your post Blue reminded me to get some bread going in my bread machine. I'm trying a new recipe today and egg bread with poppy seeds. I also love the smell of fresh bread baking it is so homey and comforting. Do you have some favorite bread machine recipes you could share here?

    Today, homes across the country will be filled with delicious food smells.

    I'm not fixing a traditional Thanksgiving dinner today. Instead I'm fixing pork tenderloin with a spiced whole berry cranberry sauce mixture over the top in the crock pot. Garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus vinaigrette, spiced beets, sherry sauced sweet potatoes, an apple/celery/carrot/pecan salad, chilled whole berry cranberry sauce, all served with a nice white wine. For dessert a pumpkin-cream cheese pie in a pecan graham cracker crust. We had a small piece of that last night and it was delicious. It was like a cheesecake. First time for making that recipe and I will be making it again.

    Enjoy those delicious aromas filling your homes today and every day, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving day.

    FlowerLady

  • gayle0000
    15 years ago

    Old thread, but I'll add to it.

    I've always been a scented candle person, but several months ago I switched over to scented oil burners. Votive candle at the bottom, with a little reservior for water with scented oils added. Fragrance wafts as the water/oil heats up.

    Cheaper in the long run than those $$Yankee Candles$$ I used to buy, and just as nice.

  • columbiasc
    13 years ago

    May I comment from the male perspective? First, I like the smell of clean and fresh so I try to open my windows every couple of days when I can catch the temperatures and humidity right which can be tricky in the deep south. When it's too hot to do that, Febreeze is a reasonable substitute.

    Certain food smells can be very appealing. I happen to like the smell of onions and garlic sauteing in olive oil. But of course those smells loose their appeal the morning after the nice meal.

    I like a hint of cinnamon, gardenias or other light floral scents. I dabble at gardening and I like the way gardenias, moonvine and Four O'clocks smell but I haven't found a way to get nature's scents inside. All these bloom when it's hot and humid outside.

    But hands down, and this might be inappropriate for this forum, I had a lover in 2005/2006 and she wore a perfume/body spray from Victoria Secret. There was something about the way that scent reacted to her body that I simply adored. I did everything I could to preserve that smell during the times she was gone. She has moved on now but occassionaly I brush past a women with a simiar smell and it has a devastating effect on me.

    Who says guys can't have a vulnerable side?

    Scott

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    I use Febreese , fresh sent which I think it fairly new, for the fresh sent in our house around the litter box. There are those times it is not so fresh even though I clean it several times a day.

    I am very sensitive to smells. Allergic to perfumes on my skin. I used to wear a perfume by coty. I think it was called Rare Earth, Sage. Loved it and it did not bother my skin or nose.

    WE are lucky here the evenings are cool 99% of the time so the house gets opened up to air. I agree food cooking smell so good and not so good after.

    And yes this really is an older thread but the date started was July 12 and I was looking at that part and wondering how I missed this thread.

    Time to get to work. Chris

    Chris

  • mama goose_gw zn6OH
    13 years ago

    I love the smell of a potpourri that I used to buy via a food co-op years ago. I think it was from Frontier Herb (but not sure), and it's called 'Vanilla Spice.' I am jealously guarding the last couple of ounces I have stored in a mason jar.

    Scott, my hubby loves onions and garlic, too!

    He has allergies, and I used to joke that I had come to consider the scent of Vicks Vapo-Rub an aphrodisiac, because he used it before bed-time every night!

  • FlowerLady6
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Boy this thread is old, can't believe it is 4 years since I started it.

    Scott ~ It's good to have male perspective on this subject. I also like clean and fresh, and especially enjoy clean sheets fresh off the line.

    It's too hot and humid to open windows down here right now. I know what you mean though. Fresh air is nice, fresh cool air.

    I also love cooking scents. I love to cook so it is one of my pleasant things to be involved in and the different aromas are part of the experience.

    I am a gardener too and love the scents of certain flowers. I brought one open bloom of the Grand Duke Jasmine inside and it was too much for either of us, but especially DH. Gardenias and roses are some of my favorites. I love the smell of fresh herbs too, rosemary, tarragon, basil, bay leaves, mints, etc.

    Certain perfumes are nice too, although they don't smell the same on every user.

    Chris ~ I like Fabreeze too. I've only used the original scent though. They have others out now. I have a couple of Musk oils that I really like, given to me by an elderly lady friend a few years ago.

    Mama Goose ~ Vicks vapo rub an aphrodisiac. LOL.

    I also have a collection of essential oils that are wonderful, from earthy to floral.

    FlowerLady

  • User
    13 years ago

    What I've done for years and years is a homemade potpourri out of apple cider vinegar, ground cinnamon, and whole cloves. It smells like apple pie, which is a magic smell to men especially.

    I've used it when I worked on oil field boats, and it would remove the awful headachy odor of DIESEL FUEL. Any product which can do that is very potent. The resulting apple pie smell made our passengers feel more comfortable, because they would not get seasick from the diesel odors. Then I brought the technique home with me, where it kept the smells of fish and boiled shrimp under control, and it was very pleasant.

    What I do is put a little water in a pot and then add enough vinegar to make a strong solution. Add the cinnamon and as many cloves as you like, and let it sit there wafting its odor in the air. Just do not let the pot run dry.

    I have a little two piece potpourri set which uses a tiny candle under it, and on a lesser scale it does the same thing. If you have burned the beans or want to be psychologically one-up on a potential buyer of your home, try this and see how it works. Men especially are susceptible to the smell of apple pie. :)

  • flgargoyle
    13 years ago

    I....I think I'm in love!

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    Well it ain't pretty but he said it was good. Peach Pie for hubby.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Will do apple next.

  • emagineer
    13 years ago

    I do the same in the winter with a pot of mixture above, but put orange or lemon rinds in it. Love clove...

  • User
    13 years ago

    Emagineer, yeah, the lemon/orange has to be a winner.

    And since I keep parrots, I am very careful about any synthetic products in the house. Like Febreze. It has killed birds before. And so has the odors from teflon coated products, such as an overheated iron, a pan, and even the drip pans on stove burners. Hazardous to the health of parrots and especially smaller birds, who have such large areas of their bodies as empty cavities, including the hollow bones, air sacs, the feathers are hollow, and so any gaseous substances in the air will affect them more than most.

    I also do not use candles from essential oils. Those atomize you know. And you have to watch out for the material in the wicks--cheap candles generally have some lead in the wicks to make them burn better. The lead is toxic to birds, and maybe to small kids too, I don't have any kids to worry about these days. Just my birds. On occasion, I put a fabric softener sheet into the a/c vent to give a nice powdery fresh smell.

    I absolutely LOVE the smell of baby powder.
    One thing about the smell-good stuff. Your NOSE can reach a point where it becomes desensitized to existing smells, which become part of the background. Even though someone else enters yourhouse and notes the applepie smell, you might be unaware of it if it is ALWAYS there. So I'd suggest you switch it up now and then. The nose is a wonderful sense to have working for you. Now, like "white noise" blocks out unwanted sounds, I submit the simmering vinegar, removing odors in the air, is like "white odor block" which will help remove (due to its chemistry) the smell of wet dog or stale cigarette smoke or soured laundry or grossly dirty carpet. I would keep that working ALL the time because it will subtract odor, not add to it. Only when you put the vanilla, cinnamon, cloves, into the mix, will another more pleasant scent be noticed.

    Let's hear it for a clean house!!

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