There’s something comforting about a home that’s scented beautifully, and it’s easier than you think to achieve this.
There’s no point adding nice smells to your home until you’ve eliminated the bad ones – and the kitchen sink is a good first port of call.
If your sink plughole smells less than lovely, try this trick with a mix of baking soda and vinegar.
Use one part baking soda to two parts vinegar and pour your baking soda into the plughole first. Quickly add the vinegar on top, and it should start bubbling up. Leave for a few minutes, then clean it away with a kettle full of boiling water.
Carpets have a habit of retaining unpleasant odours, but it’s cheap & easy to refresh.
Grab your baking soda again and mix approximately 150-200g with 30 drops of essential oil – lavender is a good choice. Allow it to settle in a container for 24 hours, then sprinkle it lightly over your carpet. After 15 minutes, vacuum the mixture up. The baking soda should have soaked up bad odours and you’ll be left with the scent of essential oil.
If your furry friend has left a less-than-pleasant scent on upholstery, you can use the carpet freshening trick again.
Sprinkle baking soda on the chair or sofa where your dog tends to sleep, leave for 15 minutes and vacuum away.
The acidic properties of vinegar has the ability to cancel out the alkaline nature of bad odours, so it’s worth having some in your cleaning cupboard. Use it to clean kitchen surfaces, or to remove stains from carpets.
A good trick is to leave small bowls of vinegar around the home – after a couple of days they should work to eliminate unpleasant smells.
Now that you’ve removed any nasty whiffs, you can add some pleasant smells to your home.
Scented candles are great, but require extra care for safety reasons – so for something less high maintenance, go for a reed diffuser instead.
Choose scents to match the ambience you’d like to create in each space. Fresh, uplifting fragrances work well in the bathroom, hallway and kitchen, while more mellow aromas are good for the living room and bedroom.
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