The easiest ways to make your home smell incredible

A while ago I saw a so-called trick on social media for making your home smell nice, which was, simply put, terrible advice. It was about putting essential oils in your vacuum cleaner, what you should never do. I recommended a few other room scenting tips instead, but they all focused on that neutralizing smells without introducing new, pleasant smells. Not long after, however, social media gave me one new Suggestion to give any room a pleasant scent – and this will not damage vacuum cleaners (or anything else). To do this, you need to hide small extract-scented pads around your home.

First off was the video I saw this one from Kelly the cleaning ladya TikTokker who loves cleaning and wear pink. I immediately trusted her when she said that it smells nice if you dab some extract on a furniture pad and hide it around the house, but I was still apprehensive and wanted to try it.

My first question was, “What is a furniture pad?” I went to Target where I found Scotch felt pads, which I discovered have an adhesive backing and are meant to be stuck under chair legs so they don’t scratch the hardwood floor. (I have rugs; I didn’t know!) The ones I got aren’t on Target’s website, but they’re comparable This 32 pack for $4.04.

My second concern was, “Will the extract not attract bugs?” I checked with Allie Reinmann, Lifehacker’s baking guru, and she said this in part Are Although they are used in food, they themselves contain too much alcohol to be considered food. They don’t have, she said, “sugar or anything for bacteria to grow,” so I was sold. She wondered how long the smell would last since the extract would likely evaporate quickly, but I assured her I would find out. I grew old normally McCormick pure vanilla extract ($6.99 for two ounces). Then I got to work.

How to secretly scent your home with furniture upholstery

I pulled out a sheet of six pads and placed it on the counter. I decided to apply a little extract to each pad while it was still attached to the backing sheet, which turned out to be a lot smarter than I thought. The extract shot out of the bottle and spread all over the leaf, requiring me to move it back and forth to get it to touch all the pads. Some pads had more extract, others less. I thought this would be a good experiment. I noticed that they looked a little shiny but absorbed the liquid pretty quickly, so I left them on for about five minutes to let everything absorb. Then I took one of the slightly dampened pads and stuck it under the countertop.

It smelled pleasant right away, but I wondered how long it would last. I put the leaf with the five remaining pads in another room to see if the smell would be more intense – and longer lasting – there.

After four hours, I concentrated and took a deep breath. The vanilla scent was clearly noticeable, but not overpowering. I had to be careful sniffing it out as it was more of a subtle addition to the rooms than an overwhelming sensory assault.

The beauty of this method is that these pads are already sticky, so you can hide them anywhere, unlike other types of air fresheners. The technology is also sustainable because you don’t have to buy new pads as often. Since testing this with extract, I’ve also tried some with essential oils just to mix up my scent choices. As I suspected, the scent was stronger and lasted longer. So if you’re looking for something more intense, start there.

Other similar ideas for scent enhancement

I’m a fan of smells; Nobody likes to go shopping with me because I have to stand in the candle department and evaluate scents for so long. I invest a lot in perfume for my body and scents for my home, so I have a lot of opinions here. I liked the idea of ​​the furniture pads because they’re so easy to hide and because the whole exercise is economical (weeks of scent for less than $10!), but if I really want to improve the scent of my apartment, I call in the big guns .

As much as I love smelling candles in the store, I’ve found that you have to invest in the expensive candles for the scents that come from them to really permeate a room. I have my share of Diptyque and Margiela, but I’m also a freak; I can’t in good conscience recommend you spend $75 on this mission (although the ever-popular Diptyque Bais candle Is for sale for $66.99 currently on Amazon).

My two cheaper favorites are incense sticks and wall diffusers. No one ever believes me when I say that I rely on incense, which is very cheap and which I can buy from random vendors in the subway station (although you can find it too). 140 sticks for less than $10 online), but I definitely do. The scent is powerful while the incense is burning, but it doesn’t last too long once it’s finished. If you want to keep the party going, burn another stick. This is great if you don’t want to smell the same smell all the time, as there are so many (cheap) varieties to switch between and they have a stronger effect than a standard candle.

But if you Do If you always want to smell the same scent, I have just the thing for you: a Wallflowers diffuser. I was used to the cheaper plug-ins you can find at the dollar store, so I was skeptical of them at first, but they work. The smell goes everywhere, it spreads quickly and stays there for a long time. I will never stop buying refills for mine. The Plugins cost between about $6 and $20, come in cute patterns (including night lights), and can be refilled for about $3.50 with all sorts of scents. They’re by no means as cheap as Glade, but they work better, which is important.