Everyone wants their home to look good but it would be even better if it had a pleasant fragrance. But apart from hoping that the smell of freshly brewed coffee or baked bread will make a good impression on a potential buyer, few people think about house fragrances on a day-to-day basis.
Reduce the Effect of Bad Smell
The first task is to identify and neutralise unpleasant odours that linger for days. The most obvious are cooking smells, especially from spices and garlic, indoor smoking and pet smells. It would be a mistake to just try to mask these with incense candles and this remedy usually makes the smells worse.
Start by opening up the windows and sprinkling some baking soda over upholstery, pet bedding and old sports or gardening shoes. Wait an hour and vacuum well. Now it’s time to think about fragrances.
Fragrances can be dispersed easily around the home using plug-in devices and reed diffusers. These do not pose the fire risk of candles or leave a strange odour when blown out. A quick homemade method of freshening up a kitchen is to cut up a lemon into pieces and simmer it over the stove, letting the citrus smell refresh all parts of the home. In wintertime, add cinnamon, cloves and some dried apricots to the lemon and simmer to produce a Christmas fragrance.
Diffusers and Sprays
There are many methods of spreading the fragrances around the home. Dilute concentrated fragrances with tap water in a spray bottle and spray around the house. Wipe over some surfaces with the diluted solution on a damp cloth. Place a more concentrated solution in a bottle and insert bamboo sticks. This makes a reed diffuser that spreads the scent into the air rather like a candle wick. Or place you could put a few drops of the concentrated solution on an unscented plug-in device. This will freshen up the room immediately.
Select the Appropriate Scents
Now it’s time to choose the scent from any of the Zoflora range. These products will not only produce a pleasant fragrance but will kill off bacteria and viruses. Any combination of lilac, jasmine and rose scents is a universally popular fragrance for all rooms in the house. A fresh fragrance comes with the combination of citrus, freesia, melon and other florals. This can be sprayed in wardrobes and linen cupboards or even when ironing to produce the scent of a fresh spring breeze indoors. Bring in the scent of a summer garden with the fragrance of apple and other orchard blossoms.
Use Stronger Florals
Hyacinths and lavender produce stronger, recognisable fragrances that for some people evoke old family and other memories. Lavender combines well with herbs such as thyme and peppermint as well as cedar wood, pine and sandalwood to give a cosy fragrance. But people either love or loathe these stronger fragrances. So it’s best to make sure that your guests will not be bothered by the background scents.
