Make your home smell delicious

Few senses are connected to memory as strongly as smell, which is why a home's unique odor can be such a powerful and important thing. But what happens when that odor is a bad one? Some rooms in the house are harder to keep smelling fresh than others - like the kitchen and the bathroom. Air fresheners are filled with chemicals, while potpourri is never as pervasive as we'd like. Aren't there better ways to make every room in the house smell fabulous?

The good news is there certainly are, and most of them use things you'll find right in your kitchen cabinets. Before we get started, there are couple things you need to know. When it comes to making your house smell good, you can either eliminate an odor or mask it. To do the former, you'll need something acidic (odors are basic). The latter simply uses things that smell good. The best way to fight odor? Use both.

One caveat: if you or anyone else is your home has a tendency to allergies, test the items you plan to use before you commit!!

Orange Peels

One of the best ways to make your kitchen smell amazing is by boiling things like orange peels, cinnamon or cloves. Think of it as a more intense version of potpourri. To keep your food disposer smelling fresh, run some lemon in it.

Vinegar

Laying out a bowl full of vinegar is one of the best ways to neutralize any gross odors in the kitchen or bathroom. If leaving out a bowl of vinegar sounds unsightly, stick it on a shelf or leave it tucked away in a kitchen cabinet.

Activated Charcoal

One of the most popular odor-eliminating substances is activated charcoal, in part because it doesn't need to be replaced frequently and in part because it can be tucked away in any sort of decorative jar or container.

Baking Soda

To remove pet smells from your furniture or carpets, sprinkle baking soda onto the fabric, let it sink in for about an hour, and then vacuum it off. You can add cinnamon to the mix to add a little extra oomph, too.

Dryer Sheets

Dryer sheets don't just make your clothes smell good after washing; you can put them behind your air vents to make your home smell amazing for a few days at a time. And they’re lifesavers around the shoes in your kids’ closets!!

Essential Oils & Scented Candles

Essential oil can be used in a million different ways to make your home smell good, from reed diffusers to air fresheners. One idea: when you change the filter for your furnace, add a few drops of essential oil. Burning fragrant candles emanates a great fragrance, too. We like to place them in our fireplace, for a more subtle odor.

And more …

The gurus at lifehacker.com, say, “Put two caps full of vanilla extract in a coffee cup, then place it in the oven at 300 degrees for one hour. Within twenty minutes the whole house smells like heaven.” We do this with a few tablespoons of ground cinnamon in a mini-loaf pan in the toaster oven at a very low temperature for about 30 minutes. Works like a charm. Suggestion: use inexpensive cinnamon for this trick; save the good stuff for cooking.

Your insights? Please share!!