For anyone who loves herbs, essential oils, and natural fragrances, scenting the home is a wonderful way to improve daily happiness. I have listed some daily suggestions that I have found enjoyable. Many also make easy and unusual gift ideas.
Kitchen scents
Herb and Spice Wreaths for the Kitchen
Kitchen wreaths using spices and herbs can be as simple or complex as you wish. You can purchase a ready-made wreath and add a few sprigs from
your garden or make one up from scratch. Many books are available on his art. Small bunches of dried herbs and spices are fast, effective, and fragrant additions to wreaths. Ty rosemary and purple sage cut to three-inch lengths tied with mauve and green ribbons or bunches of cinnamon sticks tied with red. Tiny muslin bags of mixed herbs, called bouquet garni, can be tied to a wreath and cut off to add to soups and casseroles. Just pinch the herbs as you walk past to release a scent.
Scented Plants for the Windowsill
Plants on a window sill add fragrance and oxygenate the air. The list of scented herbs and flowers suited to pot growth is immense. Try jasmine, balm of Gilead, lemon thyme, marjoram, lemon verbena, and scented geraniums (pelargoniums). The cultivation of scented geraniums can become a hobby in itself! These fascinating plants come in various fragrances, such as lemon, rose, mint, spice, and even chocolate! They are easily propagated, so you will soon have lots for a big display or to give away, and the leaves retain their scent when dried for use in potpourri. Note that the flowers are not spectacular and the showy red and pink geraniums do not carry the scents.
Crafts for Pets and Practical Uses
Don’t just keep the pleasure of scent for yourself and your family—make a catnip mouse for your cat. No time to sew? Take a small fabric toy or cushion, snip a seam open, poke some dried cat mint, and sew it up. The cat won’t mind if it’s not too tidy.
Glue cinnamon sticks onto a stiff board base for a scented pot stand that releases its fragrance each time warm pots are placed on it. This won’t last forever, but it should give good service if you try to keep it fairly dry. Muslin sachets of herbs stitched into fabric mats have the same effect.
Herbs for Hanging and Simmering Pots
Dried herbs need to be in dark, airtight containers to retain their scent. However, be sure to string up some bunches of fresh and dried herbs for pinching as you pass. Rosemary, sage, and lavender are exceptionally long-lasting and fragrant. For a change, hang bunches of southernwood, which, besides being a haunting scent, has insect-repellent qualities.
To fill the home with a lovely fragrance, there is no need to spend much on specially marketed simmering potpourris. Just boil orange peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, and bay leaves in a pan of water to fill the home with a warm smell. Alternatively, sprinkle a few drops of your favorite essential or fragrance oil, with some potpourri if you have it, into a pan of warm water on the stove. This is fast and effective and gives a good, strong scent, whereas scented candles and the like can be too subtle.
Sitting Room scents
Creating Cozy Potpourri
Potpourri is an age-old way of scenting the home and can be cozy, elegant, spicy, or flowery according to your mood and the season. Try making your own from one of the many available recipes, or add your touches to a purchased base. Throw some small fir cones, cinnamon sticks, or gold-painted bay leaves into a Christmas mix. Dry petals from a special bouquet to add to a flower base. Don’t worry if they are not too scented, as color and form are as important, too, and essential oils can be added to a bowl that has lost its aroma.
Traditional Potpourri Methods
If you are interested in potpourri, try making the old-fashioned version where rose petals are sandwiched in alternate layers with salt in a lidded china pot. The mixture should be pressed down and kept lidded other than when you are in the room. Add to the pot as more petals become available. This mixture turns black and is not attractive, but the aroma is very long-lasting.
Scented Cushions and Light Bulbs
Rub cool light bulbs with cotton wool soaked with scented oil and enjoy the fragrance pervading the room as the bulb heats.
Scented cushions can be made using aromatherapy principles, with sachets of herbs sewn into larger cushions. Try chamomile or lavender for relaxing qualities or rosemary or pine for stimulation. However, you can’t go wrong with perennial favorites such as roses for general use. As with potpourri, boost the petals with a drop of oil when the fragrance fades.
Fireplace Fragrance with Scented Cones
If you or a friend have an open fire, throwing scented cones into the flames is a lovely touch. Melt some beeswax (or old candle stubs) in a washed can and place it in a pot of water. Using a can inside the pan means you can throw it away and are not left with any waxy pan to try to clean. Add a few drops of scented oil. Leave to cool and thicken very slightly, and drop cones in. Remove the cones with tongs and leave them to drain on aluminum foil. Don’t waste expensive essential oils on this – cheaper fragrance oils are just fine. Keep a big basket full of these by the fire.
Twig Bags and Year-Round Wreaths
When cooking or crafting, save all your stalks and twigs. Dry them well and bag them up into small brown paper bags. Tie them up with string or raffia and throw them into a log fire for a burst of scent. A basketful of cones or twig bags makes a charming holiday gift for friends – be sure to attach a label explaining their use.
Don’t confine herb and spice wreaths to the kitchen. A large circle can make an unusual and spectacular year-round display – try making a wreath with alternate bunches of green and purple sage.
Place your wreath on a (protected) tabletop instead of the wall, perhaps with a bowl of fruit or flowers in the center. If the wreath base is bound with damp moss, herb cuttings have even been known to take root in wreath bases bound with damp moss.
Scented Candles and Bookshelves
Adding Fragrance to Candles
Scented candles are one of the most popular ways of incorporating perfume into the home. These can be expensive. If you have a bottle of fragrance oil around, light a wide candle and add a drop or two of oil to the little pool of melted wax around the flame. Relax and enjoy.
Herbs for Bookshelves and Carpet Fresheners
Add fragrance to the bookshelf by pressing costmary (alecost) leaves, their minty balsam scent, between the pages of favorite books to deter silverfish. Large, rose-scented geranium leaves also add an ethereal Victorian aura to precious journals and are a joy to discover nestling between the pages of a book unread for a few years. Mix dried herbs with equal parts of bicarbonate of soda and salt in a food processor. Sprinkle liberally on the carpet and vacuum up an hour or so
later. This is a natural carpet freshener.
Bathroom scents
Essential Oils and Herbal Baths
Oils can be added to the bath for scent alone or for their beneficial properties. Full details are outside the scope of this article, so consult any good aromatherapy book or practitioner. Just remember that only a few drops are needed if you use essential oil (instead of a synthetic fragrance).
To use herbs and flower petals for your bath, put them into small muslin bags that can be fished out before you get in. The idea of fragrant herbs floating in the water may be temptingly romantic, but the reality is a mass of soggy brown herbage clinging to and scratching the body. Believe me, stick to bags! A soggy rose petal is a depressing thing.
Herbal Hair Rinses
There are endless possibilities for incorporating fragrance into one’s daily bathroom routine, and an easy and effective one is the herbal hair rinse. Make a strong infusion of an herb of your choice. Strain it, add two drops of essential oil if you wish, and use it as your final hair rinse. Try roses and lavender combined for a feminine scent, or rosemary or bay for something less flowery for men and women.
Bedroom scents
Sleep Pillows for Restful Nights
The sleep pillow is a comforting use of natural fragrance, and many people swear by its effectiveness. Calming and soporific herbs include hops, chamomile, and lavender. Just take care to make moderate use of lavender, as it can be overpowering.
Potpourri and Sachets for Drawers
Potpourri can be delightful in a bedroom, and a bowlful on a dressing table is especially welcome in the guest room. However, beware of putting it on the bedside table, as it may be knocked over at night when people reach for clocks or water.
We have all seen lavender bags, but break the mold by making little sachets filled with something different—a handful of fine potpourri is a good substitute. Slip these sachets into drawers or sew on ribbons to tie them onto coat hangers. Use pine, bayberry, and rosemary for a more masculine scent.
If stitching little bags is not your thing, then hang bunches of eau de cologne mint in your wardrobe.
Pressed herb bookmarks may retain some scent themselves or can be made using scented cards. Choose a reasonably porous card and place it in a box with a pad of cotton wool soaked with essential oil. After a few weeks, the card will retain its scent for quite a long time.
I hope you try at least one of the above ideas and have fun scenting your home with fresh herbs and natural oils.