For anyone that suffers from allergy issues, yet wants to have a house that smells lovely and beautiful, this is the DIY for you!
I used to use Bath and Body Works plug-ins all over my home. One day, a bulb leaked onto my floor and ate through the wood. Luckily, it was right before we refinished them so it didn’t do damage we couldn’t undo.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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Another time, I purchased some B&BW refill bulbs. I placed the bag of them in my backseat of my car and they happened to be next to my leather jacket. One must have not been sealed well, and it leaked, eating through the bag (in a matter of an hour), then continued to leak through the bag onto the leather jacket. It ate a little hole into my jacket. Luckily, again, it was fixable and a local dry cleaner was able to repair it.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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These two events made me start thinking about the chemicals that were within the fragrance bulbs. If the chemicals were that destructive to wood floors and leather jackets, how destructive were they being to my health?
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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I stopped using the plug-ins and searched for new ways to infuse my home with a healthier scent form. At a local hardware store, I found some air-fresheners you could attach to your air filters. I tried those, and they worked, but they still didn’t seem like the healthiest option.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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In thinking about how the air flowed through the scent packet of the hardware store air filter scents, and into the air via the air filter, I thought about making my own scent packets (with natural lavender or another scented herb) to attach to the filter. While you can do this, I happened to look in my bathroom cabinet and saw the numerous essential oils I had. I wondered if I could drop some oil onto a filter and see if it would scent the air.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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As it turns out, it did just that!
Before placing an air filter in the wall, you can place a few drops of essential oils onto the cloth or fiber part of the filter. I experimented with about 6 drops, but every filter is a different size, so more or less may work for you. We stand by “less is more”. If you add too much, you may overpower your house with scent. Also, if you add too much oil, it could cause extra dirt to stick to your filter, and you don’t want that.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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After dropping some oil onto the filter (and allowing it to soak in), we placed it into the wall and let the magic begin. As the air from our HVAC system flowed through the filter, the scent of the oil did as well. It wasn’t overpowering; just a little scent that pleasantly scented the air.
For our first round of testing this, I used Beach Type fragrance oil. I ordered it from Amazon. Since I live on an island, I wanted our house to smell “beachy” and this was exactly what I was looking for. If you are familiar with Bobbi Brown’s Beach perfume, this is exactly what it smells like….a little bit of jasmine mixed with some sunscreen. Some people do not like this scent, so you will need to experiment with what works for you.
If you have severe allergies, I recommend using 100% natural oils like lavender, jasmine, or whatever natural fragrance you don’t have an allergic reaction to.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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I would say it lasted about two weeks (to my nose) but when my mom came to visit on week three of testing, she smelled it (and loved it!). She loved the scent so much that she had me order a bottle of the oil for her to use in her home.
If you always want to be aware of the scent, I would recommend switching up the scents every time you change the filter as you could become “nose blind” to the same scent every month.
Want to make your air filter vent covers more beautiful? Check out how we used laser cut wood panels to make our vent covers look gorgeous by clicking here!
This form of scented air reminds me of what many casinos in Las Vegas, Nevada do. They actually pump scented air into many of the casinos. I watched a documentary about this. Because I’ve been in some of the casinos, I now have a scent memory of them and when I smell scents that smell like the casinos, I instantly remember my visits to Las Vegas. Is this an interesting marketing trick? Maybe……..
So, maybe by scenting the air of my island home with a signature scent, guests of my home will always remember their visits with this scent memory technique. Scent memory is a powerful thing and I’d love to create that wonderful type of memory for people. I used J Lo Glow perfume for my wedding day, and now every time I smell it, I am taken back to that happy, happy day. Whenever I smell a rose perfume, I think of my aunt who loved wearing Tea Rose perfume.
Using a signature scent during any event or time period in your life can create a scent memory that lasts a lifetime.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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While I used a beach scented oil to scent my home, I also added many “beachy” types of decor to create a “Coastal Farmhouse” vibe in my island home.
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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If you want to do more than make your house smell beachy, you can add decor to help keep that beach vibe alive after a beach vacation. When I lived in a city environment, I kept shells around my home to remind me of my beautiful visits to Sanibel Island. I guess this helped me manifest in making it my full-time home!
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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To add some beach flair to your home, I recommend adding some natural grasses, jute rope, and driftwood decorative elements. Paint a room in a sea-like blue or green color. Add some sand to a fish-bowl and add seashells, add a cute jute accent rug, frame a picture you took during a visit to a beach, or add some air plants around your home. Anything you find in nature around a beach area can be inspiration!
Pink and Purple Seaweed on Sanibel Island, Florida
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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I stumbled across this pink and purple seaweed during one of my sunset beach walks. You often times think of seaweed as only being green, but it comes in numerous other colors, including white, pink, purple and brown.
Pink and White Seaweed on Sanibel Island, Florida
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
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I have been adding some of these seaweed colors into my decor. Ah…inspiration comes from everywhere! Check out how I added some other beach-like elements to my foyer in this article (click this link!).
How to Naturally Scent Your Home + Tips For Making Your Home Look and Feel More Beachy
Photography and graphic by Carolyn J. Braden using Canva
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What do you do to add a beachy-vibe in your home? Did you try the oil scent method in your home? Leave me a comment below! I love to hear others experiences as well tips and tricks:
