DIY Holiday Home Scents!

I’ve talked about home scent signatures before; this is essentially what you smell when you walk into someones home. When it comes to your own home you typically don’t notice it. When you walk into someone else’s home, you most certainly do. So with the holidays upon us, you can generally expect at least a few instances of family or friends coming over—and let’s be honest, some holiday scents you just want to enjoy yourself regardless of who’s coming over. With that in mind, we’re trying to find ways to change up our scent signatures here at the CMS HQ and incorporate some holiday-inspired scents.

DIY Room Spray

If you’re having guests come over and you want to up your scent signature game, particularly in the front entryway or living room, you might want to make your own DIY room spray. This is a super simple recipe:

• 3/4 cup of water
• 2 tbsp of rubbing alcohol
• 5-10 drops of your favorite essential oil

You can use more essential oils if you want a stronger scent. I would say the minimum would be 5 to 10 drops, and the maximum would be about 40. Add all of these ingredients to a spray bottle and give the area in question a good spritz 15 to 20 minutes before people arrive. Remember, this isn’t a commercial air freshener where the scent will last for a really long time—this is natural stuff, so it will fade quicker. If you want to keep the scent going, you’ll want to refresh it throughout the day.

Cookies!

One of the things that Chad remembers most from his childhood in and around the holidays is the smell of baking One of the things that Chad remembers most from his childhood in and around the holidays is the smell of baking cookies. Now, this isn’t exclusive to the holidays. In fact, real estate agents use this trick all the time! They put a sheet of freshly baked cookies out when they host an open house to create a sense of homeyness and comfort for potential buyers. So if this is a scent that takes you back, give it a try—and bonus, you get some freshly baked cookies to eat!

Essential Oil Diffuser

Now, these things have different names, but you should be looking for something that’s called an ultrasonic diffuser. I really like them because, of course, they help add a little bit of moisture to the air (they’re definitely not full-blown humidifiers), but more importantly, they can diffuse a scent throughout a room over a long period of time. Essentially you just fill it up with water, add 10 drops of your favorite essential oil(s) and then turn it on—set it and forget it. We use ours every day, and I’m often changing up the scents based on the season. Come the holidays; I love the mint family—spearmint, peppermint, and wintergreen. Add a little vanilla to the mix, and you’ve got yourself a lovely candy cane scent! I also love tree scents—balsam fir, cedarwood, cinnamon leaf, frankincense, and clove. These mix really well with lemon and orange. This is a great way to bring warmer holiday scents into your home.

Cleaning Products

ItIt wouldn’t be a Clean My Space video if we didn’t talk about actual cleaning products! When you’re getting your house ready for the holidays, whether it’s making your own DIY hand soap or making your own DIY cleaners, you can always incorporate scent into that mix. Adding essential oils to these products makes even tedious jobs smell incredible—if that makes sense. You can switch it up during the holidays based on what you want your house to smell like or use some of the scent combinations I outlined above. This year I’m really into the Thieves mix for all of my general purpose and counter cleaners.

Scented Candles

Candles are an enjoyable way to make your home smell great. Plus, having that nice flickering light helps brighten things up, especially around this time of year when it gets dark at 4:30 in the afternoon! The only real issue with candles is that they’re on such a large spectrum—you’ve got cheap and disgusting and/or weak-smelling candles, and then you have the super expensive $75 candles. There has to be a middle ground! What we like to do (in Canada) is go to Winners; Essentially, they sell end-of-line, end-of-year, and/or distressed high-quality name-brand merchandise at a heavily discounted rate. You can often find some really nice candles for a great price—candles that are normally $40-$50 selling for $10-$15.

Christmas Trees!

Growing up, I never experienced the smell of a fresh (or, frankly, a fake) Christmas tree in my home, but I have since experienced the delight that is the scent of a real Christmas tree. If you want to bring the smell of the holidays into your home (and you celebrate Christmas), consider getting yourself a genuine evergreen conifer Christmas tree. I know it’s a bit of a mess, but there are ways to mitigate the mess. And honestly, your house will smell incredible for the period of time that you have the tree. Now, if you’re like me, and you weren’t brought up celebrating Christmas, most grocery stores sell live branches of trees that you can put in your home—on your mantle, in a vase, etc. So it still looks holiday-ish, but it doesn’t necessarily make it Christmas, and you’re going to benefit from that wonderful scent.

Pamper Yourself

This has become my favorite way to take a shower: I put about 5 to 10 drops of essential oils (or a mix of oils) into the tub when I get in the shower. The hot water and the steam hit the essential oils and carry that scent throughout the shower. Whatever scent I put in there, that’s what I experience for pretty much the entire shower. Once I get This has become my favorite way to take a shower: I put about 5 to 10 drops of essential oils (or a mix of oils) into the tub when I get in the shower. The hot water and the steam hit the essential oils and carry that scent throughout the shower. Whatever scent I put in there, that’s what I experience for pretty much the entire shower. Once I get out, the bathroom has this lovely lingering scent that lasts for a while afterward. So if you’re having guests over, you can try this little trick—you’ll have a really enjoyable shower, and your bathroom will smell great for your guests!