apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

All of the above items smells good to me!!! Someone should invent a machine that puts out a different smell thoughout the day. Coffee in the morning etc. Could hook it right up to the heater or air system.:-)

/agree with poptart, your meant to change the scents in your house often so u don't get too used to them.

baked goods always remind me of Sunday afternoons when my mum would bake cherry and chocolate rock cakes. yum.

I love the smell of just clean air plus a faint hint of lemon from the JR Watkins countertop spray I use every night to clean down my counters, and the Mrs. Meyers lavender air freshener that I have plugged into my wall....such a necessity because since I'm in an old building my place can get musty smelling no matter how well I've cleaned it.

I tend to use all orange cleaning products. I love the scent.

I haven't cloved a bunch of oranges in a while... that's nice too.

Take orange peels and boil them with a cinnamon stick. Best smell in the world.

I wonder which of these would be great for a open house, if any? I like them all!

i'm really picky about the smell of cleaning product- my nose seems to be very sensitive to them, so i like to open all the windows for a bit to air out the house and light a vanilla candle.

i really love methods vanilla-apple products! they're yummy.

i hate it when people over do the scents though- i think a light scent is nice when you walk into a room- but you shouldnt be hit over the head with it!

Judging by all this tiresome Pet Month nonsense, most people's smell of cat piss and dog poo.

I don't like strong smells. There are two different questions being asked here. What smell do you most associate with the concept of home, and ideally what would your home smell like all the time if it could/what smells do you apply to your home to make it smell like you think it should? Olfactory is strongly associated with the memory, but I can't think of anything from my parents' house that I would carry with me. Sometimes, someone is cooking and it smells like my grandmother's apartment, or even what it smells like when you walk in the lobby. There are some rare and random occasions I smell something I associate with my other grandparents' house. I don't think that was cooking, I think it was just 'old stuff' possibly including tobacco and maybe dog. I don't think it's a great smell, and I wouldn't buy it if they bottled it in a spray, but I do remember a house I haven't been to in over 25 years by the smell of it.

For my own home, I avoid cleaners with strong smells. Some "flowery" or "clean" smells are pretty disgusting to me, while others have sort of a neutral effect without actually smelling like nothing, and they tend to dissipate quickly. One of the best things I noticed about quitting smoking over 3 years ago was that everything smelled a lot nicer after a while. They don't smell like anything new, they just don't smell like yuck anymore. I don't sit around wishing my house smelled like cookies or cinnamon or vanilla, I don't like candles or incense or air fresheners. I like authentic smells rather than scented things that evoke your favorite smells, but I don't think those scents should linger.

Fresh air and my one candle obsession Wasabi Ment very clean. I also love the smell of my home in the morning with really good coffee brewing and all windows open.

The smell of nutmeg and cinnamon in a pie always brings me back into Mum's kitchen in autumn. She bakes apple and pumpkin, usually, and the smell just saturates everything in the house. It's divine.

The smell of Estee Lauder's Youth Dew also reminds me of home in a way nothing else does, because our downstairs bathroom always smelled of it in the mornings after Mom got ready for work.

My little brother's room always smelled like a gym locker (I think it was all the dirty socks) so let's not go there.

One of my favourite rooms in my parent's house is the upstairs hallway, with a giant window overlooking the big side garden, and bookshelves everywhere. Since it was south-facing it got the best light. The carpet always smelled dusty in the sunlight, with the scent of Mom's African Violets and my herb garden mingled in.

I don't care so much about what home smells like (but on days when our work kitchen smells like coffee, toast and old men, it reminds me of grandpa's house) but I always loved the smell when we were at the beach... Suntain lotion, clothes being washed, and that faint hint of salt. That's what I'd love my place to smell like, all the time.

I was recently given a candle with the scent of baked bread...and I thought, yeah, right...but it was wonderful! Now I wish I had a lot more! I love the smell of clean linens...bacon frying...and a nice fire on a cold day/evening. Smells evoke all kinds of feelings for me.

I agree with KTG. What smell do I associate with home? Well, baked *anything* and for some reason, a garage with the door open during fall with some scattered leaves on the floor has a VERY distinct scent that makes me immediately think of my grandparent's house.

When we first bought our house, an old lady had lived there since the house was built and the first thing my husband said was "OMG! It smells like old lady in here!!" I didn't worry, because I knew that would leave with time (and removing the carpets and her stuff).

I have asked, however, my closest friends: "what does my house smell like?" since every house seems to have its own distinct smell. I fear mine might have a hint of eau de' labrador retriever, even though I bake and cook every day. I don't use any cleaning product with a "cleanser" smell, since I only use vinegar and fels naptha on pretty much the entire house.

This is a total cliche...but the smell of apple spice smells just like that warm comfort feeling I get at my parents place. If only I can incorporate that since of smell in my own place.

I'm with the consensus on orange/apple and spices. Love em. Mulled cider is great aromatherapy in the fall.

edava72 - lemon is a scent that many people associate with cleanliness. spices would be good. vanilla on a cottton is good

sfdoddy - shove it. Many of us pet owners are very aware of how our houses smell and keep the litter boxes and the dog beds clean.

sorry gotta evacuate hurricane servers shutting down.

coffee.

and i like how my apartment smells just after i've watered the plants. earthy. i have about 15 plants.

i live in manhattan so i get the unwelcome smell of exhaust coming INTO my place at times. i'm saving up for an air purifier because i don't want to smell anything at all BUT coffee in the morning and wet soil after plant-watering.

once in a blue moon i'll burn high-quality incense. but only as an offering at my little Krishna altar. the scents are nourishing because they take me back to the nice memories of living in an ashram eons ago.

sfdoddsy can indeed shove it. Just because you don't have animals doesn't mean we are all confined to YOUR desires. Frankly I'm more tired of hearing you whine about it than I am reading pet posts.

Bread baking, apple pie (cheat by simmering water, apple pieces, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg!), coffee brewing, clean laundry in the dryer (some sort of pleasant anti-static scent).

i love it when my home smells like clean linens or oranges/lemon. i'm a fan of fresh and light -- not too crazy about heavy florals or vanilla-infused products. too heady for me.

Well, they say that fresh and sunlight are Mother Nature's very own disinfectants, so I'll have to go with how fresh air feels and smells in my place.

I love it.

When I vacuum, dust furniture, and clean, I like to have the windows open, even in Winter, to create a really good airflow.

But I have to say, I'm a HUGE fan of Japanese incense.

www.thebitterfoodie.blogspot.com

For me the smell of home is the smell of sauteeing garlic and onions and other generally pasta saucy smells. Not that I want my home to smell that all the time, that's just home.

I generally prefer cleaner floral smells like lavender and jasmine and cedar. for the rest of the time

I love the fruity aroma especially orange. not that bright but a soft one.

I often put orange essential oils in oil diffuser to let it fill around the house.

for floor cleaner I like lavender, pine and lemon.

To make your own homemade for household cleaner using essential oils, I use one of these recipes
http://www.aromatherapy-at-home.com/aromatherapy-home-recipes.html