Apartment Aromatherapy: 4 Household Uses for Lavender

This week we were delighted to receive a thick, fragrant bunch of lavender among the veggies and fruit in our CSA box. And while it will be exciting to experiment with the lavender for baking, we're also looking forward to putting this aromatic herb to use around the house...

• In the closet, lavender sachets are wonderful for repelling moths and keeping your drawers fresh. Martha has a nice tutorial if you want to sew cute ones, but you can also easily make sachets out of old pantyhose, used dryer sheets, or the little drawstring bags that often come in jewelry gift boxes.

• For a relaxing at-home spa treatment, try sprinkling lavender into a bowl of hot water for a foot bath before giving yourself a pedicure.

• Another way to have a soothing soak is by making your own lavender bath salts. Mix springs of lavender into a jar of coarse salt, along with a few drops of lavender essential oil.

• If you have trouble sleeping, or just need another way to unwind, try making your own lavender eye pillow. You'll need a lot of lavender for this—about two cups of the little lavender heads. Here's a great how-to from Tiger and Lily Boutique.

And in case you've still got leftover lavender to use up (or enough growing in your own garden to spare!), here are some other ideas from Apartment Therapy:

• Travel Essential: 4 Uses for Lavender
• How To: Make Your Own Linen Spray
• The Power of Scents to Help You Fall Asleep

(Images: Flickr member Le Petit Poulaillier, licensed under Creative Commons)

For sachets that don't require sewing, I like making lavender wands. You only need a length of ribbon, and (after the third or fourth one) they look really sharp and take about a minute each to make.

posted by morfydd on August 28th 2009 at 9:24am
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Pour some in an old sock and add rice or flaxseed. Close the end with a hair band and throw it into your dryer. It will lift & separate your clothes so they dry faster and it will lightly scent them.

posted by mrsjonessoapbox on August 28th 2009 at 9:57am
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I love using vanilla/lavender scented Tide for washing my linens - but I heard somewhere that it's being discontinued :-(

posted by bepsf on August 28th 2009 at 11:28am
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My mother made me a lavender sachet from dried flowers she grew in her garden, and I sniff it when I'm having insomnia. It works.

posted by CallDoctorBison on August 28th 2009 at 11:50am
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I just had goat cheese and lavendar fondue the other night at Palace Kitchen in Seattle. It was divine. (Awesome bread and apples to dunk). I keep meaning to harvest some lavendar to experiment with.

http://www.tomdouglas.com/restaurants/palace-kitchen

posted by talkingcrow on August 28th 2009 at 11:58am
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Mrsjoanssoapbox, I cannot wait to try out the lavendar rice sock on my next laundry day. Thanks for the great tip!

posted by Seaside on August 30th 2009 at 4:19am
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my godmother's son owns a restaurant where he serves lavender ice cream - it has the most decadent vanilla base and is the best ice cream i've ever tasted!

posted by rouquinne on August 30th 2009 at 1:07pm
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