How to Keep your Home Always Smelling Fresh

The atmosphere of your home is one of the ‘unsaid’ aesthetics that keeps you loving your home. When you are in it day in and day out, the way your home smells and feels will actually have a stronger impact then the décor in your space! So what factors keep your home smelling fresh and which one’s contribute to their

• Determine the culprits of odor: There are different sources that can contribute to your home’s odors including: must, old age, pets, food and daily regimen, poor air circulation, smoke, old finishes – carpet/wallpaper, etc.. and a host of others.  Depending on the odor you will first have to determine where the odor is coming from.  When you have lived in your home for a while, you may be insensitive to the odor, and will need to ask a friend or neighbor for advice on the source of odor in your home.
• Solving the issue: Once you found the issues use the following tips to keep the smell away:

o   Musty odors: If musty odors are caused from an aging home consider painting walls, changing wallpaper, replacing carpet, and refinishing wood floors.  If odor is from old furniture, read our Freshome post about removing musty odors from furniture. Musty odors are some of the hardest to get rid of due to age and the smell could be embedded into the home.

o   Pets: Odors from pets can be from pet stains in carpet/pad or furnishings, or it can be from wet fur of animals.  Try getting your carpets steam cleaned on a regular basis and get pets house trained to keep carpets smelling fresh. Consider using a carpet powder or light baby powder on carpet and vacuum.

o   Food & Daily regimen: Your household regimen and food that you cook on a regular basis could be the source of odor in your home. It doesn’t mean you have to change your cooking habits, but the routine of cleaning and airing out your kitchen may need to.  Use the range hood vent when cooking to remove cooking odors from the air. Empty the trash immediately after disposing of food, and consider double bagging if necessary. Have neutralizers in your kitchen to expel odor while you create them. Turn on garbage disposal immediately after placing food in – and put fresh lemons down drain to keep clean and odor free.

o   Poor air circulation and smoke: Both of these causes can be addressed by opening up windows on a regular basis to let fresh air move throughout your home. Change your air filters on your heating/air conditioner unit per the manufacturer’s instructions. You can also buy scented inserts especially made for your vented system to disperse smell throughout your home. Consider not smoking in your home to truly expel smoke odor in your home. Smoke settles into finishes and can stay for years into the future.

• Keeping your home smelling fresh: Once you have solved the issue you will need to take on a new regimen for routinely keeping your house smelling fresh. If your home’s source is from being unclean, it will be important to clean more often and more thoroughly. Consider hiring a cleaning service for an initial clean that you can later maintain, or hire on a regular basis. Teach teenager’s to wash athletic clothes, bed linen, and bath linen on a regular basis. Believe it or not, these can harbor germs quickly and cause odors.

Your home can smell clean all the time with diligence and identifying the source of the odors. Take the time to make your home smell inviting and fresh. You will feel better in your home and notice guests will enjoy it too. You just may find a new reason to stay at home and entertain more once your home is more inviting to all! Freshome reader’s tell us what makes your home smell fantastic!