DIY Room Scents

I have a sweet friend who spent a year in Tennessee with her husband as a missionary couple. When they returned home she brought me the cutest little miniature cast iron skillet. I loved it instantly. It took me a little while to decide how to use it, but I finally went out and bought me a candle warmer and the little scented wax blocks from Wally world. I now have my own mini-cast iron skillet knock-off Scentsy warmer. I love how it makes the house smell. Granted...I'm still using the blocks I bought at Christmas so it smells like Christmas here still instead of spring, but oh well. 

While I love my cast iron skillet set up, I still like to put it away some days and go for a more "natural" approach. Today's post is all about that. I'll start first with a Pinstrosity we were sent, and then I'll show you what I like to do to get the house smelling good. 

Julie found a pin for DIY Scented Plugins that don't use all the chemicals. 

The Original Pin:

http://holycrickey.tumblr.com/post/7394307755/diy-wallflowers-scented-plugin

Julie says, "I was excited when I saw this post! The refills for the Airwick air freshener I use in my laundry room (and cat litter box room) are expensive and they don't last very long (even on the lowest setting). Today I finally made it to Michaels and the essential oils were all on sale! So I bought two and rushed home to refill the vial."

"I immediately ran into a significant problem.  I could not remove the top from the bottle! I tried and tried. Then, I just gave a small tug to the wick and it came right out. I thought I had won!! I rinsed the bottle, filled it part of the way with lavender oil added water then gently tried to put the wick back in. No going..."

The Pinstrosity:

The original site says to "remove the wick part (which ironically looks like a cigarette) empty and rinse out the bulb", but they don't give any tips for getting the wick out without mangling it. Perhaps the difficulty is due to the difference in brand of plugin air freshener? Who knows. 

"It just puffed out and collapsed."

"That is not going back into the top of the bottle! I tried again to remove the bottle top but only succeeded in getting oil all over my hands. I'm not sure if the wick is really necessary because I improvised and twisted a piece of paper towel tightly and used that instead... I might even remove it."

"It seems to be working... But, the scent of lavender is overwhelming!! It's making my eyes itchy. I hope the cats won't refuse to come in and use their litter box because of this!!"

While the paper towel definitely does wick the oils up into the air, it probably does so at a much faster rate than the original wick would. But, if you can't get the original wick out with out it becoming unusable, then  you definitely have run into a problem. From the looks of it the whole top needs to be removed, but these have been designed to be pretty snug and stuck. By getting out the entire plastic top piece, you should be able to keep the wick intact. But now...how do we get that pesky plastic piece out. For jobs like this, I usually grab a few butter knives and use them to pry the top of little by little...but that doesn't always work. 

So, if you can get the wick out and in again, this is a great way to get your house smelling good using safe and clean oils. What if you don't have the oils or the plugin? Here are some pins I have used and I love them!

The Williams Sonoma Store Spring Scent (this one is seriously so good, I love it!):

http://morganmoore.typepad.com/one_more_moore/2010/03/spring-is-here.html#comment-6a00d8341c51ba53ef0120a9772f44970b

How to come up with your own Natural Room Scents:

http://www.theyummylife.com/Natural_Room_Scents

Citrus Scents (add cinnamon for fall, vanilla for spring and summer, herbs for any time of year):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/annnmarie/4125096686/sizes/z/in/photostream/

And a whole slew of Autumn Recipes:

http://jandeecrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/11-homemade-simmer-potstove-potpourri.html

Around Christmas time my mom always put a pot on the stove to simmer. She would add in various extracts and herbs depending on what she wanted. Some days we'd have a maple smell drifting from the kitchen. Other days we'd have the smell cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves filling the house. Other days we'd have herbs and vanilla for a real subtle but soothing smell. As far as getting a good smell, these are hard to mess up. The main thing that can go wrong is letting your pot get dry as all the water steams out. Keep an eye on it and add water as needed.