Fragrances can shift a person’s mood, stir up memories, and influence behaviors.
It’s no wonder why people go to great lengths to improve the smell inside their home.
Continue reading to learn where you can use air fresheners and the kind of air freshener that’s most appropriate for each location.
Top 11 Places To Use Air Fresheners
Having a pleasant scent in each room of the home can offer a range of benefits from bringing comfort to aiding in productivity and more.
Simply put, air freshener is any substance or device used to make a space smell better or cleaner. This can include aerosol sprays, mister pumps, gel beads, scented candles, powders, wood chips, evaporative diffusers, electric diffusers, plug-ins, incense, potpourri, and similar devices.
Here are the top eleven places where you can use these air fresheners:
1. Welcoming Entryway Air Fresheners
Let’s start in the area that greets you and your guests as soon as you walk in the door, the entryway. What you smell when you walk into a house kinda sets the tone for what you can expect throughout the rest of the home.
Since the entryway is usually smaller, you want it to smell nice, but you don’t want the fragrance to be overwhelming. Using an air freshener that can be adjusted might be the best option in this area. Two types of fresheners come to mind for me: reed diffusers and plug-ins.
Botanica Plug-ins by Air-Wick in Caribbean Sweetgrass & Sandalwood
This is a new line of plug-ins by Air-Wick. All the ingredients for this scent were ethically sourced from Haiti. You won’t find any chemicals, dyes, or phthalates on the ingredients list. Packaging is made from 100% recycled materials.
When used on a low setting, as I would suggest for an entryway or hallway, one essential oil refill lasts for two months. This one starter kit can potentially last for an entire year, and the refills are reasonably priced.
French Lavender and Honey Blossom is an alternative fragrance.
Reed Diffuser Considerations
Another option for subtle entryway scents is to use a reed diffuser. I suggest reed diffusers because you can add more or use fewer wooden diffuser sticks in order to adjust the amount of fragrance that’s released in the area.
You can make your own using glass containers, carrier oils, and your favorite essential or fragrance oil. Sometimes companies like Thymes or Nest New York offer reed diffuser oil refills. Backup wooden reeds would complete the DIY project.
A pre-fragranced diffuser set is another consideration. This one by SHOLAYERED is narrow and won’t take up much space if you have a console in the entryway. Orange Blossom is the name of this fragrance but there are more than twelve fragrances to choose from.
For less fragrance, you can also turn the reeds less often.
Releasing continuous fragrance in this area makes certain that you or your visitors will always smell something nice when entering or leaving your home. Using air freshener in the entryway helps create a positive connection, which brings comfort to the emotional center of the brain. And this is how you and others will feel about your home.
2. Relaxing Living/Dining/Sitting Room Fragrance
I combined these three places where you can use air freshener because whether you have one or all three of these rooms, they are usually close together on most floor plans.
Depending on where these rooms are in your home, my assumption is that you might not want continuous fragrances here.
There might be times when you’re in one of these rooms and would prefer not to smell a fragrance. For instance, if watching television in the sitting room or living room, it can sometimes be annoying or nauseating to smell a fragrance the entire time.
In this case, I would suggest using a fragrance mist, incense, a scented candle, or oil diffuser in one or all of these rooms. By doing so, you can get a burst of fragrance for a few hours without being overexposed to scents.
Here are some suggestions:
Thymes Fragrance Mist in Washed Linen
Linen scents are usually pretty universal, meaning most people can tolerate them. So if you have company over or you are spending time with family members, this is one mist that you can spray in the room without many complaints.
Whenever I want a subtle, earthy scent to fill a room for a few hours, I choose this incense. It burns for close to an hour and the fragrance lingers for one or two more hours depending on the size of the room.
Chesapeake Bay Scented Candle in Balance & Harmony Blend
An affordable but sophisticated scented candle, this is a floral essential oil blend that isn’t overwhelming and can accommodate people with varying scent preferences.
Ultrasonic Oil Diffuser with 10 Essential Oils
Lastly, an oil diffuser can work in these rooms because for three reasons:
- You can use your favorite essential oil or customize your own scents.
- You can time fragrance release cycles for one, three, or six hours continuously.
- You can adjust mist intensity.
3. Balancing Out Kitchen Scents
Yes, you can use air freshener in the kitchen. It’s true that food smells might overpower the air freshener at times, but no one is in the kitchen cooking at all hours of the day. And sometimes, a person might need to use air freshener in the kitchen to cover up the smell of burnt food.
Either way, I have two thoughts about using air freshener in the kitchen: the garbage can and overall freshness.
First, you might want to reduce the unpleasant odors that can seep out of the garbage can. These odors can sometimes cause the kitchen to smell like a garbage dump. The last thing you want to do is smell nasty garbage while preparing your next meal.
For this, I use stick-up air fresheners. They’re an inexpensive solution and one disc can last for months.
You simply stick them to the lid or inner side of the garbage can, and they’ll effectively cover up odors. (These can also be placed inside diaper pails in the nursery.)
My second thought is that sometimes you want to sit in the kitchen for a short, quiet meal in the morning. In this scenario, Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day Scented Soy Aromatherapy Candle works perfectly.
4. Freshening Up The Bathroom
We all know that we can use air freshener in the bathroom. And I think that it’s essential to have two types: one that releases continual fragrance, and one that offers an immediate burst of a fresh scent.
For continuous fragrance, I have two ideas.
The first is one that I only just learned. You can pick up your favorite essential oil, and place a few drops of it on the cardboard portion of toilet paper rolls. It’s perfectly placed continuous fragrance because the roll is usually right next to the toilet, which is often the source of foul odors.
Lively Breeze Little Bird’s Nest Ceramic Diffuser
This is a diffuser that doesn’t use reeds. You can combine your favorite essential oil with a carrier oil and pour them in the base or use a preexisting fragrance oil. There’s a rope that extends down into the base and connects to a little bird that distributes the fragrance. It’s really cute and doesn’t require electricity.
Febreeze for small spaces is another option.
For an immediate burst of scent after one of “those moments,” I would suggest Heavy Duty Febreeze or one of those pre-poop sprays.
5. Calming Air Fresheners for the Bedroom
Finding the perfect air freshener for the bedroom is crucial. It’s best to have a lovely smell that can help you fall asleep but won’t irritate your sinuses throughout the night. Personally, I use short incense sticks. Incense cones would also work well due to their shorter burn time.
Incense for Sleeping
Rose incense has been found to be one of the best scents for sleep I use Nippon Kodo’s Hana-no-Haha for three reasons.
- It is a low-smoke incense
- It only burns for 10 minutes (five if I break the stick in half), which is perfect right before bed.
- It’s a soft fragrance that helps me fall asleep without burning my eyes or irritating my nasal passage.
Unless you prepare for bed an hour or more before going to sleep, I would not suggest using a candle as an air freshener in the bedroom. You don’t want to accidentally fall asleep while it’s still burning. I would also caution against using plug-ins. I find that even on their low setting, they can be too strong of a scent to smell while sleeping.
Linen or room sprays might work well, though.
Rose Room Spray
If incense isn’t your thing, Caldrea Linen and Room Spray in rosewater and driftwood might be a better solution.
The scent is soft and sensual and the formula is gentle enough to spray onto your linens to inhale as you sleep. Freshen the whole room throughout the day or only use it at night.
6. Let’s Not Neglect the Mudroom or Pet’s Room
Sometimes the mudroom is also the dog or cat room, but even if it isn’t, the mud room is definitely a place where you can use air fresheners.
Bags, coats, shoes, and boots all carry bacteria from the places they’ve traveled throughout the day or week and bacteria carries odor, so this room can get stenchy and can often use a bit of freshening up.
Similar to the entryway, I believe the mud room needs continuous fragrance, but I think the chosen scent would be different. An odor neutralizer would be a better fit. Air fresheners that also absorb moisture work well in mud rooms.
Here are two suggestions:
- Arm & Hammer Moisture Absorber & Odor Eliminator: It traps the stale, stench-like odors and releases a fresh, neutralizing scent.
- Fresh Wave Odor Removing Gel: A plant-based odor-absorber and air freshener that’s even strong enough to eliminate pet odors.
7. Studio Spaces Need Scents, Too
If you work in a studio space, you may want to veer away from using scents if it’s the same space in which you package and ship artwork. Some customers dislike and/or are allergic to certain smells, so you don’t want art prints, jewelry, or other products to smell like perfume or incense when it arrives at your customer’s home.
But sometimes studio spaces can use a nice aroma from time to time. In such cases, I suggest softer scents that are less likely to linger. I wouldn’t use a continuous fragrance like a diffuser or incense because they are more likely to cling to the products you are making or canvases you’re painting. They can even saturate the packaging materials.
When I am working on a drawing or painting that I hope to one day sell, I burn 100% palm wax or beeswax candles because they have the faintest fragrance but still satisfy my need to have some sort of aroma in the studio.
Here are two tea light sets you might like to burn as light air fresheners:
8. Fragrances For The Home Office
Smelling a delightful air freshener as you work can help you to be more productive. For instance, peppermint is linked to alertness and enhanced memory. Likewise, lemon is connected to improved mental performance.
When it comes to using air freshener in a home office, I think it’s best to use something that can run in the background without much monitoring. I wouldn’t use a candle because you would have to remember to snuff it out in four hours. If you plan to take a break then I guess it’s not a problem. But I prefer not to have the task of snuffing out the flame in the back of my mind as I’m trying to focus on work.
Mostly, I like incense and place it on the table next to me. In this way, I’m not leaving it completely unsupervised, but I’m also not focusing on having to eventually extinguish it. Burning sandalwood or crisp, menthol-like fragrances are my go-to scents while working.
Another option is to use a diffuser. Oftentimes, they have timed intervals or you can use them continuously throughout the work day.
GuruNanda Ultrasonic Essential Oil Diffuser
In continuous mist mode, this diffuser functions for 3.5 hours. Intermittently, it will mist off and on for 7 hours. Using a mint or citrus essential oil can help you stay focused and productive as you work. This model is also compact enough not to take up much desk space but there are many, many diffuser options.
9. Pep Up The Exercise Room
Exercise rooms can get as stenchy as mud rooms, maybe more so. You can use air fresheners in workout rooms but because there’s so much more inhalation and exhalation going on, as well as, lots of contact with machinery and workout equipment, I would suggest paying close attention to the ingredients list.
I would choose all natural air fresheners for an exercise room, whether it’s a diffuser or spray.
Similar to work productivity, athletes were found to run faster and do more push-ups when exposed to peppermint. So adding it to a diffuser as you work out would not only freshen the room but can intensify your workout, if that’s what you want to do. Eucalyptus is also an energizing air freshener to use in an exercise room.
Again, there are lots of diffusers to choose from. Just make sure to choose 100% essential oils while using one.
10. Hidden Closet Air Fresheners
Who knows why closets tend to get stuffy and in need of freshness, but you can definitely use air fresheners in your closet.
The moisture absorbers mentioned above can work well in closets. Sachets are another effective option. The only drawback is that although they smell good, you may not want all of your clothes to smell like the sachet fragrance.
To combat that, I would suggest a somewhat neutral closet air freshener.
Citrus Magic for Closets
Although it’s called Citrus Magic, I’m suggesting the cedar fragrance.
This is an understated fragrance, but it still effectively absorbs moisture and leaves a fresh scent in the closet. Bamboo Rainforest or Pure Linen might also work well as delicate closet fragrances.
Floral Simplicity
The sage and citrus sachet scent offered by Floral Simplicity might also give off a light enough scent so as not to compete with any perfumes you might wear.
11. Reading Nooks & Patios
Setting aside a space within the home to read, listen to music, or simply wind down has been increasingly popular over the years. When using air freshener in these spaces, I would suggest something natural with a gentle fragrance.
Ayadara Natural Room Spray
Lemongrass, lemon oil, orange peel oil, and peppermint are blended together to create this natural spray that can help you stay sharp and uplifted as you read.
GRATIA NATURALS
If you prefer to create a calming atmosphere to rest for a while, then lavender or chamomile air fresheners might be a better choice for you.
This cool mist humidifier and aromatherapy diffuser also play natural sounds, like a stream of water or ocean waves. It comes with lavender, chamomile, lemongrass, and orange essential oils.
Bonus Suggestion: Freshen The Whole House At Once
There is a way that you can freshen the entire house at once.
If you have a furnace that uses filters, you can place a few drops of your favorite essential oils on the furnace filters every time you replace them. When the heating or cooling system moves hot or cold air through your vents, the essential oils will travel with the air, freshening the entire home at once.
Final Thoughts
Did you enjoy this list?
Freshening up your home can be both exciting and useful. I hope this list gives you some ideas and helps you find the best type of air freshener for your home.
The only remaining question is whether you want to have the same scent throughout your home, complementary scents, or something different in every room. I’ll leave that to you.
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