Making a Good First Impression: Home Edition

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Everyone knows first impressions really are important, and that’s true even when it comes to someone walking into your home. What do you notice first when you go into someone’s house? Is it the decor? The clutter or lack of? The color scheme? For me, I notice the smell first.

Smell sets the entire tone for me and can cover up a lot of other things. I don’t care about the clutter if it smells good. I don’t care about the decorating if it smells good.

Sooooo I focus a lot on the smells in my own house. I have two little boys, so I have to cover the smell of pee in the bathroom and diapers before they make it out to the big trash can.

I have several methods of making my house smell good.

First of all, I love Bath and Body Works’ wallflowers. There are a ton of cute plug-ins you can pick from or you can go simple if you want them to blend in more. I love picking out new scents for each season. There are fresh flower smells in the spring and summer and cozy vanilla and berry and pine smells in the fall and winter. I have plug-ins on every level of my house and in the bathroom, and I love going from one scent to another as I walk around.

I also have wax warmers throughout my house. They are so cute! I wish I could buy a dozen warmers to change out when I want a different look. There are big ones and small ones that are perfect for the bathroom. The wax requires a little more effort than the wallflowers, but I have found that when I’m ready to change the scent, I warm the wax just enough to peel it out. Then I can easily add a new cube!

Those are my top ways to keep my house smelling good, mostly because they don’t require a lot of upkeep. I also keep Glad sprays in my bathrooms and use them in the front room before someone comes over–especially if I’m not sure whether it smells the best! We’ve also tried Poo-Pourri, and it’s awesome. It works impressively well.

I like trying out new plug-ins and sprays and odor eliminators, but I always come back to my tried-and-true solutions. Sometimes I can’t tell whether my house smells good because I’m always home. I get used to my house. But I hope it smells good to others when they come over!

What do you use to make your house smell good? Are there other things that make a bigger impression for you?