We all love walking in to a fresh smelling home after a hard day’s work. There’s more than one way to make your house smell amazing! Here's a rundown of our favourite tips and tricks to help your home smell great all year round.
By Clare- 4th July 2022
- 7min read
- This blog was updated on 30th April 2025
Make your own air fresheners
Making your home smell good isn’t always about creating gorgeous smells – it’s also about trapping and getting rid of bad smells around the home.
Pets can often be culprits here, so for more pointers, you can read our pet owner's guide to a clean home.
Here are a couple of cheap and easy natural air fresheners you can make yourself:
- Baking soda – you've almost certainly got a tub of this knocking about in a cupboard somewhere, but the use-by-date is surprisingly short. Instead of throwing it out, pop some in a bowl or container and keep it in the fridge - it's fantastic at absorbing odours and making your fridge smell lovely and fresh
- White vinegar – though it may smell quite punchy on its own, good old white distilled vinegar is another brilliant deodoriser. You can pop some in a spray bottle for a fast cleaning and refreshing solution, or put some in a bowl and leave it to sit in a room overnight. It'll effectively absorb almost any odour from the room, including pet odour and smoke
- Lemon water – pop a few slices of lemon in some cool water and not only will you have another way of absorbing odours, it'll also creates a nice citrus scent
Scented candles
Want a quick solution for creating a fresh scent that looks great too? A scented candle is your best option! We’re spoiled for choice with candle fragrances. Why not choose a different scent for every room in your home?
- Jar candles – for a statement, go for a jar candle. There are lots of different types to choose from and the jars will add style to your room
- Pillar candle – best for when creating your own display and giving you lots of flexibility, scented pillar candles are perfect for adding personality
- Tealight candle – who doesn’t love a tealight candle? Small and discrete, scented tealight candles allow you to layer the scent across different parts of a room, helping you easily create more even coverage. Put them in a nice display and they can make your room look even better!
- Aromatherapy candle – some scented candles aren’t just there to smell nice! Combined with some essential oils, aromatherapy candles can help you de-stress and make your room smell great
Remember not to leave lit candles unattended.
Diffusers and burners
Diffusers and burners come in lots of shapes and sizes and can create a welcoming atmosphere in your home.
- Reed diffusers – these are a great, low maintenance, practical solution for anyone short on time and looking for a natural smell. They also look stylish and can go anywhere in your home as you don't need to plug them in!
- Automatic air fresheners – these give you much more control of the fragrances in your home, giving regular aromatic bursts, whether through motion sensor, or an activated timer on a plug-in air freshener. There are different types for each room of the house, allowing you to really personalise how your home smells. And with air freshener refills you can reuse your automatic air freshener again and again
- Oil burners – these are a simple and versatile option that look beautiful in your home and give you lots flexibility for creating different scents around the home
Whatever one works best for you, diffusers and burners help you to create a fragrance that suits your home.
Potpourri
Make your space instantly welcoming with beautiful fragrance that lasts using the help of potpourri.
Not only will potpourri add a beautiful decorative touch to any room, it also smells amazing.
Available in a variety of different fragrances to help you create everything from relaxing to invigorating settings, our scented potpourri will help transform your space in no time. From fruit potpourri like apple or tropical passionfruit, to softer fragrances like sandalwood and seasonal scents, it's easy to inject beautifully fresh scents into your home. Don’t forget to put it in a lovely display dish!
You can even pop some potpourri in a small net bag and place it in your drawers for an extra burst of fragrance.
Room sprays
There’s nothing more direct and easier to use than a good old room spray if you’ve got a smell you want to cover quickly in your home. They’re great for those bad smell emergencies, or just when you need to give a room a quick scent refresh.
From rich, fruity smells to more subtle hints, there are room sprays for every person and every room.
Here are a few ways to help you get more out of them:
- Spray inside your bin before you put in a bin bag – this will help keep it smelling fresh and combat those nasty bin smells!
- Add a fine spray to your curtains, throws and cushions. It works especially well on warm days when you can have the windows open and have a nice breeze to circulate the scent
- Spritz your pillows with a fine mist early in the day, so that by the time you go to bed they’re smelling fresh and clean
Add some extra fragrance around the home
Here are some more great ideas to help make your home smell great:
- Ironing water - using fragranced ironing water not only leaves your clothes smelling beautiful but it also increases the lifespan of your iron. Using regular tap water that hasn’t been distilled can cause a build-up of limescale, reducing the performance of your iron
- Dryer sheets – not only do tumble dryer sheets make your clothes smell good, you can also use them around your home to boost those lovely smells. Pop one in the back of a clothes drawer and it'll leave your clothes smelling sweet
- Fragrance boosters – these contain technology which allows the fragrance particles to cling to fabrics. The particles release their fragrance after washing, meaning your clothes will be left smelling lovely long after they’ve been washed!
There are so many options to make your home smell fresh, just choose the solution that works best for you and your home.
For more on keeping your home clean, visit www.wilko.com
Any more hacks you've found to make your home smell divine? Let us know on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok & X
