Overcoming Strong Odors in Your Home

Have you ever moved into a new place, only to realize that it still smells like its former inhabitants? I did just that last year. I thought that I’d never get the house to smell good, but with a little elbow grease, your new home can quickly replace its old stench with a new delicious aroma.

The previous tenant of my home was a smoker. Not only that, but she kept a very filthy house. I worked out a deal with the landlord to clean the place myself. That was before I knew what shape it was in. For example: after I vacuumed the floors, I realized that the carpet was a completely different color. Who knew that maroon carpet could look like it was pink?

In addition to the grime and cigarette smoke, the home also boasted of a beautiful, and well used fireplace. I don’t think she’d ever cleaned that either. all of the walls were thickly coated with a sticky sludge that smelled oddly like cigarette smoke and a hundred cats. A normal person would have ran the other way, but I am definitely not normal.

There are several ways to go about ridding an area of such odors. Here is what I did. First, I opened all of the windows. I let the breeze blow in and air out all of the stagnant air inside. At the same time I scrubbed the walls from top to bottom with lemon scented pine sol. My next step was the carpets. First I vacuumed up all of the dirt. Next I sprayed a scented foam into the carpet. I let it sit, and when the foam had disappeared, I vacuumed again. this I repeated several times over the course of a few weeks. The carpet is now as good as new. I burned a lot of candles and incense, and after a month, my home had a whole new smell.

Now that I have made the place my home, I have a few ways that I keep it smelling fresh. In the closets I will occasionally place an orange that I have covered with cloves. This gives your closets a nice spicy citrus scent. In the kitchen, after your husband cooks another one of his dinner disasters, place a dish of coffee on the counter to cut the smell. Both whole beans and ground coffee will work. For furniture, I use Febreeze. I go through a bottle a month. I spray everything that sits still, including my room mate. Potpourri and essential oils not only smell nice, but they also give the home a sense of ambiance when guests are over.

The ability to smell is one of the most important senses. Everyone loves to smell something nice. From the fresh baking bread we smell while driving to the store, to the flowers we remember from our grandmother’s garden, everyone has their favorites. Try surrounding yourself with the scents that you love the most, and those troublesome odors will be forgotten in no time.