A Home That Smells Like Spring

Here Are Some Natural Ways to Make Your Home Smell Like Spring

Spring is here, and if there’s one thing theapartments in LA could use, it’s a fresh scent to match to match the lovely weather outside. Before you reach for that bargain basement air freshener, though, why not turn to a few “natural” solutions that will brighten up your air without all the aggravation? We’ve got a few tips and tricks ready to go, and with some luck, they’ll leave your domicile smelling fresh while simultaneously providing you with a fun little springtime project to get immersed in.

The Primary Solution: Clean Your Air

Anyone who has lived in an apartment before can tell you that after a while, that indoor air can start to get a bit stagnant. To start freshening up your home for spring, you’ll need to start by cleaning up that air. Beyond just opening up a window, though, (which does help) you’ll want to start investing in some fresh, green, flora to help keep your air as clean as possible. Greenery will help take some of those impurities out of the air, replacing it with some straight-from-the-source oxygen, and they also make for a lovely addition to every room in your home:

“Beyond air quality, plants just make people feel better. For example, hospital patients with plants in their rooms were more positive and had lower blood pressure and stress levels . Similarly, indoor plants may make people smarter by allowing them to stay alert and reducing mental fatigue.”

So which plants should you think about adding to your apartment? There’s an almost limitless list of houseplants out there for you to choose from, but The Greatist’s top nine listing we linked to above is a good place to start. Those plants, in addition to providing some great air, are also rather hearty, so if your busy lifestyle causes you to neglect them for a day or two, they won’t suddenly up and die on you. If you want to go above and beyond, however, you can also consult the list of NASA-approved air-filtering plants, from the Clean Air Study:

• Dwarf Date Palm
• Boston Fern
• Kimberly Queen Fern
• Spider Plant
• Chinese Evergreen
• Bamboo Palm
• Weeping Fig
• Devil’s Ivy
• Flamingo Lily
• Lilyturf
• Broadleaf Lady Palm
• Barberton Daisy
• Cornstalk Dracaena
• English Ivy
• Varigated Snake Plant
• Red-Edged Dracaena
• Peace Lily
• Florist’s Chrysanthemum

These plants are among the best at filtering harmful chemicals from the air, and will go a long way towards helping you get that fresh, spring apartment scent you’ve always dreamed of.

Next Up: Stock Solutions

If you’re looking to add an extra hint of scent to the indoors, you might next want to turn to a few tailor-made, modern solutions designed for precisely this scenario. Fresh candles, for instance, are a popular and natural way to get the air smelling great, and the outstanding variety that exists gives you plenty of room to experiment with different aromas for a mix of floral, fruity, woodland, and other scents.

Similarly, you can use products like essential oil diffusers to supply those critical spring smells where you need them most. Just a bit of lemon, peppermint, lavender, etc. in a few strategic locations, and your apartment will soon possess that calming atmosphere you desire.

If you’re looking for a remedy that’s a bit more hands-on, though, you’ll want to turn to more of a DIY solution. There are many to choose from, and we’ll be providing a few key tips for you in the next section.

The Alternative: DIY Solutions

For a homey touch, you’ll want to try some scent solutions you can prepare by hand, starting with some genuine, homemade incense. How, you might ask? Start by gathering up some of your favorite herbs and flowers (varieties like sage, rosemary, and lavender are perfect for this). Bind them together with a natural string (cotton works), then hang them up outdoors, giving them about a week to dry. Once they’re ready, set them up where you want to burn them, and let those natural aromas take hold. It’s a more wholesome (and less harsh) alternative to the overpowering types of incense you’d get from the store.

You can get even more use out of dried flowers by crafting your own homemade potpourri bowls. Gather up those old flower petals (the stronger the scents, the better), then put them on a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper. Mix in some citrus fruits and spices to your mix to enhance the aroma, along with some essential oils (just mix the oils with water from a spray bottle and have at it). Heat your oven to about 200⁰ F, then pop your mixture in for about two hours (you want the petals brittle, but not to the point of burning. Remove your potpourri mixture from the oven, hit it with a few more sprays of your essential oils, then throw it in a bowl and place it somewhere central in your home.

Last up, you can try placing some DIY dried flower sachets in your closets to keep them from getting musty. Procure the flowers you want, wash them off, then remove the bits you want to include in the mixture. Heat the oven, then place them inside until they’re dried out. You can buy sachets to place the flowers in (there are all kinds of mesh-like bags that will do the trick), or, if you have some skill with the sewing machine, you can stitch together something small and pretty, then place your dried flowers inside. Either way, these are handy, portable solutions for adding those spring scents to hard-to-reach areas in your home.

These Apartments in LA Are Prime for Those Fresh Scents

Those fresh spring scents will provide even more joy in a well-designed apartment space to complement them. Communities like The Madrid are the perfect spot, designed like a luxury paradise where anything less than fresh would be unimaginable. Take the tour, then reach out to learn how you can make one of these splendid apartments your new LA home.