If famously love goes through the stomach, then personal well-being surely goes through the nose. Many aspects of our daily lives are often determined, quite unconsciously, by the scents that surround us. Even the sense of taste needs support from the nose to function properly.
That's why it's important for us to surround ourselves with scents that make us feel comfortable and secure. The easiest way to achieve the perfect room fragrance is either with an aromatic scented candle, like our favorites from Kringle Candle and Country Candle, or with the classic air freshener.
With our quick and easy DIY tips, you can make your very own air freshener using products from your own kitchen.
Step 1 - The Container
Before you can start mixing your ideal room fragrance, you'll need the right container, of course. A glass container is the classic choice here. We recommend our practical Ball Mason Jars for this purpose. Just like with many commercial air fresheners, you can simply use a nail and hammer to make a few small holes in the lid or leave the jars open.
➡️ Buy Ball Mason Jars & Accessories
Commercial air fresheners adjust the intensity of the scent using the sometimes included scent sticks. These are usually made of bamboo or rattan and release more or less aroma depending on the length and number of sticks used. Instead of the often expensive scent sticks, you can also use alternatives from your kitchen drawer, such as wooden toothpicks or kebab skewers.
For an even better and more uniform scent experience, we recommend our Regular Mouth Ball Mason Jars with the matching air freshener lid. With this combination, you won't need additional sticks or have to modify the lids, and the scent will spread much more evenly throughout the room.
➡️ Buy Ball Mason Jars, Regular Mouth
➡️ Buy Lids with Air Freshener Insert for Ball Mason Jars
Step 2 - The Base
For a round and intense room fragrance, you need the right base. Without the suitable base, the different scent notes won't blend, and the scent won't spread uniformly and persistently throughout the room. For the perfect base of your homemade room fragrance, reach for either your kitchen cabinet or your mini bar.
Vegetable oils are perfect for mixing scent notes. Common cooking and frying oils are ideal bases here as well. Rapeseed or sunflower oil are particularly suitable due to their low inherent odor. Almond oil is also a perfect base for your DIY air freshener, but due to its own aroma, we recommend it more for matching scents and special occasions, such as together with apples, cinnamon, and oranges as an ideal companion during the holiday season.
A particularly healthy alternative to traditional vegetable oils is avocado oil. This superfood from the USA is not only perfect for cooking healthy dishes but also serves as an ideal base for fruity air fresheners. Our recommendation is Napa Valley Avocado Oil by Stonewall Kitchen. With this premium vegetable oil, you can mix your air freshener and then use the rest of the oil to create delicious and healthy Tex-Mex dishes, for example. Avocado oil is also an ideal base for DIY beauty products and is highly recommended for skin and hair care.
In addition to oils, alcohol is particularly suitable as a carrier for intense aromas. Since alcohol evaporates slowly, it allows scents to spread evenly throughout the room. There are many odorless options available at the supermarket or perhaps even in your own mini bar, such as vodka, grain alcohol, or white rum, which distribute the scent ideally without disturbing or overpowering the desired aromas. To help the chosen scent notes blend even better, you can add some glycerin (also called sugar alcohol) to the regular alcohol. While glycerin may not be as well-known as other types of alcohol, you can still easily find it, for example, at the pharmacy.
Step 3 - The Scent
In addition to the base, which ensures a durable and consistent scent experience, you'll, of course, need the appropriate fragrance for your oasis of well-being. The choice of the right scent is entirely up to you and can vary according to the season or mood. Here are some of the most popular and widely used scent notes depending on the desired effect, along with a special bonus - a matching scented candle from Kringle or Country Candle, in case you want to experience the effect in a professional aroma blend before trying it yourself.
Calming and harmonizing scent notes:
• Bergamot (Essentials Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Fir (Candy Cane Cashmere Scented Candle by Country Candle)
• Jasmine (Wisteria Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Chamomile (Christmas Cabin Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Pine (Home for Christmas Scented Candle by Country Candle)
• Lavender (French Lavender Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Orange Blossom (Golden Path Scented Candle by Country Candle)
• Patchouli (Christmas Coal Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Rose (Salt Mist Rose Limited Edition by Country Candle)
• Pine (Winter Evergreen Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
Invigorating and stimulating scent notes:
• Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus Mint Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Mint (Novembrrr Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Orange (Sicilian Orange Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Rosemary (Rosemary Lemon Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Sandalwood (Sandalwood & Cade Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Vanilla (Vanilla Cone Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
• Cedarwood (Fresh Aspen Snow Scented Candle by Country Candle)
• Cinnamon (Cinnamon Buns Scented Candle by Country Candle)
• Lemon (Lemon Lavender Scented Candle by Kringle Candle)
For use in your DIY fragrance dispenser, the easiest choice is essential oils. These oils are usually sold primarily as bath additives and are a popular cornerstone of aromatherapy. Thanks to the internet, you can easily bring a variety of fantastic essential oils home and create your very own scent oases.
Essential oils are purely organic and are blended from various parts of plants such as flowers, leaves, and bark of the respective plant used. Typically, a large number of plants are used for very small quantities of oil, which gives the oils their typical intense fragrance concentration. In addition to the required amount of plants, the production of essential oils is very elaborate. Most oils are obtained through distillation. For this, the plant parts are boiled in steam, which absorbs the contained fragrances. Subsequently, the steam is cooled until it condenses and can be captured in liquid form. Unlike most so-called "oils," essential oils are not fatty but still fat-soluble, which makes them ideal for use with our kitchen plant oils.
Also, no need to worry if the fragrance dispenser (at least alcohol-based) ever breaks or spills, as essential oils, unlike other oils, do not leave grease stains. That's why they are also perfect as additives in soaps and dish detergents. The Hand and Dish Soaps by Stonewall Home Keeping, for instance, owe their particularly intense and soothing aromas to these oils.
➡️ Hand Soaps & Co by Stonewall Kitchen Home Keeping
You can learn more about essential oils in our Blog on the topic.
In addition to essential oils, there is also a simple alternative from the kitchen cupboard or supermarket for aromatic scents. Baking extracts, for example, are often even more concentrated than essential oils, and a few drops, when mixed in plant oils or alcohol, serve the same purpose. If you're a fan of scents like vanilla, lemon, peppermint, or coffee, then instead of essential oils, try a few drops of the aromatic Extracts from Nielsen Massey for particularly delightful scent experiences. Ideal for all amateur bakers (and more).
Step 4 - Mixing
Now that you have all the components of your own room fragrance dispenser ready, all that remains is to find the right mixing ratio. For mixing the contents of a roughly 200 ml container, such as our Ball Jar Regular Mouth (Half Pint, 8 oz), you'll need the following quantities:
➡️ Ball Mason Jar Regular Mouth (Half Pint, 8 oz)
➡️ Lid with Air Freshener Insert for Ball Mason Jars (optional)
• 180 ml plant oil or alternatively 160 ml alcohol + 20 ml glycerin
• Approx. 16 ml (150-300 drops) essential oils or extracts
For larger containers, you can simply adjust the quantities according to the size of the container. And since the intensity of the scent often has a very subjective effect, we recommend starting with a few drops of essential oils and extracts and then adding more according to your desired intensity.
After mixing, simply close the Ball Mason Jar with the Lid with Air Freshener Insert, and you can sit back and welcome a long-lasting, pleasant, and not least, homemade fragrance in your home.
Extra: Making Air Fresheners
While we love certain aromas for cooking, unfortunately, some persistent odors like garlic tend to linger in our homes longer than we'd like. Ventilating helps in such cases, but especially during the cold months, we don't want to constantly open the windows. Allergy sufferers are also happy to be able to observe nature protected from pollen through closed windows. Fortunately, there are simple ways to get rid of unpleasant odors without a lot of ventilation.
Air fresheners, unlike traditional fragrance dispensers, not only provide aromatic scents but also filter unwanted or unpleasant odors from the air. Here, too, you can opt for the often expensive commercial versions, or like us, prefer simple DIY alternatives made from common household ingredients.
Simply fill a Ball Jar or a similar glass container of your choice to about half with baking soda or bicarbonate of soda, e.g., our Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (227 g). Baking soda absorbs bad odors from the surroundings effectively. If you're not a hobby baker, an equivalent amount of laundry detergent or a mixture of water and fabric softener will serve the same function.
➡️ Buy Arm & Hammer Baking Soda (227 g)
And if you want the best of both worlds, you can add fragrance-enhancing ingredients to your air freshener. For the dry versions with baking and laundry detergent, you can use dry options such as dried orange slices, coffee grounds, anise, peppercorns, or lavender flowers. For the water-based version, simply add a few drops of essential oils or extracts of your choice.
