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A while back, I saw a so-called hack on social media for making your home smell nice that was, simply put, terrible advice. It involved putting essential oils in your vacuum, which you should never do. I recommended a few other home-scenting tips instead, but all of those focused on neutralizing odors, not introducing new, pleasant ones. Not long after, however, social media delivered me a new suggestion for making any room smell nice—and this one won’t damage vacuums (or anything else). It involves hiding little extract-scented pads around your home.
First of all, the video I saw was this one, from Kelly the Cleaning Girl, a TikTokker who loves to clean and wear pink. I trusted her instantly when she said that dabbing some extract on a furniture pad and hiding it in your house will make the place smell nice, but I still had some concerns and wanted to test it out.
My first concern was, “What is a furniture pad?” I went to Target, where I found Scotch felt pads, which I realized have adhesive backing and are meant to be stuck under chair legs to stop them from scratching hardwood flooring. (I have rugs; I didn’t know!) The ones I got aren’t on Target’s site, but they’re comparable to this 32-pack for $4.04.
My second concern was, “Won’t extract attract bugs?” I checked with Lifehacker’s baking guru, Allie Reinmann, and she said that while extracts are used in food, they themselves have too much alcohol to be considered foodstuffs. They have, she said, “no sugar or anything for bacteria to grow,” so I was sold. She did wonder about how long the smell would last, since the extract would likely evaporate quickly, but I assured her I would find out. I got regular old McCormick pure vanilla extract ($6.99 for two ounces). Then I got to work.
How to covertly scent your home with furniture pads
I got out a sheet of six pads and set it on the counter. I decided to put a little extract on each pad while they were still affixed to the backing sheet, which turned out to be much cleverer than I realized. The extract came rushing out of the bottle and got all over the sheet, so I had to kind of move it around so it would touch all the pads. Some pads had more extract and others had less. I thought that was a good experiment. I noticed they looked a little shiny, but were pretty quickly absorbing the liquid, so I let them sit for about five minutes so it could all sink in. Then I took one of the lightly dampened pads and stuck it under the countertop.
It smelled nice right away, but I wondered how long it would last. I put the sheet containing the five remaining pads in another room, to see if the smell would be more intense—and long-lasting—in there.
After four hours, I focused and breathed deep. The vanilla smell was definitely evident, but not overpowering. I had to pay attention to sniff it out, as it was more of a subtle addition to the rooms than an overbearing sensory assault.
The nice thing about this method is that these pads are already sticky, so you can hide them anywhere, unlike other kinds of air fresheners. The technique is sustainable, too, since you won’t need to buy new pads very often. Since testing this out with extract, I’ve also tried a few using essential oils, just to mix up my scent selection. As I suspected, the scent was stronger and lasted longer, so if you’re looking for something more heavy-duty, start there.
Other similar scent-boosting ideas
I am a fiend for smells; no one likes to go shopping with me because of how long I will stand in the candle section evaluating scents. I invest heavily in perfume for my body and fragrances for my home, so I have a lot of opinions here. I did love the furniture pad idea because of how easily they tuck away out of sight and how economical the whole exercise is (weeks of scent for under $10!) but when I really want to enhance the olfactory appeal of my place, I call in the big guns.
As much as I love smelling candles in the store, I’ve found that for the scents from them to truly permeate a room, you need to invest in the expensive ones. I have my share of Diptyque and Margiela, but I’m also a freak; I can’t in good conscience recommend that you spend $75 on this mission (although the ever-popular Diptyque Bais candle is on sale for $66.99 on Amazon right now).
My two cheaper go-tos are incense and wall diffusers. No one ever believes me when I say I rely on incense, which is very inexpensive and I can buy from random vendors in the subway station (although you can also find 140 sticks for under $10 online), but I absolutely do. The scent is powerful while the incense is burning, but doesn’t overstay its welcome once it’s done. If you want to keep the party going, burn another stick. This is great if you don’t want to be smelling the same smell all the time, as there are so many (cheap) varieties to switch between, and they have a more powerful effect than a standard candle.
But if you do want to smell the same smell all the time, do I have the thing for you: A Wallflowers diffuser. I was used to the cheaper plug-ins you can find at the dollar store, so I was skeptical of these at first, but they work. The smell goes everywhere, it goes there fast, and it stays there for a long time. I will never stop buying refills for mine. The plug-ins cost between about $6 and $20, come in cute patterns (including nightlights), and can be refilled for about $3.50 with all manner of scent varieties. They’re not as cheap as Glade by any means, but they work better, which matters.
