Stylish, seasonal scents for your kitchen - and some tips on banishing the less pleasant ones!
When it comes to creating a wonderful festive ambience in your home at Christmas, there are all sorts of sweetly scented solutions…
To start things off it’s worth identifying (and eliminating) any less than fresh-as-a-daisy aromas which could be lurking. Your kitchen in particular can be responsible for all kinds of whiffs and if you’re planning having the family round to sip mulled wine and devour mince pies around the kitchen table, it might be a good idea to start there.
#1. If your kitchen bin is sometimes not terribly fragrant, popping a couple of tumble dryer sheets in, between the bag and the bin can really help freshen things up.
#2. If you have a cat litter tray in the kitchen, dry green tea leaves sprinkled in can make it smell much improved.
#3. Half a cup of apple cider vinegar poured down the kitchen sink can eradicate drain smells and help disperse gunk. Popping a few lemon segments down the waste disposal can freshen that up too.
#4. If the families’ trainers are always lurking at the kitchen doorway, and they’re a little bit stinky, sprinkling a little bit of bicarbonate of soda inside them overnight, and shake out outside. That should improve them no end.
#5. The kitchen extractor fan can often be the source of smells so if you can manage it, a quick clean out before Christmas will help banish pongs and ensure it works as efficiently as possible throughout the festive period.
So once any lingering kitchen odours are eradicated, you can start bringing some spectacular seasonal scents into your kitchen.
The classic solution is a beautiful bunch of winter blooms, displayed in a gorgeous vase on the kitchen island. A wonderful focal point and natural source of scent for a good week - don’t forget to change the water every couple of days to keep the flowers fresh and smelling lovely. You could treat yourself to a bought bunch (we love local florist BlackBarn Floristry) or if you’re green fingered you may be lucky enough to still have fragrant winter roses, have thought ahead and have hyacinth bulbs about to bloom or have aromatic herbs like rosemary and sage in the garden that you could cut and display.
Image: BlackBarn Floristry @from_susiek
There are plenty of house plants that you can add into your kitchen decor to bring fragrance as well as a little botanical style.
Geraniums and jasmines are lovely looking but also pretty robust so even if you’re not much of a gardener, you should be able to keep them going (and fragrancing your kitchen space).
Favourite of eighties homes, pot pourri is making a bit of a comeback for home improvement.
A great natural solution for making your kitchen smell lovely, you can buy all sorts of different exotic scents, or make your own by collecting a pile of pine cones and adding a little essential oil. Other diy alternatives are dried citrus slices (just pop some on a baking tray and bake in a low oven for a couple of hours), dried rose heads and rose petals (hang roses upside down in an airing cupboard for a week or two and then sprinkle liberally into a bowl or basket) or go for a classic basket of dried lavender heads.
Or how about creating a simmering water room scent? - The perfect way to create a festive aroma in your kitchen over Christmas.
It’s super simple - just bring a pan of water to the boil on your hob, add a selection of gorgeous smelling ingredients, turn the pot down to a simmer and let the fragrance spread around. For a Christmassy scent combine oranges, cinnamon and cloves (or better still, go the whole hog and make a vat of mulled wine). For a fresh citrus scent combine lemon, rosemary and vanilla extract and simmer gently.
If you’d like the hub of your home to smell gorgeous, but you haven’t got much time or green fingers, how about opting for a few items from the rather fabulous Seven Seventeen collection (available now from the Blackbrook Kitchen showroom).
Not only do we have classic candles in delicious fragrances like black pomegranate and amber & vanilla, there are also some beautiful reed diffusers, perfect for kitchens and cloakrooms, and wonderful lavender or rose room mists (ideal if you just need a quick spritz before someone pops in).
One of our absolute favourites is the lovely ‘Sparkle’ candle which is Christmas in a jar - so why not call in to the Blackbrook Kitchens showroom and grab one as a gift for yourself? You deserve a lovely smelling kitchen after all… especially if you’re going to spend a lot of time over Christmas in there slaving over the cooker!