Monday, September 11, 2006

Lavender Cleaning Recipes

Ben and I visited his brother Jason's house over the weekend, and Jason's wife, Angie, is a phenomenal house keeper. She is also a wonderful mother to her sweet one year old, Lucas (and she is due to have another baby boy in Feb! I can't wait!). Angie has inspired me in so many ways, but most recently I was inspired when I walked into her house. First of all, everything was in order and very clean (as it always is). Second, it smelled good! I may be weird, but I think there is something HUGE about having your home smell nice. Anyone else think so? Have you ever walked by a Bath & Body Works store and the wafting smells of lavender and cinnamon sucked you right into the store? Well, Jason & Angie's house has a similar effect—it draws you in!


Everyone's house has a distinct smell, but the funny thing is, we get so accustomed to our own home smell that we don't really smell what it truly smells like? Get my drift? :) I vividly remember the smell of my Grandma Berge's house—a mixture of baking bread and engines (my Grandpa Berge was a welder and built hot-air engines so his hands and clothes were always covered in machinery oil). I still love the smell of Grandma's house! So my point of this post is this: I want my house to smell beautiful and welcoming! What are my options?

1. A clean house is the first step.
2. Burn candles (I'm a candle lover, but they can get expensive)
3. Buy air fresheners and scatter them throughout the house (could get rather spendy!)
4. Make my own home scents!

I happened to come across a few recipes for homemade Lavender Home Scents! If you have or know of any other recipes, I would love to try them!


Lavender Carpet Deodorizer:

2 cups Borax

25 drops pure lavender essential oil

Combine making sure the drops of oil are crushed well andevenly distributed in the borax. To apply it to the carpet or rug, try shaking it off of a large spoon or out of a large can with a shaker lid. An old powder bottle would also work well. I usually apply to our carpets and go about other chores and then come back and vacuum.

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Lavender Air Freshener

16 ounces water in spray bottle

20-30 drops essential oil

Spray this throughout our home: on curtains, rug, furniture, bedding, in the car….anywhere!! REMEMBER TO SHAKE IT UP BEFORE USING TO MIX THE OIL AND WATER.

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Lavender Household Cleaner

1 cup water

1 cup vinegar

10-20 drops essential oil (use your nose)

Combine and store in a mister. For tough stains,l warm up the solution in the microwave. As with the air freshener give the bottle a good shake prior to using to mix all ingredients.

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Lavender Floor Cleaner

1 cup white vinegar
1 gallon warm water
10 drops lavender essential oil

For further reading check out The Essential Oils Book by Colleen Dodt

1 comment:

Mags said...

THANK YOU for showing me how to make my own scents! I have a freakishly sensitive nose and am always "sniffing" around! I'm so excited to try them out! God bless...