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Decorating Your Home with Air Fragrances

People all over the world have valued fragrance from the beginning of time as a way to worship, to heal the sick, to calm nerves, to attract a mate, and to create a restful space to call home. Traditionally, various parts of plants, including fruits, berries, flowers, leaves, bark, resins or sap, and the woods themselves have been the source of these relaxing fragrances. Beds were made of fresh straw, pine needles, or the fragrant leaves and flowers of lavender to create a pleasant home fragrance. Rose or apple blossoms were crushed and mixed with water or carrier oils like olive or sesame to perfume the body during or after a bath, or for a ceremony.

People eventually discovered how to distill and store the essential oils of these special plants. These distillations were stored for their medicinal properties, or mixed with other ingredients to produce incense and perfume. These oils and perfumes were symbols of riches, and were traded throughout the world, along with spices, gold, and jewels. To have perfumed living space or to wear perfume was a status symbol, indicating great wealth and prestige. To impress their visitors, homeowners scattered bowls of fresh blossoms, and potpourri, or burned incense around their house as early forms of air fragrances.

In many ancient cultures, medical and religious practices included burning incense or using other perfumed products. Some fragrances relaxed or lifted the mood or relieved headaches, while others induced trances which produced prophetic dreams. Fragrant oils relieved the pain of arthritis or soothed sore muscles. Other plants were burned to produce fragrant smoke for the relief of fevers or congestion. Burning incense in a temple was, and still is, an offering to the gods.

Over time and experience, people linked each plant to unique benefits. For instance, the lavender plant was highly valued as a restful fragrance. Housewives washed their bed linens in lavender water and made sachets of lavender blossoms to put between their sheets and folded bedding and clothing. A lavender home fragrance indicated a fresh, clean, well-run house – a house that was inviting as a place to relax and unwind after a long day.

Lavender also was valued as an insect repellant and germicide. In fact, during the Great Plague of London, the grave-robbers traditionally bathed in Four Thieves Vinegar, a special mixture containing lavender, to protect against catching the plague. Few of them caught the illness, not because of the magical properties of the special water, but probably because the lavender repelled the fleas that carried the plague germs.

The scent of lavender was also considered to be an aphrodisiac. An old wives tale states that a married couple who keeps sprigs of lavender between their sheets will never quarrel. Another folk tale states that a maiden who sleeps on a sprig of lavender will dream of her true love. Obviously, lavender would be one of the ideal air fragrances for the master bedroom!

Today’s homemaker knows that people enjoy spending time in a home with an inviting fragrance. A clean, fresh, pleasant smell reflects a clean, healthy environment for living. While a good housewife knows that the best way to have a clean-smelling house is to have a clean house, a carefully selected air fragrance can add the perfect touch.

Using a home fragrance or a home cleaning product that stimulates the mood, such as orange or other fruit scent (Stanley’s Ruby Raspberry Hand Soap) or spice (Legend of Love Cologne Spray), would be ideal for preparing for a party, while choosing a restful fragrance, like lavender or vanilla, would be perfect for low-key evenings at home. It is even possible now to change your home’s scent with the seasons by using pine or fir (Stanwick Pine Room Deodorizer) scents in winter, peach or apple blossom scents in the spring (Stanley Apple Blossom Hand Soap) sea breeze, lilac, or rainforest scents in the summer, and cranberry or mulberry scents in the fall (Stanley’s Bayberry Home Scents Air Freshener).

Air fragrances are now available in many different forms and scents, allowing the homemaker to change the mood of her home like she would choose a color of lipstick according to what she is wearing. There are convenient sprays (Stanley’s Bayberry HomeScents Air Freshener), scented candles, sachets, incense, fragrant gels, solids, and liquids(Stanwick Pine Room Deodorizer). One secret to being known for having a well-kept home is using the many products available on the market today to create a home with a relaxing fragrance.

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