How to Make Your Home Smell Like Summer − 7 Ways to Welcome the Sunshine Season Inside
Fill your home with fresh air and fragrant flowers
Summer is my favorite time of year. Between slower mornings and sun that stretches late into the night, there's something about the sunshine that invites a more laid-back, relaxed pace of life.
With the warmer weather, I always switch my home fragrancing to match − throwing open my windows whenever I can, swapping springy florals for easy, breezy citrus and herbaceous scents, and filling my space with fresh blooms to add color, character, and light seasonal notes.
From the best home fragrance picks to bringing the outside in, these are the simple ways I recommend to make your home smell like summer.
'Summer has a scent and bottling that feeling holistically can support your mood, mindset, and mental health,' says Jennifer Pressimone, internationally recognized Clinical Aromatherapy Expert, and CEO at JennScents. 'Summer scenting not only makes your home smell nice, but it also helps you to slow down and breathe deeper. This helps your nervous system unwind, get refreshed, and rejuvenated, so you feel less overwhelmed and stressed.'
Here's exactly how:
1. Open Your Windows
Opening your windows allows fresh air to circulate.
Few things are as effective when it comes to freshening your space as opening your windows early in the morning or after sunset, which also has the added benefit of cooling your home in summer. It's a simple, quick step that allows the outside in, and, as Adriana Green Thompson, Fragrance Expert and Founder of ESTELÍ, a natural fragrance brand, explains, 'It’s one of the most effective scenting tools we have.
'It clears out stale indoor air and brings in the natural smell of the season: Grass, rain, flowers, warm earth, or salt air if you live near the coast. Even ten minutes of cross-breeze can reset the atmosphere of a home before you add any fragrance.'
Speaking of fragrance, this trick also pairs perfectly with your best reed diffusers − my favorite is Diptyque's Roses reed diffuser.
'A simple summer scent hack is to place a diffuser near an open window and let the breeze carry the scent throughout the home,' shares Jennifer. 'Fresh air activates the olfactory system, which is the part of your brain directly connected to emotions and memories.
'That's why a breeze instantly feels like summer and makes you feel relaxed. Not to mention it can cool off hot flashes. You also can sit a bowl of scented salts or scented pine cones in front of an open window, making the scent feel organic and natural.'
2. Use Linen Sprays on Fabrics
Spritz your soft furnishings this summer.
Once your windows are open, why not try making your own DIY linen spray?
'Linen sprays work well in summer because fragrance settles gently into bedding, curtains, and upholstery,' says Karen Arcilla, Founder of Set Forth NY. 'That softer layer of scent feels cleaner and more natural than trying to overwhelm the whole room.'
All you need to add a personalized scent to your upholstery is your favorite essential oil, baking soda, a spray bottle available at Walmart, Polysorbate 20 (for emulsification), and lavender essential oil.
Alternatively, the MRS. MEYER'S CLEAN DAY Fabric Freshener, available at Amazon, is made with essential oils and without bleach, cyclodextrin, dyes, parabens, and formaldehyde.
3. Make a Summer Simmer Pot
Warming a simmer pot will banish bad kitchen smells and let the fragrant notes drift through your home.
Summer simmer pot recipes naturally fill your home with scent, with virtually no effort required.
'Add citrus slices, fresh mint, rosemary, and a few drops of your favorite essential oil,' says Jennifer. This Essential Oil Blend Scent Discovery Set from NEOM includes six scents to try, from freshly cut lavender to fully-opened jasmine blossoms.
'Let this simmer as the fragrant water releases a sense of comfort, relaxation, peace, and warmth throughout the home.'
4. Create Scent Zones
Scent zones mean no two rooms smell the same.
'I’d also suggest creating scent zones instead of making the whole house smell the same,' adds Adriana. 'A clean herbal note works well in the kitchen, something soft and floral in the bedroom, and a brighter scent near the entryway.
'This feels much more natural, almost like moving through a garden, rather than walking into a home that has been sprayed all at once.'
Fragrance layering is also an easy way to create your home's own signature scent. Try burning your best candle in one room (the Malin+Goetz tomato candle is perfect for summer), and add a mist of homemade room spray in the next.
5. Fill Your Home With Fresh Flowers and Herbs
Decorating with flowers lifts your space while adding a pop of elegant color.
Nothing says summer like flower arranging and a vase filled to bursting with fresh blooms.
'Fresh flowers and herbs are another beautiful way to scent a home seasonally,' shares Adriana. 'Gardenia, jasmine, roses, lavender, basil, mint, rosemary, and eucalyptus all bring a living quality that is hard to recreate synthetically.'
And, while it might sound a little more unusual, don't forget about using aromatic herbs, too.
'Herbs are especially useful in the kitchen because they smell clean and green without competing with food,' she continues. 'A small vase of basil or mint can make a kitchen feel summery in a very understated way.'
I like this pretty Distressed Rose + Vine Terracotta Vase, available at Anthropologie, which is intentionally distressed with a subtly sheeny, iridescent finish.
6. Scent After Cleaning, Not Before
Make sure to prioritize cleaning before fragrancing your space.
It can be easy to think fragrancing and cleaning go hand in hand − I often light a candle while cleaning the bathroom or dusting my open shelves using my Joseph Joseph CleanTech Cleaning Set, available at Amazon. But, warns Adriana, fragrance should enhance freshness, not cover odors.
'In summer, homes can hold onto humidity, cooking smells, laundry odors, and pet smells more easily, so I like to clean first, then add a botanical mist, diffuser, or fresh herbs as the finishing layer,' she explains.
7. Make Summer Refresh Smelling Salts
Use decorative bowls to make your smelling salts a seamless part of your decor.
Finally, suggests Jennifer, make summer smelling salts, using four ounces of Epsom salt, available at Walmart, in a jar or bowl, with six drops of eucalyptus oil, four drops of lavender oil, two drops of sage oil, and three drops of lemon oil.
'This works beautifully on a kitchen counter, bathroom shelf, or coffee table (don’t let the kids or pets eat it),' she advises. 'Eucalyptus opens deeper breathing, lavender relaxes the body, sage cleanses stress, and lemon refreshes the mind,' and helps to instantly boost focus.
What to Shop
If you feel inspired by any of these ideas for making your home smell like summer, I've curated a selection of six essentials to shop below, from reed diffusers to a beautiful copper pot, perfect for creating your own summer simmer pot.
All prices were correct at the time of publication.
Combining fragrant herbs and diffusers in one vessel, this Wild Mint & Eucalyptus Reed Diffuser offers a steady, refreshing aroma, and makes your home smell nice without burning candles.
This linen spray is botanically formulated to freshen your clothing, laundry, and linens, with a plant-based, vegan, and cruelty-free mix of natural ingredients. It can be used both at home and on the go.
This saucepan turns your summer simmer pot into a stylish statement. The copper construction provides excellent heat conductivity and temperature control, allowing scent to fill your space without boiling or burning.
This stunning glass, decorated with vertical iron stripes, makes it easier than ever to create summer table centerpieces to pair beautifully with your summer decor ideas.
With notes of sea salt, tropical fruit, and vanilla, this candle is perfect for summer, with a vessel that oozes the charm of the season. As it's ceramic, it's the perfect candle jar to reuse around your house.
This pretty salt cellar is perfect for mixing up your own smelling salts. It's 100 percent hand-painted and glazed stoneware, and also comes with a matching spoon.
Meet the Experts
Jennifer is an internationally recognized Clinical Aromatherapy Expert, Author, Formulator, and CEO at JennScents and Aromaversity. She has been providing holistic health and scent therapy solutions for over two decades, helping people improve physical, mental, and emotional well-being. She is also the author of JennScents Holistic Aromatherapy Comprehensive Guide, Aromatherapy for Brain Health, and numerous other books, a keynote and motivational speaker at health conferences, and the 2023 recipient of the National Association of Holistic Aromatherapy Lifetime Achievement Leadership award. Jennifer has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and numerous holistic health and aromatherapy certifications.
Adriana is the Founder of ESTELÍ, a botanical body and natural fragrance brand founded in Oakland in 2016 and now based in Norfolk, Virginia. Her work focuses on natural aromatics, small-batch formulation, essential oils, hydrosols, botanical mists, and plant-based sensory rituals. ESTELÍ creates botanical body oils, mists, aromatherapy products, and natural perfumes inspired by warm climates, coastal landscapes, and the connection between scent, memory, and atmosphere.
Karen is the Founder of Set Forth NY, a candle line based in Westchester, New York. Her work explores how scent and ritual shape the feeling of a space, especially in the small daily moments that make a home feel calm, personal, and lived in.
This hidden fragrance hack subtly scents living rooms and barely costs a dime.
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