14 DIY Natural Air Freshener Recipes

DIY natural air fresheners, both sprays and other varieties, will keep your house smelling sweet and fresh without introducing and potentially dangerous chemicals into your home.

I used to love the smell of my home after squirting a bit (OK, sometimes a lot) of air freshener spray from an attractive store-bought bottle.

That is, until I took the time to learn more about what is actually in the colorful and enticing bottles I regularly grabbed from store shelves.

What’s On Store-Bought Air Fresheners?

The short answer to that questions would be “fragrance.” Now, that may sound like merely a single innocuous ingredient, but it is far from such a reasonable assumption.

The term “fragrance,” when used in home and body sprays, can actually refer to a combination of more than 3,000 different chemical ingredients manufacturers can deem proprietary information – or trade secrets.

A report by the National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health revealed one third of artificial substances use by the fragrance industry can actually be harmful to human health and generally… toxic.

Styrene, an incredibly common chemical used in air fresheners has been deemed, “reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen,” by the National Academy of Sciences’ Research Council.

Styrene has reportedly been known to trigger respiratory problems, allergies, hormone disruption, and dermatitis.

The DIY Natural Air Fresheners Alternative

Because natural air fresheners do not rely on artificial ingredients to create or sustain a fragrance, the scent will evaporate quicker.

To extend the longevity of natural air fresheners where essential oils are the primary active ingredients, “base” items are used to sustain the scent in the room or on furniture.

I prefer to use glass spray bottles when creating homemade natural air fresheners – basically because I do not like the chemicals used to make plastic finding their way into my home any more than absolutely necessary.

But, you can pick up plastic spray bottles at your local Dollar Tree or similar store for a very low cost, and make batches of air fresheners at once.

Liquid Homemade Air Fresheners

Orange Pomander Orbs Air Freshener

This is not only one of the easiest air freshener to make at home, it’s also one of the most interesting looking.

Some oranges, cloves, cinnamon and some twine are all that you need to make it.

Natural Dry Potpourri

Turn either the wildflowers growing on your homestead, decorative plants you are cultivating, berries, fruits, and herbs into beautifully scented and all-natural potpourri.

Recommended Potpourri Flowers:

• Geraniums
• Calendula
• Honeysuckle
• Yarrow
• Roses
• Lavender
• Daisies
• Rose Hips
• Larkspur
• Peonies
• Bachelor Buttons
• Sage
• Echinops
• Bay Leaves
• Citrus Peels
• Apple Peels
• Berries – raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, elderberries

Directions

1. Dry the flower petals, herbs, citrus peels, or berries in the sun, your dehydrator, or oven on the lowest heat possible – just as you would do to preserve them for eating.
2. Pour your dried natural potpourri ingredients into a non-metallic bowl.
3. Sprinkle in a few natural “fixative” ingredients that tend to hold scent both well and for a long time. Moss, especially the one that grows around the base of oak trees, works great.
4. Add in up to 10 drops per quart of dry potpourri ingredients, of your favorite essential oils. Recommended essential oils: lavender, sage, cinnamon, wisteria, citrus, clove, and eucalyptus.
5. Cover the bowl with firm-fitting lid or tightly tucked cling wrap.
6. Set the bowl aside for 5 to 7 days to allow the ingredients to fully absorb the essential oils.
7. Uncover the bowl briefly on a daily basis to check the scent strength. If not much of a scent is present after day two, consider adding more essential oil before recovering.
8. At the end of one week, place the DIY potpourri in decorative container or little sachets, and place where desired around your home to freshen up the room with a natural fragrance.

Natural Simmering Potpourri

You can instantly bring a robust and pleasing scent to a room with a simmering potpourri.

During the winter I keep a cast iron kettle on our wood stove going all season long with frequently replenished natural ingredients brewing in the tea kettle.

You can also whip up a simmering potpourri on your stovetop and achieve the same successful results.

Ingredients

• Nutmeg
• Cloves
• Cinnamon
• Citrus Peels
• Allspice
• Real Vanilla Extract
• Cedarwood essential oil

Directions

1. Place up to ¼ of a cup of each chosen dry ingredient in a medium pot. Add in up to 10 drops of cedarwood or your favorite essential oils.
2. Pour in only enough water to cover all of the ingredients.
3. Simmer on the lowest setting possible for about one hour.
4. After the hour, stir all of the ingredients, remove any that got mushy during the heating process, then replenish the pot with more natural ingredients.

Natural Diffuser

Make little diffusers all around your home using little glass bottles or bud vases, and either tiny wood dowels or bamboo sticks infused with an essential oil-based mixture. The light and long-lasting scent will help keep the room smelling fresh for hours.

Ingredients

• ¼ of a cup of your favorite carrier oil – jojoba oil, sweet almond oil, argan oil, coconut oil, or safflower oil are recommended.
• Up to 25 drops of your favorite essential oils. Recommended oils include citrus, lavender, honeysuckle, cinnamon, ginger, ylang ylang, camomile, lavender, and eucalyptus.

Directions

1. Place up to 10 tiny wood dowel rods or bamboo skewers into the chosen glass container. The more rods or skewers you use, the more intense the natural scent will become.
2. Pour in the ¼ of a cup of your chosen carrier oil.
3. Add in the up to 25 drops of essential oil.
4. Gently shake the natural diffuser with your hand over the top to mix all of the ingredients together, or use one of the dowel rods or bamboo skewers to stir.
5. In an hour or so the natural fragrance mixture will thoroughly saturate the skewers or rods, and have traveled to the top of them – releasing the refreshing scent into the room.

DIY Natural Wax Melt Air Fresheners

if you don’t want to have to deal with paraffin wax (which is petroleum-based), you can try out our natural wax melts recipe. You will need:

• beeswax pastilles
• coconut oil
• and, of course, essential oils

Get the recipe here.

Wrap-Up

Have a favorite natural air freshener recipe? Share it with the New Life On A Homestead community in the comments section below – we always love hearing from you.

As always, don’t forget to pin this on your Pinterest boards, so you can come back to it when you’re ready to try some of these recipes!