How can I get that eucalyptus room fragrance in my home?

January 31, 2018 1:31 PM

I have gone to some upscale furniture stores and love that eucalyptus smell they must use. It is not a medicine-like eucalyptus smell, but more of a (musk?) almost musty scent.

There are room sprays calling themselves eucalyptus, but they always add other scents like mint, etc., which I don't want.

I bought some bottles of eucalyptus oil, "therapeutic strength" and tried dabbing it around to know help. The only way I have achieved the right scent is by purchasing eucalyptus leaves from a flower shop, but that is expensive and wears off quick. I get the feeling commercial places know how to achieve this economically. Is there a way to make my rooms smell like that?

posted by nogero to Home & Garden (16 answers total)

Have you tried putting the oil on the light bulbs in your house (Just a drop/dab on the top of the bulb in a lamp)?
posted by KleenexMakesaVeryGoodHat at 1:34 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Diffusers, maybe? If you can get high-quality eucalyptus essential oils and put a few drops in a diffuser it may work. You may need more than one to make your entire house smell fragrant.

(I am not an essential oil peddler by any means, but someone who is gifted me a diffuser with some lavender essential oil and it worked to give off a very natural lavender scent in my bedroom.)

Also, I know someone who'd put a few drops in a bottle of very dilute alcohol and spray her curtains/ blinds with it. Not sure how successful that was.
posted by Everydayville at 1:38 PM on January 31, 2018

More wood aromas. Furniture stores are full of relatively fresh pine, oak, and many other types of wood. Go to Lowes and you can smell pine. LLBean and other places sell balsam pillows, literally a small pillow filled with balsam pine needles. You can buy cedar oil, which smells great, is used to make dog beds smell less doggy, and repels moths. And maybe add a sandalwood candle; I was given one and it's a deep scent that I like a lot.
posted by theora55 at 1:40 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

I use this for exactly the same sort of thing (but with a mix of fennel and orange oil, or sometimes cedarwood oil), and it works like a charm. Have had mine for two years and use it every day. The trick is really going to be finding the oil that hits the spot for you, because a diffuser will do it in terms of getting that smell out there.
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 1:42 PM on January 31, 2018 [2 favorites]

I know the scent you're talking about and I think it's similar to (if not exactly) this one: Thymes Eucalyptus. I really, really like this scent. In addition to eucalyptus, it has woody notes of petitgrain and fir and some bergamot.

There are a few home scent options on that page: candle, reed diffuser, home fragrance spray. They're not inexpensive, but in my experience Thymes stuff is good quality and long lasting. You'd probably get the most bang for your buck from the reed diffuser.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 2:14 PM on January 31, 2018 [9 favorites]

Came here to say that you should try the Thymes Eucalyptus diffuser.
posted by RedOrGreen at 2:20 PM on January 31, 2018

You could always just ask the store in question. Some retail stores do have a built-in air-scenter system (at least, the pet store I worked at had one), and even if not, the staff would probably be happy to show off whatever scenter they are using. But I would wager that it's actually just the smell of wood/varnish that you're smelling.

You might also try blending something from Demeter fragrance-- they don't seem to have eucalyptus, oddly, but, for example, their "Mildew" (i know, right?) fragrance is eucalyptus-y, some say.
posted by The otter lady at 2:21 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Get a Mefite from CA or other areas where eucalypts are plentiful to mail you a few pounds of leaves. They literally fall from the sky for much of the year for many people, if you only want the smell and not the look, no need to order artful dyed sprigs from a florist.
posted by SaltySalticid at 2:44 PM on January 31, 2018

You can buy bundles of fresh eucalyptus from places like Trader Joe's for cheap (much cheaper than a flower shop). I like putting it in flower arrangements, but when the flowers start to go, I put the eucalyptus in a simmer pot on the stove, which seems to disseminate the smell better than an arrangement does. You can experiment with putting other ingredients in.

(I'm sort of simmer pot-obsessed and have used--with or without the eucalyptus--various combinations of lemon, pear, apple, orange peels, cranberries, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla, ginger, brown sugar, maple syrup, rose petals, rosemary, thyme, Christmas tree clippings....I could go on but you get the idea. It's cheap and as long as you top off the water and bring to a boil every couple of days, you can get quite a bit of mileage out of it!)
posted by lovableiago at 3:04 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

This has been my quest for the past decade (although not eucalyptus, specifically).

I would say skip the candles, skip incense, skip the essential oil water diffusers--they smell good in the moment but do not have the furniture store effect you long for. The closest I have come to success after many many efforts is making my own Fancy Modern Potpourri (based on this expensive heavenly stuff I refuse to let myself buy) with lava rocks soaked in a DIY essential oil mixture (for you, maybe eucalyptus, cedar, sandalwood?), scattered around the house on saucers tucked behind picture frames/the tv/in potted plants. Inexpensive and you can re-soak when it starts to wear off.
posted by stellaluna at 3:13 PM on January 31, 2018 [3 favorites]

Cypress, or maybe tea tree. I have the Muji Japanese Cypress essential oil and to me that smells very fresh and clean yet woodsy and very much like "eucalyptus but not medicinal and musky" aspect. If that's not quite it I'd experiment with combinations of any of the wood based things mentioned above (pine, cypress, cedar, tea tree, eucalyptus...). Cedar smells very musky to me, more smoky and earthy than "clean".
posted by jrobin276 at 3:25 PM on January 31, 2018 [1 favorite]

Genuine cork bark has a very musky, sandalwood type aroma that mixes well with eucalyptus. Try some essential oil on a sheet of bark for a long lasting, deeply pleasing combination. Also remember that your nose gets " fatigued" from eucalyptus so that you may only notice it when you first walk in, but guests will likely notice it every time they're there.
posted by halfbuckaroo at 4:16 PM on January 31, 2018

Eucalyptus leaves smell really good when you burn them. (I discovered this when an oldish flower arrangement and a candle got too close together.) If you get the branches from a florist and let them dry out, there isn't so much smoke.

Obviously use caution; use an ashtray in a bowl of sand or on a stone or tiled board; only burn a few leaves at a time; and be aware of smoke detectors.
posted by Pallas Athena at 4:21 PM on January 31, 2018

Are you positive it’s eucalyptus? I only ask because Pinterest is chock full of pins about how to “Make your house smell like Pottery Barn or Williams Sonoma”, and they all say to simmer lemon slices, rosemary sprigs, and vanilla in a pot of water on your stove.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:10 AM on February 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

If you go the diffuser route with the essential oils and you have pets, use caution as these can be extremely harmful to them.
posted by poppunkcat at 6:12 AM on February 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Here in Australia, people use eucalyptus oil as a cleaner. I use a teaspoon in a bucket of warm water to mop the floors. At first it gives off that medicinal scent you refer to, but that dissipates fairly quickly, leaving the more woody eucalyptus scent behind. It doesn't last for ages, but it's very pleasant for a while.
posted by amusebuche at 5:19 PM on February 3, 2018