How to Make Your Room Smell Fresh in 10 Easy Steps.

So while you certainly want to take action to make your room smell great, it’s important that you consider that the source of the smell is the real problem to address, if you want to protect your health.

1. Identify the odor

When you notice that your room smells unpleasant, you may be tempted to mask the odor with a candle or air freshener. However, that’s a short-term solution, and it won’t be effective for very long. It also may affect your health. In fact, when you use commercial air fresheners, you may release harmful VOCs into the air of your home.

At the end of the day, a bad smell will overpower any attempts at covering it up. The first step to making your room smell fresh is to identify the source of the odor and remove it.

Take some time to thoroughly inspect your room for any mold, mildew, water leaks, condensation, or moisture. You’ll want to take special care to look in dark, damp places for mold and mildew — this is where they thrive.

To get you started, here are some key places to check for mold and mildew in your room:

• Air conditioning and heating vents
• Laundry baskets
• Any upholstery, including furniture and curtains
• Potted plants
• Windowsills
• Carpeting
• Behind and under any furniture that isn’t moved often, like dressers or your bed

If you have an adjacent bathroom, you’ll want to check for mold or mildew growth:

• On, under, and around the sink and toilet
• In the shower and bathtub
• On the shower curtain and liner
• On the walls and the floor

If you find any obvious sources of mold or mildew, you’ll want to clean those up right away. It’s also important to take note of — and repair — any water leaks or areas of your room where condensation or moisture is gathering. Even if there’s no mold or mildew yet, damp areas are the perfect host for them.

2. Dust your room from top to bottom

The next step in making your room smell fresh is dusting. Dust is a combination of both indoor and outdoor particles — from dead skin and pollen to pet dander and insect droppings. It can occur naturally inside your home and also be brought in from the outside. While dust itself may not seem like a big deal, the different components of dust may cause allergy symptoms.

Even if you’re not allergic, dusting should be a top priority. Not only will keeping your room free of dust help you breathe a little easier, but it will also help keep the particles found in dust from making your room smell musty.

You probably know to dust the obvious places like tables and shelves but don’t forget the blinds, ceiling fans, and light fixtures; the tops of doors and windows, and upholstery; and on and around electronics, baseboards, and carpeting. Some additional things to keep in mind as you dust your room (or anywhere else in your home) include:

• Dust top to bottom — If you clean from the bottom up, dust will settle back onto surfaces you’ve already cleaned.
• Use a damp cloth to dust hard surfaces — Doing this will help prevent the dust from being stirred up into the air.
• Wear a face mask— All that dust is bound to end up in the air (if you don’t use a damp cloth, that is) and a face mask can offer some protection.

3. Clean your floors

Now that you’ve finished dusting, it’s time to move on to cleaning the floors. Floors are a catch-all for everything that happens in your room. They collect dust, spills, crumbs, and, if you have pets, their accidents.

For hardwood floors

If you have hardwood floors in your bedroom, clean up should be pretty easy. It’s best to use a damp mop for this. Sweeping or using a dry mop will just stir dust and other particles back up into the air, making it hard to get a deep clean.

For a carpeted bedroom

If your room is carpeted, you may have a bit more work to do but, rest assured, your room will smell better when you’re done. To get a deep clean on your carpeted floors:

• Locate any spots that smell particularly bad. Maybe your pet had an accident that soaked into the carpeting, or a water spill made the carpet damp and caused mildew.
• Sprinkle baking soda across the affected spot on the carpet. If possible, let sit overnight or, better yet, for two days. This will allow the baking soda to absorb the odor.
• Vacuum the baking soda out of the carpet. That should get rid of any mild odors. If that doesn’t work, treat the area with a mixture of white vinegar and water — the acid in the vinegar will break through bacteria in the carpet.
• Thoroughly vacuum the entire carpet. You can sprinkle baking soda on your entire carpet before you vacuum, as an extra measure.

No matter which type of flooring you have in your bedroom, don’t forget to clean those hard-to-reach areas like underneath large furniture or in the back of your closet.

4. Open your windows

Inside your home, there is a plethora of pollutants, all confined in a relatively small area. Despite what many people think, the air from outside can be a lot healthier than the air inside your home — even when you consider outdoor pollutants like pollen and smog.

Opening your windows allows fresh air to break up any stagnant air that’s trapping unpleasant odors in your bedroom. If you’re allergic to pollen or live in an area with high levels of smog, you’ll want to check the day’s air quality report before you open your windows to let the breeze in.

5. Bathe your pets

If you have furry friends at home, you understand the woes of pet hair everywhere. To keep your pets from contributing (even more) to the smell of your room, bathe them regularly.

6. Wash your sheets and laundry

You spend a lot of time on your bedsheets, and it is always a good idea to wash your sheets at least once a week.

While you are at it, make sure you are emptying your laundry hamper regularly. The gases released by bacteria break down the oil and sweat left behind on your clothes, causing them to emit unpleasant odors. To keep this problem at bay, never put excessively sweaty clothes in your laundry basket. Instead, wash them right away.

7. Clean all upholstery

Just like your sheets and your dirty laundry, any kind of upholstery is a magnet for dust, dust mites, and other indoor pollutants. Here are some good tips for keeping the fabric in your room clean and smell-free:

• Wash your curtains
• Use a white vinegar and water treatment to remove any spot smells on couches or other upholstered furniture
• Vacuum upholstered furniture to remove any built-up dust and dirt
• For specialty or antique items, consider hiring a specialist to clean them

You don’t need to clean them every week; a good deep clean once a month should be just fine.

8. Turn on a dehumidifier

As we talked about earlier, moisture can be a big problem when you’re trying to get your room to smell great. Moist air and damp surfaces are prime territories for mold and mildew. Depending on the climate in your region, you may have trouble keeping your home from getting too humid. Because humid air can trap pollutants and foul odors, consider investing in a dehumidifier.

This will help pull the moisture out of the air in your room, making it less hospitable to mold and mildew. You’ll also notice that your room feels less stuffy — an important part of making your room smell great.

9. Use an indoor air purifier

Indoor air purifiers work to trap and destroy pollutants found around your home. By eliminating indoor air pollutants, you are effectively removing some of the sources of foul smells. When looking for an indoor air purifier, it is smart to choose one that breaks down allergens and pollutants like mold spores and airborne chemicals. Those that simply trap them can then release them right back out into the air of your room.

10. Use an odor absorber

Last but certainly not least, use a natural odor absorber like baking soda to trap any lingering odors in your room. Since odor absorbers are soaking up the air particles that cause bad smells, you will need to replace them often.