If you’re anything like me and spend way too much time on Pinterest, you’ve probably come across pins telling you how to make your house smell nice, or even the ones that tell you how to make your house smell like a certain store.
I came across one recently that claimed it would make your house smell like a Williams Sonoma store. I’ve never been in a Williams Sonoma store, but I liked the ingredients suggested and figured it would be fun to have a try and find out just what a Williams Sonoma store smells like! (Spoiler alert – it smells like rosemary!)
Williams Sonoma Stove Top Potpourri
The “recipe” called for 3 key ingredients: lemon, vanilla and rosemary. The idea of these “stovetop potpourri” recipes (there’s quite a few to choose from) is that you gather the ingredients and then boil them up on your stove top with some water. Simple! Easy to find ingredients and easy method – perfect!
But then I thought I would simplify it even further by using my slow cooker instead of a saucepan on the stovetop. A saucepan would need to be watched or at least monitored regularly for safety reasons, while a slow cooker can be left to do its thing for hours without needing checking up on. Even more simple!
My plan faltered slightly when I discovered there were no lemons on my lemon tree. Sigh. I had a lush rosemary bush with plenty of sprigs ripe for the picking, but no lemons available at all.
Not even old ones lying on the ground under the tree! Luckily I have a fairly extensive collection of essential oils (I love smelly things!), so I decided to try making my lovely smelling potion with lemon essential oil, vanilla essence and fresh rosemary.
In theory you could substitute each of the ingredients. You could use fresh lemons instead of the lemon oil, a vanilla pod instead of the vanilla essence, and you could use rosemary essential oil instead of the fresh rosemary. Just use whichever combination of ingredients you have at hand.
Then, it’s a very simple matter of placing the ingredients into your slow cooker.
Adding some water (I used warm/hot water out of the kettle to help speed up the process).
Then turn your slow cooker on to “low” and let your potion simmer.
It takes a bit of time to get the effect of the smell permeating through your house, but it really does add a lovely, clean, fresh scent to your home.
If you’re not sure if it’s working, go outside for a minute or two and then walk back inside. The delicious aroma should greet you as you walk through the door.
You don’t have to waste your delicious fragrance either, when you’ve finished brewing it for the day you can pour it into a glass jar and store it in the fridge. Then just pour the mixture back into your slow cooker the next day to get your house smelling great again.
I found, with this particular stovetop potpourri recipe, the rosemary was certainly the strongest fragrance coming through. It was hard to pick up the lemon scent, although this might be stronger if using fresh lemons, and the vanilla didn’t really seem to add to the aroma at all.
But it’s definitely something I’m going to have fun playing around with and I look forward to trying some new combinations of aromas.
Here are some combinations of aromatic ingredients that I think will make the best smelling room scents:
Homemade Simmering Potpourri Recipes
Fresh and Festive
For a warm, festive atmosphere try cinnamon sticks, vanilla, orange rind and cloves – this would be great for Christmas!
Coffee Lovers
If you’re a coffee lover, make your house smell like fresh coffee with a combination of leftover coffee grounds, cinnamon sticks and vanilla.
Lime Fresh
For a bright, citrusy, fresh aroma, try a combination of slices of lime (or lime essential oil), vanilla and sprigs of fresh mint and thyme.
You can use these simmering potpourri fragrances any time you like. They’d be great for parties or entertaining, or create a warm, inviting aroma when your house is for sale and is open for inspection.
Or just use one anytime you feel the house could do with a bit of air freshening or the people inside the house need a bit of a fragrant pick-me-up.
There’s really no limit to the different flavours of stovetop (or slow cooker/crock pot) potpourri recipes you can try. And, the best part – they’re all homemade with simple, natural ingredients you’re already likely to have on hand.
And, because they’re made with food and herbs and spices, you know you’re not breathing in any toxic chemicals as it’s all homemade and natural! It really is a great way to scent your whole house. Have a try and let me know your favourite combination.
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