Who doesn’t love a fresh-smelling home? I sure do. I love using air fresheners, but the problem I’ve found with a lot of them is that they just mask the smell instead of actually eliminating it. Not this one! Not only does this air freshener neutralize bad smells, you also get to pick your own scent, and it looks adorable! Oh yeah, and it’s made from two ingredients that you probably already have in your possession: baking soda and essential oil. Here’s how it’s done!
What you need:
For the container: a mason jar and lid, paint, paintbrush, scissors, cardstock (I used a manila folder), and a thumbtack or needle.
For the actual air freshener: baking soda and essential oil (I used peppermint).
What you do:
Trace the inner portion of the lid onto your cardstock and cut out the circle.
Using your thumbtack or pin, make a bunch of holes in the cardstock. You can make a cool design or just do it hap-hazardly! I think mine fell somewhere in the middle of those two.
Paint one side of your cardstock, as well as the outer portion of the mason jar lid, and allow to dry. You may have to re-poke your holes after the paint is dry.
Now you’re ready to make your concoction! Fill your jar about ¼ of the way with baking soda and mix in 5-10 drops of essential oil, depending on how strong you’d like the scent to be.
Insert the cardstock circle into the painted metal ring and screw it onto your mason jar and you’re all set!
Place the jar in any room where the air needs a bit of freshening up! Give the jar a little shake from side to side every so often – you’ll be hit with the loveliest scent! For bad-smelling carpets, you can also sprinkle a bit on your carpet, wait an hour, and vaccuum it up! I would love to experiment using different oils and decking out the mason jars to the point where you can’t even tell what’s inside :)
As a totally out-of-nowhere side note, this air freshener reminds me of the most adorable salt and pepper shakers I found at an adorable brunch spot in Philly called Honey’s. Subconsciously it’s probably why I chose to paint my lid teal. Look at the resemblance!
Air Freshener:
Salt and pepper shakers:
Photos by FP Brigette.
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I’m making one of these!!!
what is a mason jar?
Hi Jane! A mason jar is a glass jar with a metal lid that can be used to preserve food. You can get them at craft stores or thrift stores!
Mason jar rings are notorious for rusting, especially in humid climates. Maybe try spraying the lid with Rustoleum instead of regular paint.
I’m so making one tonight. So simple and useful! I’m obsessed with mason jars and basically use them for everything.
brilliant! and so simple!
So Simple even I should be able to make this
So cute!! I’m making some!!
Great idea i’ll be making a lot of these!! O, i have a set of the ball salt and pepper shakers, got them from ebay! There very old and i love antiques!! Im also a huge Ball/mason jar collector!!
Where do you get the paint and what kind/brand is it? Love the teal?
Hi Vandanat! It’s an acrylic paint by Golden (http://www.goldenpaints.com/). The color’s called “Cobalt Teal” and FP Julia got it at AC Moore :)
I love these ideas and i am going to have to find myself some of these jars and get ready to make myself some of your air freshener thanks so much for showing this
Love it! Will be trying different scents for different rooms!!
Hey :). Love the idea!!
But i need help. I’m from Denmark. We don’t have mason jars. Do you pop a part of the mason jar lid apart?? I really don’t get the lid part. Sorry! Maybe I just don’t understand English good enough :)
Hi Pernille! Yes, that’s what I did. Mason jar lids have 2 parts to them, so it’s easy to do. You can order the jars online if there are none near you! I’m not sure if they’ll ship to Denmark, but I found a whole bunch on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss/176-2957630-2539662?url=search-alias%3Dgarden&field-keywords=mason+jars
Hi what a great idea! So excited to try it. How many drops of oil should i put in and how much baking soda? What is the ratio? Thanks
Hi Ronel! If you fill the jar about 1/4 of the way full with baking soda, I’d start with 5 drops of oil. Then stir it up, give it a little shake, and see how powerful it is. If it’s not strong enough, add in a little more oil, drop by drop. If it gets to be too strong, add more baking soda :)
thanks!
Just made one of these. It smells great and looks so cute! xx
Thanks Brigette!
@Pernille We have jars like these in Germany though they aren’t called Mason Jars obviously. They are just Jam Jars that people use more making jams. They come in all different forms and shapes. Usually you can find them in a store that sells household goods.
I guess you could also just re-use a normal jam jar and just punch through the metal screw cap.
Hi there! I studied some organic chemistry at uni and learned that it also works with vanillin sugar (not sure if you have it in the US, we have it in Sweden but not in Australia where I live now). This actually worked better than baking soda!!
Jen
You could also just re-use any food jar. If you soak the jar in water with some baking soda added for 20+ minutes, the label comes off. And you can use a nail to make small holes in the metal lid.
Adorable! Do you stir the concoction after adding the essential oil?
Also, why not just paint first and then poke holes second to avoid re-poking? Just an ideeeeaaa….
Just my luck! I’m in Sweden so I mixed vanillin sugar, baking soda, and some peppermint oil. Smells DIVINE!
wow- what a great idea! thanks. what fun here!
Karen
Why not just forget the cardboard and use both parts of the 2-part lid? Drill holes, or use hammer and nail through the metal top. Cardboard will warp eventually, esp. in a humid environment like the bathroom.
Nice simple idea!
I made some up with cinnamon oil, but re-used some smaller spice jars, the ones with the little plastic snap-on “shaker” tops under the lid and just left the lid off. So small, you can just tuck them behind other things.
Cool!!!! This is the best way to actually kill the bad odor instead of masking the bad smell. I was not aware of such procedure. Very innovative and easy.