I love to entertain. Some of my best weekends are spent at home – warm and cozy with friends, food and family. I plan for these weekends with care. The menu is planned weeks ahead. The house is cleaned top to bottom the day before. Groceries are brought and food is shimmered, sautéed and fried. Everything is shiny and gleamy and drool-worthy.

As I throw my house open to friends and family, I expect my home to be welcoming and inviting. The carpets are dusted and spread, the garbage is cleared, the curtains pulled, the food is abundant and the lights are dimmed. The place radiates warmth and sends the right message. It is the place where one wants to be.

And then I do the all-important sniff test. The process is quite complicated. It involves getting out of the house for 10 minutes, breathing in the fresh air and then re-entering home. Sniff! Sniff! The nose detects the secrets. Secrets that are uniquely mine. Secrets that I assumed were hidden and discarded. Tucked in corners, behind curtains and doors. Lying in wait at the bottom of the laundry basket.

Sweaty gym shoes with its tongue poking out rather cheekily, the single rolled into a ball socks hiding under the shoe rack are the first scents to tease my nostrils. Oil heated and mingled with crispy curry leaves cling to the air leaving the nostrils with a slight burn. The burned toast from yesterday’s morning rush, the fried fish from dinner the day before and the mango peels lying abandoned. My nose senses it all. Then there is another layer of delicately balanced scents – floral perfumes and industrial strength deodorants smelling of musk and earthy tones. Prickly heat powders – sandal, rose and more.

This is the part I hate. The scents – the smelly scents invading before the cozy warmth of the home filled with laughter and joy penetrates. The yucky smells over-ridding the scent of freshly baked cookies and vanilla. It masks the divine scents of the flowers I arrange artfully. These scents refuse to be masked. They need to be eliminated.

Floral Welcome

This is when I turn to Ambi Pur Air Effects, air freshener for help. A few sweeping sprays from the Ambi Pur container around the rooms and the shoe closet fills the house with pleasant scents. Floral notes mixed with rain and sunshine. They eliminate the stifling mixture of odours linking at home and bring the outdoors in.

The scent of Blossoms and Breeze from Ambi Pur reminds me of the outdoors. Of long, lazy picnics in the grass. Of ducks waddling through the pool and gobbling up the bread kids throw at them. Of smiles and of laughter. Of the warm summer breeze tickling my senses. I feel my house become a cozy home meant to welcome friends and family. Time to entertain. Party on!

I am blogging for #SmellyToSmiley at BlogAdda in association with Ambi Pur.