Twelve Weeks of Christmas, Week 9: Homemade Linen Spray (Febreze alternative)

***To catch up on what you may have missed — the 8 other ”Weeks of Christmas” — go here.

Last year, I received a bottle of linen spray as a Christmas gift.  At first, I was dubious.  I mean, a gift like that reeks (get it!?) of just-something-else-I-don’t-need-that’s-going-to-take-up-space-that-I-don’t-have.  However… I soon changed my tune.

Linen spray is awesome!

If you’re like me, you love the effects of Febreze, but you dislike the smell (really, I sorta hate it).  And if you’re like me, you have a serious problem with allowing dogs on the furniture (I try to stop myself, really I do, but they’re just so darn cuddly…).  We-ell… Linen spray is a great solution.  I find myself using it weekly on the couch, the rug, and our bedding.  If we burn bacon or something and there’s a particularly strong smell in the apartment (because you know these NYC apartments don’t have exhaust fans or good ventilation), we follow up with a few sprays of the stuff.

So… when I was thinking of Christmas gift ideas this year, I wanted to sort of pay it forward with this great gift.  (I know, I know… the phrase “pay it forward” is usually reserved for loftier causes like charitable contributions, but I couldn’t think of a better way of describing it… and linen spray really is pretty awesome.)

When I looked up prices for linen sprays, specifically the amazing one that was given to me, I found they were a little more expensive than I expected/could afford.  So, I did the Google thing and found a few recipes, combined my favorite parts of each one, and I think I ended up with a pretty good mix (and it was made from things I already had at home so it was FREE!).

Here’s the finished product:

homemade linen spray

And here’s how you make it…

You’ll need:

• Water
• Isopropyl alcohol or vodka
• essential oils
• a spray bottle

1. Combine 1 part isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol or vodka to 5 parts water to a spray bottle.  I used an empty Bath and Body Works spray bottle, then removed the label (this took a little time and effort — about one episode of Pan Am – plus acetone, windex, and a lot of scraping).

Before:

Somewhere in between….

(I actually got all of the label off, but then I was so excited, I immediately slapped on the new label without taking another picture.)

2.  Add 20-40 drops of any essential oil (or more, depending on how strong you want it to be).  Essential oils are HIGHLY concentrated, so it really only takes a little, but the actual amount should be at your discretion based on the size of your spray bottle.  Here’s an eBay seller with really great pricing.  (It’s totally affordable when you consider how long one bottle could last.)  For my particular mix, I did about 20 drops of jasmine oil and 20 drops of eucalyptus oil (this is for an 8 oz.-bottle).

3.  Screw the lid back onto the spray bottle, and shake the contents.  This is to emulsify the oil and water, since they naturally separate.

4.  Make a label for the bottle, including pertinent info like “Shake before use.”  Print it off on adhesive paper and attach.

Here’s what my label looked like:

linen spray label

I love damask.

Here’s the document, in case you want to do something similar:  GPP linen spray label

Note:  When attaching the label, you may smudge the ink a bit. To get rid of these smudges, carefully erase them with a pencil eraser.

And here’s the finished product (again):

homemade linen spray

And a little bit closer…

Something that I didn’t note on my label, that may have been smart in retrospect:  The spray will initially give off an alcohol smell when you first spray it.  However, after a few seconds — once it evaporates — this smell is gone and the essential oil fragrance remains.

Now… because I had all of these things lying around my house, I was able to make this project for free.  However, if you don’t have any of these things, it would still be super affordable.  I searched each item and found at found at least one affordable source (listed below):

Spray bottle, Dollar Tree.  Here’s an 8 oz bottle and a 28 oz bottle.   $1

(I also remembered that Dollar Tree sells linen spray for $1 on their website.  However, I have actually used their stuff before and I found it to be very weak.)

Water, your faucet, free

Isopropyl alcohol, any drug store, $0.50-$2.00

Vodka (an alternative to the rubbing alcohol), can be found a variety of places.  Here’s a link to some pricing.  $1-$20

Essential oils, available a variety of places, including eBay, $3.00

Approximate Total: $6… more likely less.

Consider the oils an investment, as they will last a long time and could potentially create dozens of bottles of linen spray.

(And if  ”dozens of bottles of linen spray” seems a bit daunting, but you still want to be able use the oil beyond this project, here are some other great uses: here, here,  and here.)

I think this linen spray would be great as a teacher/neighbor gift.  Hope you found this tutorial helpful!

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Other handmade gift ideas:

Vinyl record bowls

Tile Coasters

DIY dry erase boards