There are more kinds of air freshener than you might realize. An air freshener is not just a little pine shaped stick of smelly wood which you hang up in your car.  Like all things, it has evolved to give you more options than ever before. If you want an air freshener for your office, you might get one of the automatic dispenser types. These plug into the wall and are filled with scented oil. They usually have either a heating element that heats the scented oil and causes it to float off into the air or else they have a mister that slowly sprays it out.

One of the most classic types of air freshener is the potpourri. This is a decorative bundle of different scented herbs and pieces of wood and bark, which you can put in your house to give it a warm, refreshing smell. And they look so great, earthy and crafty, that you’ll want to have one of these air fresheners in every room just to make your house smell and look lovely.

There is always the spray air freshener and this is the first one most people think of when they hear the term. These are to get rid of a bad smell, you just spray a generous dose of this aerosol air freshener into the room with the smell and it goes right away.  So many people keep these sprays in their bathrooms, as you might imagine!

Another popular kind of air freshener is the scented candle, which provides a warm glow as well as a pretty light when lit. It has scented oil embedded inside, which always gives a slight pleasant smell. When you burn it, the heat makes the scent waft into the air. These come in all kinds of fruity flavors – pumpkin, strawberry, blueberry, vanilla and the list goes on and on.

Similar to these, you can get an air freshener lamp. Basically, this is a small candle with a little glass or metal cup above it. You just put in the scented oil of your choice into the cup and light the candle, causing it to waft into the room. This has the advantage that you can use basically any kind of scented oil you chose, whatever fits your mood. Unfortunately, it has a live flame which can be dangerous if you have children around, but also can have a pleasant decorative effect.

Are you a person that pays attention to small details, things that may seem unimportant or unnoticed? I am that kind of person. I like to make sure that small details are not over looked. I think this is why I have been successful in the hospitality industry. I started in the industry as the front desk clerk in a small seaside hotel in the town that I grew up in. This was my summer job when I was in high school. The couple that owned the hotel were sticklers for details. The desk area always needed to be tidy and clean. There were always new magazines in the lobby area as well as ice water and fresh fruit for the guests. Each guest was to be greeted warmly and if at all possible called by name. This personal service made people feel cared for and welcomed.

This seaside hotel was quite small and did not have a great deal of amenities, yet the rooms were always booked, and usually with repeat customers. There are many hotels in the area so it was important for the owners to compete with the large hotels that had a great deal of amenities. They found personal service and attention to detail was what people were looking for. Each of the rooms had luxury towels and bath soaps. There were fresh flowers in the rooms as well as a dish of candies. These small touches cost money, but the customers appreciated the gestures.

Many hotels do not use luxury towels because they fear that the people will steal them. They also feel that the small details are not important to the customer. One of the maids told me that she knows that the customers appreciate the small extras because they tip higher. She had been a maid at a different hotel in the town. That hotel was newer and had more amenities. It also cost more. She said that the towels were old and thin and the lobby area was cold and unwelcoming. At the other hotel the guests did not take care of the rooms. They would throw the towels on the floor and tracked dirt and sand into the rooms. At this small hotel people took care of the rooms because the owners did. The luxury towels were hung on the towel racks and the rooms were straightened when the guests left. Also her tips were almost triple in size, even though the clientele appeared to be less affluent.

The lessons regarding hospitality and attention to detail that I learned at this hotel have stayed with me through my career as well as in my home life. I buy luxury towels and good soaps for my family and guests. I always make sure that people feel welcomed and at home whether they are visiting for an hour or a weekend. I think the details make all the difference.

If you want a clean house or office, you have to have cleaning supplies. There are many different kinds of cleaners out there and it is hard to know what will work well for a very good price. The good news is that most of the cleaning supplies you can buy do work to some degree and even homemade ones can work well if you really want to save some money. What you need will depend on your needs and your budget, but you don’t have to spend a lot to get a good clean home.

I once worked for a maid service while I put myself through college. It wasn’t a bad job, but it certainly wasn’t something I wanted to do with the rest of my life, that much I knew. I did learn a lot of neat things about cleaning when I worked there and I also learned how to save a lot of money on cleaning supplies. Though they were a big company, they never spent a lot on their cleaning supplies. In fact, the simpler the item, the better it seemed to work.

For windows, our cleaning supplies were nothing more than water and vinegar along with a lint free towel. That was it. The water and vinegar solution worked better than anything you can buy on the market. It left no streaks whatsoever and cut through the nastiest grime quickly and effectively. Since those days, I include this in my cleaning supplies because I know it will work and it will always work well. The smell of it might not be as pleasant as some of the products you can buy, but if you want the best clean, you don’t even notice.

Other cleaning supplies my company used where safe for the environment, with a few exceptions. The basic kitchen and bath sprays we had were considered safe enough to drink, even though we never would have done so. There were other cleaning supplies we had to have that were not as good for the environment, but we used them only when we had to. There is only so much you can do to an oven without a good oven cleaner sometimes, especially if it has been ignored for quite some time. If you are into helping the environment, like I wish we all would be, you can find some great supplies for cleaning that will make you feel good and will give you a clean house too.

The other day I decided that I was tired of looking at the shower curtain I have had for years, and I wanted to go out and buy something new. I really like the one I already had, but it was just time to find a different look for my bathroom. My daughter wanted to know why because she doesn’t handle change very well, and I told her sometimes you just need something different. The fabric shower curtain I have now is fine, but it’s a bit fluffy for my current mood. I decided to get something a little sleeker.

When I searched through the store, I didn’t find a lot of variety. My biggest choice was whether I wanted to get vinyl or a fabric shower curtain. This cut my selection in half. I should have looked elsewhere, but when I want something for a change, I usually can’t wait. I have to do it now. It’s annoying, even to me and I know that it must drive everyone else nuts. I decided that vinyl was definitely out, so I looked through the selection to find a good fabric shower curtain.

I went back and forth between the two aisles that had curtains because I could not decide what to get. I thought I wanted something purple, but then decided perhaps dark blue would be good. I held one shower curtain in my hand after another, and I just couldn’t decide what to do. I decided that if I was going to buy a new fabric shower curtain that I also had to get new rugs and towels. The towels would have to wait until the next week, but I could buy the rugs now. When I found that I liked the look of the dark blue rugs better, it makes my choice of curtain much easier.

I know have a new fabric shower curtain hanging in my bathroom, and I have found that I really like the way it looks, especially with the expensive hangers I got to go with it, and the new rugs. The dark blue is a nice contrast to the white walls, and the gold swirls are just enough to give it a design without overwhelming the blue color that feels warm and inviting. I know it shouldn’t be so hard to choose a fabric shower curtain, but you do have to look at it every time you go into your bathroom.  Choose wisely, and for goodness sake, don’t call me for advice.

What sort of furniture do you have in your bathroom? Yes! You heard me right? What sort of furniture do you have in your bathroom? If you are stumped by that question and are wondering who actually has furniture in their bathrooms, you probably live in a sad little house like I do. But apparently there are people who have bathrooms large enough to stuff them with furniture. Believe me when I say that this was news to me. I had never earlier come across bathrooms with anything more than the bare essentially - pun intended!  The first time I came across bathroom furniture, it was in an interior design article on designer bathrooms.

The article proved to be fascinating though. Especially considering that I had never before even imagined that people would put furniture into their bathrooms. I mean, stop to think about it for a minute. Why would you put in furniture in your bathrooms? And even if you did, what kind of furniture would it be? I know that most of us refer to the bare essentials of a bathroom as sanitary ware. But furniture? Trust me, the article revealed all.

For instance, it was only after I began reading the article on bathroom furniture did I get to know that there are items like vanity sinks. These are usually wooden sink coverings, ornately designed to exude class and sophistication. I for one know that they wouldn’t work in my water-filled bathroom. The water would continually splatter on them and spoil them in no time. But another item in the article on bathroom furniture did get my attention. It was a small book cabinet that could be perched above shoulder height and could contain – books! As someone who is used to reading in the bathroom, I could easily identify with this piece of bathroom furniture and even relate to it to a great extent.

The final piece on bathroom furniture covered the likes of shelves, cabinets and ornate, wooden in most cases towel racks and the like.  My own bathrooms and those I had the opportunity to see in most houses were rather small to accommodate such large pieces of furniture. But then, the pictures accompanying the article showed me that they could be put in some of the larger, considerably larger, bathrooms and could look good too! Now, I too feel that I need a larger bathroom, if only to put in bathroom furniture!