We Gave Our Home A Spicy Smell By Upcycling Produce Bags. Here's How It Went

I have a really strong sense of smell. Much to the amusement of my family, there are times when mid-conversation my nose will start crinkling as I try to decipher an aroma in the air. Since we love to cook, it's often something pleasant wafting through the kitchen. But recently, as we've been restoring an 1820s farmhouse that has more cooped-up closets and neglected nooks than you can imagine, some of those smells have been downright stinky. I'm not a big fan of artificial sprays or cloying candles, and worry about reports that synthetic fragrances in air fresheners and cleaning products can be harmful to your health. So when I had the opportunity to upcycle some of the mesh produce bags we pile up by the dozen into natural potpourri sachets that might freshen up the smelliest spots in our house, I lept at the chance.

If you never miss a House Digest article, you already know that our team has come up with some brilliant ways to repurpose mesh produce bags around your house, from pot scrubbers to protecting your garden from pests. At my house, we have mesh bags in all colors and sizes thanks to the countless citrus fruits, garlic bulbs, and baby potatoes that are among our go-to kitchen staples. To complete this hack, the idea is to simply fill one of these mesh bags with fragrant dried flower buds before using it to scent your space. It sounded like a simple way to solve a particularly stenchy problem I was having in an upstairs closet, so I decided to try the inexpensive hack out to see if it really works.

Since we always have mesh bags on hand, I didn't think it would take long for me to put these potpourri sachets together. Boy, was I wrong! It turns out finding fragrant dried florals was much harder than I anticipated. Should I dry and style flowers from the garden so I always have some on hand in the dead of winter? Yes. Am I a huge fan of the "bloom room" trend? You bet. Was every square inch of our family's homestead covered in snow while I tried to work on this project? Let's just say you'd be hard-pressed to find anyone happier to see a daffodil peeking out of the ground than I am.

Purchasing dried flowers wasn't much better. Our local co-op sells dried lavender buds in bulk for $40 per pound, which is around the same price I found online. I decided that was impractically expensive for this experiment, and although I could purchase fresh flowers and hang them to dry, I couldn't find any bouquet that had a strong scent at my local grocery. When a friend suggested trying some peppermint herbal tea, inspiration struck. I wasn't super enthusiastic about the idea of my family's clothes, suitcases, and mementos reeking of peppermint, but I did like the idea of filling my mesh sachets with spices. It was a lot easier, and cheaper, to get my hands on cinnamon sticks, star anise, and whole cloves. Each one provides a warming smell that appeals to me, and cost around $20 total.

Once I was over the hurdle of finding the right ingredients for my potpourri, I was ready to get started. Taking over the kitchen counter for an afternoon, I made four unique sachet mixes with different spice combinations. Using basic ceramic bowls for mixing my ingredients, I portioned out cinnamon sticks for one sachet, a mix of cloves and star anise for another, and a trio of spices for the third. Sympathetic to my sourcing plight, my mom braved the cold to cut some hydrangea heads from her back garden for me. Keen to include them in some way despite their lack of any discernible scent, I combined the crunchy brown petals with the cloves in my fourth bowl. The redolent, nail-shaped spice was oilier than the others, and I hoped the addition of hydrangea petals would stretch my filler so I could make additional sachets.

Finally, I cut the various mesh bags before filling them. This was the easiest step, requiring nothing more than a steady hand and a sharp pair of kitchen scissors. I tied off each section at one end before filling it, trimming the excess mesh away before using a 6-inch length of ribbon to create a loop suitable for hanging on the other end. I'm always on the lookout for ways to repurpose ribbon from my ever-growing collection, and although I knew these sachets would be tucked away in closets where no one would really see them, I picked ribbons that coordinated with the color of each mesh bag.

This project was a fun way to upcycle mesh produce bags into a fragrant addition to some of our stinkiest spots in the house. After just a few hours, they added a soft scent to our armoires, drawers, and closets. Even after a few days, the smell lingered but didn't add an overpowering aroma to our storage spaces.

When the weather warms up a bit and I have some dried flowers on hand, I'll definitely try this hack again. But there are a few things I'll do differently next time. First, I'll choose my mesh bags very carefully. We buy citrus and garlic in long tubes of fine but thick mesh that worked exceptionally well. Although the bags from my baby Yukons offered me more mesh to work with, the larger weave meant more of my filling spilled out, and cutting out the labels resulted in a lot of waste. The mesh citrus tubes were slightly more difficult to fill than the large pieces of looser mesh bag, but they created a more streamlined look and kept their contents very well contained.

One of the mesh bags had a small copper clasp at the bottom to keep it closed, which I will try to replicate instead of using ribbon to tie off my sachet at the bottom. However, using ribbon at the top allowed me to give some of my sachets a more decorative look. And, if the scent fades over time, I like that I can easily open them up before adding a few drops of essential oil to refresh the fragrance.