I’m sure you’ve thought the same question about why people’s houses have a certain smell to them. They’re almost always indescribable other than “It smells sweet” or “it’s an old/new building.” Is there an actual reason for houses having (not unpleasant) smells? How would you describe it?
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Cooking, cleaning chemicals, air fresheners/candles, cigarettes, and filth due to lack of cleaning.
My best friends childhood house always smelled very distinguishable it’s hard to describe. But even now I can recall it. It might be some sort of detergent used on the laundry or they had old books in the bookcases.
I visited about a year ago this friend who lives with his wife in different place in the city, it was weird they had similar undertones of that smell in their home also.
My parents lived on their boat for a while and all of their stuff eventually smelled like diesel.
5 years in real estate photography (avg 3-5 houses a day). I would say detergent, pets, working fireplace, sweat, cigarettes, and air freshener/candles are the main contributors. Sometimes a property will have the exact smell of a house I haven’t been to in 25 years
I find it surprising that we can no longer smell “our house’s” smell. I guess we just process it as “normal”, but I recently got a cat who is a little sketchy with her litter box aiming and so I’m trying to be a little more vigilant about that before I get known as “the guy in the house of cat piss”.
When I was a kid in grade school we would go to each other’s houses for birthday parties. Being young boys we would often fart in each other’s presence, you know, cause it’s hilarious.
Anyway that is when I realized a shocking truth: people’s houses smell like a diluted version of their fart smell.
Right now, as you’re reading this, cars are driving by, perhaps a conversation is being held in another room, the air conditioner, and fridge is whirring, a passing cloud is dimming the ambient sunlight slightly (or VV), the amount of bacteria and their waste in your mouth is growing, your shirt is gently rubbing against your skin, and many other routine things are happening that your senses CAN pick up constantly but tune out because it’s literally background noise (and sights/smells/touches/tastes).Your brain focuses on new/strange information, or things it deems important at any particular point in time. Your house smells, you just don’t notice it.
Everybody else’s house is a different environment so your brain notices it more. Friend’s mom loves making apple pie? House smells sweet as the scent permeates the walls. Uncle varnished his banister? Scent lingers for months/years, etc…
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