You light a candle in the corner of the lounge room. An hour later you can barely smell it. The candle is not the problem. The spot is. Where you put scented candles decides how much fragrance ever reaches you. Most of us choose a spot for how it looks, not for how it works. Here is how to place one so the room actually fills.
Scented candles need air that moves
Fragrance travels on moving air. A candle wedged into a corner sits in still air. The scent pools around the jar and goes nowhere.
Put it where air drifts through the room. A coffee table works well. So does a sideboard near a doorway.
There is an opposite mistake. A candle right under an open window sends most of its scent straight outside. It will also flicker and burn down one side.
Height matters as much as position. Warm scented air rises. A candle on a tall bookshelf perfumes your ceiling. Waist height suits a room where people sit. That is roughly 70 to 90 centimetres off the floor.
How far away should it sit?
Two to three metres from where you sit is about right. Close enough to reach you. Far enough for the scent to spread and soften. Sitting beside a strong candle usually reads as too much. The Fruity range is bright and carries well at that distance.
Match the candle to the size of the room
One wick suits a bathroom, a study or a small bedroom. It will never fill an open plan living space, however good the fragrance is.
Three wicks melt a wider pool of wax. A wider pool releases more scent. That is the whole reason 3-wick jars exist.
- Bathroom or study: a tealight or one wick
- Bedroom: a single wick jar
- Living room: a 3-wick jar
- Open plan: a 3-wick, plus something at the far end
A reed diffuser is useful for that far end. It needs no flame and no attention, which suits a hallway or a room you walk through rather than sit in.
Spring rooms need a lighter hand
September changes the maths. Heavy warm scents that suited July feel thick once the windows start opening. Fresh and fruity scents read cleaner in spring air.
Use less of it, too. Open windows move air faster, so fragrance travels further than it did in winter. One well placed candle usually beats three.
Quick answers
Where should you never put a scented candle?
In a draught, in a tight corner, or on a high shelf. A draught makes it burn unevenly. A corner traps the scent. Height sends it to the ceiling where nobody is sitting.
How many candles does one room need?
Usually one. Two for an open plan space, placed well apart. Beyond that the scents compete instead of blending.
Move your candle before you buy another one. Most rooms that seem to swallow fragrance are simply hiding it in a corner. If you are still working out what suits your space, the fragrance quiz narrows it down in about a minute.
Related reading
- What is Fragrance Scaping?: planning scent across a whole home, not just one room.
- Why Do Candles Flicker and How Can You Fix It?: what a draughty spot does to the flame.
- How to Get the Best Out of Your Candles: burn times, wick care and getting your money's worth.
