24 DIY Lavender Ideas for Your Home and Bath

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One jar of dried lavender buds goes a very long way, and these 24 DIY lavender ideas are where to spend it. There are bath soaks built on two cups of dead sea salt and two of Epsom, a clay face mask formulated for dry skin rather than oily, an eye pillow filled with two thirds of a cup of rice, a heating pad that takes six cups of rice and three tablespoons of buds, dryer bags that each last about ten loads, jam sweetened with honey instead of sugar, and a headache salve that infuses fresh blossoms in olive oil over a double boiler for an hour. Some take twenty minutes. Some want a scale and a preservative. There is also one made entirely from pipe cleaners, in case your lavender is not in season.

DIY Ideas With Lavender

1. Easy Pipe Cleaner Flower | DIY Lavender

Lavender that never needs water, never browns and never goes out of season, made entirely from pipe cleaners. Cut roughly four centimeter lengths and fold each one in half, and you will want a good handful of them for a single stem. The stem itself is flower wire wrapped in tissue: fold a strip of tissue about three inches, run a bead of hot glue down the wire, roll it up, then wrap the whole thing in floral tape to lock it. Build the buds up the stem from the tip down. Two shades of purple in one bunch looks right.

Get the full tutorial at Sueeye.

2. DIY Exfoliating Lavender Hand Soap

Mason jar of pale purple lavender sugar hand scrub topped with dried buds, on burlap with fresh stems

A lavender sugar scrub for hands, and the pitch on the credited page is that it has to be simple or it does not get made. The photograph shows the finished product: a half pint mason jar of pale purple scrub topped with a scatter of dried buds, sitting on burlap with fresh lavender and a small muslin sachet beside it. Sugar is the exfoliant, which makes this gentler on hands than salt and far cheaper than anything sold as a hand polish. The full measured recipe lives on a second site, linked from the credited post.

Get the full tutorial at Smart School House.

3. Lavender Vanilla Salt Scrub

Swing top glass bottle filled with purple lavender vanilla salt scrub with a wooden spoon on grey wood

The credited host answers every automated request with a bot challenge, so nothing below is taken from a written method. The photograph shows a swing-top glass bottle packed with coarse purple-tinted salt on weathered grey wood, with a wooden spoon of the same scrub spilled in front of it. A salt scrub is coarser and more bracing than a sugar one, which makes it a feet and elbows product rather than a face one. Oil goes in until the salt just clumps, not until it swims, and a swing-top bottle only works if the grains are coarse enough to pour.

Get the full tutorial at Building Our Story.

4. Easy DIY Heating Pad With Lavender

Two teal cotton lavender rice heating pads on a white surface with loose dried lavender buds scattered

A rice bag, which is the cordless answer to an electric heating pad and about four dollars of materials. Take a 12 by 20 inch piece of cotton, fold it right sides together into a 6 by 20 rectangle and sew around three sides, stopping an inch or two short so you can turn it. Mix six cups of rice with three tablespoons of dried lavender and a few drops of lavender essential oil, funnel it in until the bag is about half full, then hand sew the opening closed. Half full is the point; a packed bag will not drape.

Get the full tutorial at Scratch Mommy.

5. Homemade Makeup Remover with Lavender Essential Oil

Bottle of carrier oil and lavender essential oil beside a glass jar of cotton rounds on white wood boards

Four ingredients, a four ounce jar and about two minutes. Mix one tablespoon of non-alcoholic witch hazel, two tablespoons of a light carrier oil, two tablespoons of distilled water and four drops of lavender essential oil straight in the jar, then stand ten cotton rounds in it, screw the lid on and turn the whole thing upside down to saturate the pads. Pull one out, blot off the excess and wipe. Tea tree is an optional addition. Fractionated coconut oil works in place of the branded carrier oil the recipe names.

Get the full tutorial at Rebooted Mom.

6. Lavender Headache Buster

A roller blend for headaches, built on lavender oil, peppermint oil and rose oil in a sweet almond carrier. Coconut or olive oil substitute for the almond without changing anything else, which matters if there is a nut allergy in the house. The photograph is the video thumbnail, showing someone at a shelf of oils holding a dropper bottle up to the light. The Sueeye post is a written introduction around that full step by step video, which is where the drop counts live, so treat the write-up as context and the video as the method.

Get the full tutorial at Sueeye.

7. Lemon-Lavender Bath Detox

Bottles of lemon and lavender essential oil beside a jar of Epsom salt and a wooden spoon of bath detox

Two ingredients and two oils, mixed in seconds. Stir one cup of Epsom salt together with a quarter cup of baking soda in a small jar, add five drops of lemon essential oil and five of lavender, and stir again. That is one bath’s worth, and it doubles or triples happily. Sealed in the jar it keeps for up to three months, which is what makes it a gift. Tip the whole amount into a warm bath, soak for at least twenty minutes, and drink a large glass of water when you get out.

Get the full tutorial at Mommy Musings.

8. Aloe Vera + Lavender Skin Soothing Cubes DIY

Pale pink round aloe vera and lavender ice cubes on white with a cut aloe leaf and dried lavender buds

Frozen cubes to rub on sunburnt skin, and the formula is 4.5 ounces of aloe vera liquid, half an ounce of glycerin, half an ounce of fresh gel squeezed from an aloe leaf and one millilitre of lavender 40/42 essential oil. Stick blend it to break up the plant matter, pour into a silicone mold and freeze overnight. Expect them to stay slushy rather than freeze rock solid, which the creator flags as normal. Leave the liquid on skin ten to fifteen minutes before rinsing; the glycerin feels slightly tacky and that fades.

Get the full tutorial at Soap Queen.

9. Blackberry Lavender White Chocolate Scones

Baking sheet of blackberry scones with white glaze and lavender buds, a glazed spoon and loose berries

Shred the cold butter on a box grater, exactly as you would cheese, and the dough comes together without a pastry cutter and without the butter ever warming up. Twelve tablespoons of it goes into two and a half cups of flour with a tablespoon each of sugar and baking powder, three quarters of a cup of cold cream and an egg, then a cup and a half of blackberries and the white chocolate. Pat it into a one inch square, cut nine or twelve pieces, brush with cream and bake at 375 for twenty to twenty two minutes. The lavender lives in the glaze, steeped five minutes in warm milk and butter then strained out.

Get the full tutorial at Half Baked Harvest.

10. Lavender Herbal Eye Pillow

Teal star print herbal eye pillow filled with rice and lavender, lying on wood with dried lavender stems

Thirty minutes, one seam and two ingredients. Cut two pieces of cotton, silk or satin at 9.5 by 4.5 inches, put right sides together and sew around with a quarter inch seam, leaving two inches open on a short end. Clip the corners, turn it out and press. Fill with two thirds of a cup of rice or flaxseed and a third of a cup of dried lavender through a funnel, then sew the opening shut. Keep it in the freezer for cold therapy or warm it gently for heat. Mint and chamomile substitute for the lavender.

Get the full tutorial at Traditional Cooking School.

11. DIY Lavender Clay Face Mask

Open glass jar of pale purple lavender clay face mask with labeled jars and dried buds on white marble

A clay mask formulated backwards from the usual, for dry and sensitive skin rather than oily. Most of the clay is fine, gentle kaolin, with purple Brazilian clay for color and body. Argan and avocado oil go in for moisture, emulsified with Polawax and BTMS-50 so the oil and water never separate, and lavender 40/42 essential oil scents it lightly. The result spreads like lotion instead of setting hard. Increase the clay to about six ounces if you want it to dry properly on the skin, and use a preservative, because this is mostly water.

Get the full tutorial at Soap Queen.

12. Lavender Lemonade Martini

Lavender lemonade martini in a sugar rimmed glass with a lavender sprig on a silver tray with lemon peel

Lemon, lavender infused vodka and a sugared rim, and the one piece of knowledge worth carrying away is which lavender to use. English lavender, the variety with buds scattered singly down the stem, is the culinary one. Spanish lavender, the pretty kind with all the buds bunched at the tip, is not suitable for eating or drinking at all. Grow the English variety if you are going to infuse your own, and a few mid-sized plants will keep you in buds for cocktails and baking inside a couple of seasons.

Get the full tutorial at Creative Culinary.

13. Soothing Lavender Foot Soak

Glass jar with a wooden lid filled with purple lavender foot soak salts beside a spoon and fresh lavender

Half a cup of Epsom salts, two tablespoons of baking soda and six drops of lavender essential oil, mixed in a bowl or straight into a mason jar. A drop or two of soap colorant tints it, and cosmetic colorant is the safer choice than food coloring, which can stain a tub or skin if you overdo it. Two tablespoons makes a light soak, a quarter cup a strong one. Hottest water you can stand, ten to fifteen minutes, then either dry off or go straight into a pedicure while the skin is soft.

Get the full tutorial at My Frugal Adventures.

14. DIY Calendula Lavender Salve for Calm Skin

Two small glass jars of yellow calendula lavender salve on blue wood with orange petals and lavender

Three quarters of a cup of dried calendula and a quarter cup of dried lavender go into a mason jar, covered completely with a cup of olive oil and half a cup of coconut oil. Stand the jar in a pan of water on low heat for three to five hours, until the oil smells strongly of the flowers and has changed color. Strain it through cheesecloth and squeeze hard, because a great deal of what you want is still in the spent petals. Melt a quarter cup of beeswax pastilles into the warm oil, add ten to fifteen drops of lavender oil off the heat and pour. Makes two jars.

Get the full tutorial at Happy Mothering.

15. Peppermint and Lavender Headache Salve

Small metal tin of pale green herbal headache salve, open on a wooden board with fresh lavender flowers

The most involved thing on this list and the one worth the trouble. Two and a half tablespoons of melted beeswax, two of shea butter and four of olive oil, with a tablespoon each of fresh lavender blossoms, peppermint and lemon balm, or a teaspoon each if dried. The oils carry the punch: fifty drops of peppermint, twenty of eucalyptus, fifteen each of cajuput and rosemary, five of lavender. Infuse the herbs in a muslin bag in the oil over a double boiler for an hour. Makes about four ounces; add a half tablespoon more beeswax in a warm climate.

Get the full tutorial at Joybilee Farm.

16. Lavender Chamomile Bath Soak

Bowl of homemade lavender chamomile bath soak with sea salts, dried lavender buds and chamomile flowers

Two cups of dead sea salt and two of Epsom, half a cup each of dried lavender buds and dried chamomile flowers, ten drops of lavender essential oil and a tablespoon of coconut oil. Drip the essential oil into the melted coconut oil first and stir, then fold that into the salts, which is how the scent ends up distributed instead of concentrated in one corner of the jar. Four tablespoons go into a muslin tea bag per bath so the petals do not end up in the drain. Soak ten to twenty minutes; stores six months.

Get the full tutorial at No Fuss Natural.

17. Blueberry & Lavender Jam

Spoonful of dark blueberry lavender jam lifted from a blue jar with fresh lavender stems on grey wood

A quart of blueberries, about a pound and a half, eight ounces of honey instead of sugar, half a lemon zested and juiced, and a tablespoon of fresh lavender buds ground in a mortar and pestle first. Grinding matters; whole buds float and give you soapy mouthfuls. It makes three half pints. Cook it in a wide skillet rather than a deep pan, because the extra surface area gets a small batch to setting point far faster. Water bath canned it keeps a year on the shelf, uncanned it is a fridge jam to eat within a month.

Get the full tutorial at Lovely Greens.

18. Wild Blueberry Lavender Coconut Ice Cream

Loaf tin of coconut ice cream ribboned with dark blueberries, a metal scoop resting in it on navy cloth

Two cans of full fat coconut milk carry the whole thing, warmed with a third of a cup of coconut palm syrup to a bare simmer and never to a boil. Blend that with the vanilla and two teaspoons of dried culinary lavender for thirty seconds, then chill it a full four hours before it goes anywhere near the machine. Do not skip the chill. While it cools, mash a cup and a half of wild blueberries with two tablespoons of coconut sugar and cook them fifteen to twenty minutes into a syrup, then layer that through the churned ice cream rather than stirring it in.

Get the full tutorial at Ambitious Kitchen.

19. Lavender Cupcakes

Single lavender cupcake in a white paper case topped with a pale purple frosting rose on white marble

Six cupcakes from three quarters of a cup of flour, half a cup of lavender infused sugar, a teaspoon of baking powder, one egg, a quarter cup each of water and butter and a teaspoon of vanilla, baked at 350 for fifteen minutes. The infused sugar is the whole trick and it is why these taste of lavender rather than of soap: good sugar mixed with lavender flowers and left somewhere dark for a month, so the flavor comes through the sugar instead of from extract poured into the batter.

Get the full tutorial at Carmela Pop.

20. Lavender Bug Bite Sticks

Small metal tin of pale yellow lavender bug bite balm open on weathered wood beside a green fern frond

Sunflower oil infused with lavender, poured into tins or tubes, and the creator’s own note is that it is a forgiving recipe. No sunflower oil, use olive oil. The method survives being followed loosely. The photograph shows a small hinged tin open on weathered wood with pale yellow balm inside, a second tin stacked behind it and a fern frond alongside. Keep one in a bag and one by the back door through summer, because the point of a stick over a bottle of lotion is that it goes where the mosquitoes are.

Get the full tutorial at Attainable Sustainable.

21. DIY Oatmeal Lavender Bath Teas

Jar of rolled oats and a box of Epsom salt beside two muslin bath tea sachets tied with lavender ribbon

Equal cups of rolled oats, Epsom salts and lavender buds with a tablespoon of coconut oil, pulsed together in a blender until the oats break down into small pieces. A quarter cup goes into each bag. Large sealable tea bags can be ironed shut, or a muslin or organza drawstring bag closes with a clip and refills forever. Drop one into a warm bath and it does two jobs, because the bag itself works as a scrub once the oats have softened. The sachet is the whole point, and it is what keeps the oats out of the drain.

Get the full tutorial at The Humbled Homemaker.

22. Calming Lavender Playdough

Pale lavender scented playdough with purple buds pressed in, with fresh lavender stems on a pink surface

Two cups of plain flour, half a cup of salt, two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of cream of tartar and one to one and a quarter cups of boiling water, with fresh or dried lavender worked in. Add the water last and add it gradually, and if the dough comes out sticky just work in more flour. Two things need an adult: the boiling water and the salt, which is a genuine hazard for anyone still putting handfuls in their mouth. Picking the buds off the plant is the part small children will want to do.

Get the full tutorial at Crafts on Sea.

23. Lavender Dryer Bags

Two white muslin lavender dryer bags on a folded white towel beside a glass jar of dried lavender buds

Dried lavender scooped into small drawstring muslin bags, which are sold as bouquet garni bags in the cooking aisle and cost almost nothing. Tie the bag in several knots, then wrap the string around the neck and tie again, because a bag that comes open in a hot dryer is a genuinely annoying mess. Each one lasts about ten loads. Add a few drops of essential oil before a cycle to lift it again as it fades, and store the set in a sealed jar so the ones you are not using keep their scent.

Get the full tutorial at Garden Therapy.

24. Lavender Tall Ice Sticks

Tall clear ice sticks with lavender flowers and tiny roses frozen inside, standing in a cut glass coupe

Long slender ice sticks with whole lavender flowers and tiny roses frozen inside them, standing up in a coupe glass. The credited page is a weekly link party rather than a step by step, so treat the photograph as the instruction. Freeze in narrow tubes or a stick mold, and the detail that makes the difference is filling in two stages: a shallow layer first, frozen hard with the flowers arranged on it, then top up and freeze again. Fill in one go and every flower floats to what becomes the top.

Get the full tutorial at Rooted In Thyme.