The concept of “spring cleaning” probably had its origins in the fact that during the cold and dark winter months people would focus on staying warm and dry, as well as cooking and eating nourishing meals until such time as better weather arrived. Come the spring, however, and it’s time to clear away the cobwebs, so to speak, and to critically assess your living environment, the better to give your home a thorough overhaul. Here are a few choice ideas for sprucing up your home in order to make the most of the season of renewal and reawakening:
Spring into action
If you start with the cleaning jobs, you’ll soon see what’s still fit for purpose and what needs a fresh approach, particularly in terms of surfaces such as countertops, walls and floors, windows and doors, plus furniture and fittings. Decluttering is a tremendous help as it removes seldom-used articles from your main living area, freeing up space in the process and making your rooms feel more airy.
Bringing spring indoors is also a very therapeutic way of marking the changing seasons. Freshly cut spring flowers make lovely arrangements and will brighten any room – try white tulips in an elegant vase in the dining room, for example, and small bunches of colorful winter-flowering pansies dotted around your home. The color will brighten your day, every day. If you like scented blooms, opt for lilac blossoms as part of your bouquets.
When walls look a bit tired, even after a thorough cleaning, then maybe it’s time for you to reinvigorate them with a coat of paint. Pastel shades and bright spring colors will really freshen everything up for you and you can paint only a couple walls here and there to create a positive effect, so there’s no need to spend a lot of money.
Furniture and fabrics
Once the structural stuff is sorted, you can take some time out to consider what works best in terms of your movable décor and what doesn’t. Take a long, hard look at your room interiors and consider whether they still reflect the ambience and image you were aiming for when you first created them. Do they need updating, for example, or do you need to seek out a spring sale on furniture to replace a few items?
As you go around your home, consider all the aspects – couches and chairs, bedroom and dining furniture as well as window dressings including drapes, blinds and shutters. Check the accessories in living rooms such as throws, rugs and cushions to see if they genuinely add texture and warmth. Think about whether the wall art, clocks and mirrors are still doing a great job in terms of your design preferences or whether they are serviceable, but not particularly attractive.
Finally, remember that spring is all about regrowth and that means you need to take a fresh look at last year’s choices to make sure they still work for you and to make new arrangements if they fall short.
