How to Beautify and Brighten Your Space Before Spring
This year I downloaded an app on my phone that helps you build the habit of gardening 365 days out of the year. Now, I’m in Southern California so one might call me a fair-weather gardener. We truly are spoiled out here!
Even so, when it comes to kitchen gardens, plants do best when they are installed in the right seasons. And I think it is evidence of God’s provision for us that in colder months, starchy and dense ingredients that make rich, heart-warming stews and thicken our blood are in season, whereas in the summer, our thirsts are quenched with melons, grapes, tomatoes, and other juicy fruits.
Our homes also seem to reflect our place in the cycle around the sun. They certainly look different during the holidays than they do around the middle of July!
Because we are living, breathing, ever-changing creatures our habitats will naturally change with the activities we involve ourselves in throughout the year. So why not take it a step further and put some intention into that evolution with decor that lifts your spirits with each season?
Here is a process for refreshing your home that will keep it in great shape and breathe fresh life and high style into your interiors just in time for Spring.
Step #1: Declutter, Determine What You Love, Then Donate the Rest
At our house, we are definitely not minimalists when it comes to holiday decorating and we love every single minute of it. But I am certainly itching to declutter with zeal when January 2 hits! Instead of trying to carefully dust around the greenery, it feels so good to lift everything off those surfaces and give them a good polish, doesn’t it?
While packing the holidays away, it’s a good time to start looking for other things that may not be seasonal but have had their day in the sun. Most home decor can be donated along with those outdated winter clothes you’re ready to relinquish. You’ll probably find the exercise as addicting as losing weight: once you’ve started gaining momentum, you’ll be energized to keep going with a passion!
Step #2: List All Areas in Need of Attention, Then Clean Each Location
As days grow longer, lighter, and warmer we’re able to see things with a fresh perspective and access spaces we may have wanted to avoid in colder weather. There will be more opportunities to clean inside and outside of windows, for instance, and move plants back outdoors you may have overwintered in the house.
Seasonal changes are perfect for assessing areas that need a good cleaning and purging to prepare for months of outdoor activity and entertaining. Make a comprehensive list, then take each area, one at a time, and only keep what you love and need in the space. Think of how much easier it will be to clean with fewer things to work around!
Step #3: Store Last Season's Decor, Then Style with Spring Inspired Pieces
As you stow away last season’s decorations, you may feel a sense of disappointment at how simple and bare everything looks. Clean is good, you might be thinking, but where are we going from here?
Remember your school days when you came back from holiday breaks to a brand new classroom? You probably were in the same room, but your teachers redecorated for every season, right? It sort of gave our minds a framework of purpose that the next several weeks were going to be wrapped around. A motivational theme, if you will.
As adults, it’s nice to refresh our homes with touches that reflect our current seasonal theme! What is the theme you want to be in? A great place for inspiration may be your calendar. What upcoming events will you be attending? What will you be celebrating? What is coming up in your flower garden in the next month or two?
Find out what your decorating style personality really is!
You can also look at what will make you the most comfortable in the next several weeks. For example, you may not want heavy rugs on the floor in warmer weather, or need as many blankets draped on the back of the couch!
You could exchange darker-colored accessories that look so rich in winter with brighter springtime tints to lighten up the look.
Maybe you enjoy florals in your decorating. Take a tip from designer Lauren Liess and forage branches you find in any wild areas around your neighborhood to fill containers with natural seasonal flair. Or draw from the abundance of flowers in your garden or your local farmers’ market.
The typical spring cleaning sounds like a chore we don’t tend to look forward to. But this year, let it be a time you rethink your decor to lift your mood and mindset forward into the warmer, brighter months ahead. A home that inspires you will always serve you and your family well - and it will never go out of season!