The seasons are changing, and there’s no denying it. February is giving way to March, the mornings are brighter, and the temperature is slowly beginning to rise. We’re well on our way to seeing off winter and welcoming in the spring. In some parts of the world, it’s even arrived a little early! Spring is one of the most inspiring times of the year, as the world around us comes back to life. It’s also the perfect opportunity to bring your home back to life, too; chances are the last time you altered or accessorized your home furnishings was when you took the seasonal decorations down. A quick makeover will make your home feel new, and these simple ideas we’ve put together for you mean it’s easier to achieve than you think.
Giving your home a simple makeover for Spring shouldn’t be expensive, and in some cases, it can be done without costing you anything at all. It’s just a small change here and a little tweak there, and a room you spend time in every day can feel fresh and exciting. When your environment feels fresh and exciting so do you, and that’s a scientific fact!
Give Your Home A Wardrobe
If you’re fashion conscious, you probably have a summer wardrobe and a winter wardrobe. That doesn’t just mean thick clothes for winter and thin ones for summer either; colors and shades are as important as the materials. If you’re extremely fashion conscious, you might even have four totally different wardrobes for all four seasons. You don’t need to go quite that far with the wardrobe for your home, but you should have differing palettes for the darker and lighter times of the year.
The best way to provide that palette is with fabrics and cushions. Deep, rich colors suit the winter best, but we’re talking about spring, and so you should look for the opposite. Spring is all about letting the light back into our lives, and thus a light approach to the color scheme is what’s required.
Light and neutral shades make a room feel larger and airier, so cream, white and beige all work well as rugs, blankets, and throws. Consider punctuating them with light blues or greens on cushion covers, lamp shades, and wall hangings. Employ the same strategy you’d use when playing slot games; you’re looking for as many things to match as possible, with one or two extra pieces to increase your payoff. In a slot game, those additional pieces come in the form of wilds and bonus symbols. In home decoration, they come in the form of points of focus around your room. Don’t go overboard though; one or two colors on top of the base color of your room is the limit. You won’t hit your home design jackpot if you can’t find matching elements!
Dare To Bare
Winter months are all about creating a cozy environment. That means more blankets, thicker rugs, colors that make us feel snug and secure, and as much insulation as possible. Spring and summer are the opposite. Plenty of people leave rugs on their floor all year long. If you’re one of them, you might be hiding one of your home’s best features.
Bare floors are very much ‘in’ at the moment, especially hardwood floors, with some people having their existing flooring ripped up and replaced to accommodate it. You may be lucky enough to have it already, in which case why leave a rug on it full-time? Pull them up, give the floor a deep clean and you have a brand new feature! If your floor isn’t suitable to be shown off, though, don’t fret. Consider swapping rugs between rooms. As the saying goes, a change is as good as a rest.
The Scent Of Spring
We focus on the evidence of our eyes and ears far more than we do our sense of smell, but it’s every bit as important to how we perceive the world around us. We can form opinions based on what things smell like even if we’re not aware of smelling them. We also get ‘numb’ to smells over time. If your room no longer smells of anything to you, it’s time for a new fragrance.
There are many room odorizers on the market, and we won’t list them all here, but you’ll be able to pick up something at the closest suitable store to you. Look for floral smells. The smell of flowers coming back into bloom is one we closely associate with spring, and that’s the sensation you should be looking to replicate at home. A room that smells of nothing is a stale room; a little fragrance makes it more interesting.
Re-orient Your Room
There’s going to be a lot more light coming in through your windows quite soon. Is your furniture in the best place to take advantage of it? When is the last time you moved any of your furniture anyway? Does it really make the most sense for it to be where it is?
We’re all guilty of putting furniture – especially large furniture – in one place when we move into a home, and then leaving it there forever. Just because something is in situ doesn’t mean it has to stay there forever. The needs of a house and the people living in it change over time. Would the TV look better in another corner? Is your sofa mostly in darkness, or is it in the best place to capture the light? Could you be getting a better view out of the windows?
Look at your room with fresh eyes, as if you were moving into it today, and decide where you’d put everything if given the chance. If you come up with a different answer to your current furniture arrangement, move it around. You’ll have a whole new room, and a new way of enjoying your home along with it.
None of these ideas should cost you much, and some of them are free. All of them will make a bigger impact on how you see your home than you realize, but you have to try them to find out! Open yourself up to springtime, and have fun doing it.