Brighter days make everyone think of summer and better times ahead. But before it’s time for suntan lotion and cocktails in the garden, there are a few changes you can make to update your home for Spring and brighten up your interior. They don’t need to be expensive changes or take a lot of time, but they can have big impact.
I have selected Irish suppliers for any suggested accessories, but just decluttering and cleaning your home and bringing in some fresh flowers from the garden is a great way to signal the start of Spring. You can shop your home and change around pieces from room to room to freshen things up and give your home a new look.
If you want to make some bigger changes to your home then have a read through my step-by-step plan “How to update your home room by room”
Or if you would like my help with design or inspiration before tackling your home get in touch with me here. I’d love to hear from you.
Declutter and clean you home
The best way to update your home for Spring that doesn’t cost anything is to clean and declutter your home. “Oh no” I hear you say. I know, I’m exactly the same but it is worth it, I promise you.
Spring is traditionally a time for cleaning and getting rid of excess “stuff”. It can be overwhelming to try and declutter and clean the whole house in one go. You will likely get overwhelmed and give up. To avoid this it’s a good idea to take it a little piece at a time. Choose a drawer or a corner of the countertop and give yourself a time limit and just get it done. And as you work your way through the rooms in your home you will start to feel more comfortable in your home. You will be so glad you did it, trust me.
Related: How to feel happier in your home
Fill your home with Spring flowers and plants
One simple way to update your home for Spring is to bring in some fresh flowers. Flowers always brighten a space and you can get beautiful seasonal flowers from your local florist or supermarket. For Spring daffodils, tulips and freesia are plentiful. Again to be more sustainable and environmentally friendly rather than buy cut flowers you could buy potted flowers that you can grow indoors or plant in window boxes so you can see them when you are inside looking out.
Hugely popular at the moment are dried and preserved flowers. They last a lot longer than cut flowers and add colour and texture to a room. I have been able to dry baby’s breath and pampas grass successfully at home by just leaving them in vases without water but if you want a more polished display there are lots of Irish stores stocking beautiful dried bouquets now.
Another option to get some greenery into your home is to introduce some indoor plants. Plants add texture, life and interest to your interior spaces. I’ve written about some of the easiest indoor plants to look after here. Your local nursery will have a good selection and will also be able to give you some good advice on what plant to get and how to care for them, depending on where you want the plant to go.
Sensory scents for Spring
The scent of fresh flowers in a home is beautiful but if you prefer to use candles or diffusers now might be the time to change them up for fresher scents like citrus or floral. There are so many high quality Irish made candles and diffusers available at the moment. It is worth trying different ones until you find one you love.
Update your art work
One way to freshen up your home is to change up your artwork and introduce new art pieces that will make you smile every time you look at them. A gallery wall is a great way of decorating a blank wall and my tip is to stick with the same colour frame and then use any colour art in them. Alternatively if you want to go for a more eclectic feel you could mix up frame styles and colours. It very much depends on the feeling you are going for in the room.
There are great original Irish art pieces available or you can source fun Irish prints online.
If you don’t want to commit to a gallery wall you could always put up art shelves so that you can change the artwork as you like. These shelves from B&Q were reasonable and you can get them in different lengths and colours.
Change out your cushions and throws for lighter, brighter pieces
A nice was to update your home for Spring is to change your soft furnishings. Some people have a completely different set of rugs, curtains, cushions and throws for winter and summer. Even if you are not that organised a simple update is to change out your heavy, fluffy blankets for lighter coloured, lighter material throws. You can get some bright cushion covers to cover your existing cushions and put away your darker colours until next Autumn. Another change you could make is to take down heavy curtains and just leave blinds on the windows for the Summer. You will be surprised at the amount of extra light that comes in. Again, you don’t have to buy new items, you could shop your home and move cushions and throws from bedrooms to the sitting room and vice versa.
Change your bedding for lighter colours
As it gets warmer with Spring approaching, now might a good time to change your duvet to a lower tog rating. You may have had a 13.5 tog duvet on the bed for the colder winter months but you could move to a 10.5 or a 7.5 tog for the Spring and Summer, depending on how warm your house is. Another Spring change to make is to take the electric blanket off the bed, if you were using one. It is a good time to rotate the mattress too. Depending on your type of mattress manufacturers recommend doing this 2-4 times a year.
While you are changing up your bedroom you could also change your bedding to cotton if you have been using flannel. White bedding can look really crisp and fresh for Spring and you can accessorise it with brighter cushions and throws.
Reorganise your furniture
Now that you have decluttered and cleaned your rooms this might be the time to move around some of the furniture in your rooms to make the rooms flow better. Maybe over the last few months you have changed how you use the rooms in your home, setting up a home office, a homework corner, an exercise space etc. Look and see what changes you want to keep and rearrange the rooms accordingly. Make sure you have space around your furniture pieces and that you can walk comfortably through your rooms.
You might also want to remove some pieces of furniture that you no longer use and pass them on to others or sell them online.
So do you make any updates to your home to welcome in the Spring?
Let me know in the comments below…
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Thank you so much for sharing! We are working really hard to get our home looking the way we want to host some spring parties this year. We just barely finished a hardwood floor resurfacing, so now all we need to do is get the right decor set up. Thanks again!