The days are getting longer, sun and light are flooding in and spring is in the air. Why not take this wonderful opportunity to clean and refresh your home with a new wash of color. Let's get rid of the winter color palette of rust, brown and gold. Take that wreath off the door, the twinkle lights off the front porch and bring in the yellows, greens, lavenders, blues and pinks of a new season.
First you should pick an accent color that you really love. Many discount chain stores come out with new and vibrant seasonal colors each year. You can start by replacing your bathroom towels, rug and shower curtain with something lush and inviting with coordinating or complementary colors.
Then introduce new dish towels, rug and pot holders in the kitchen, plus a nice bright welcome mat to make just walking in to your home a treat. Ideally you're looking for the maximum aesthetic impact with little investment.
The living room can be given an immediate lift with a few pillows, an area rug and replacing that heavy woolen or fleece blanket with a light woven cotton throw. Store your damask and chintz drapes and replace them with white or cream sheers that blow in the breeze when you open the windows.
Your home's sanctuary
Now onto the bedroom and new linens. A comforter or duvet cover is a wonderful new treat. Big stores have some bed-in-a-bag bargains with complete sets, including sheets and shams. One has delightfully innovative duvet covers with wonderful graphic designs and two shams.
If you are crafty and have the time, discount stores have very affordable textiles to make your own duvet. Running up your own duvet cover with two side seams and an overlap at the bottom and a couple of pillow covers with the same pattern will give you a designer look for a fraction of the price.
Also, you can put your old comforter in the new cover so you don't have to buy another duvet. A couple of new lampshades can make your old lamps look like new. Taken together your bedroom will have had a complete make over.
Bring the blooms
Next enhance each room with something to bring this season of growth inside. If you loved the pine smell of your Christmas tree, now think of the fragrance of daffodils and hyacinths. The size of your home should determine what you buy.
If you can fit a tree, buy a tree! Bamboo is light and full and will look fabulous with those sheers in the living room. Variegated leaves in some trees have a lovely light and dark combination to play with. Plant it in a great terra cotta pot or a woven basket weave, something equally organic and green, anything but the plastic container it came in.
If you don't have room for a tree, plants and blooming bulbs are wonderful for color and fragrance. I saw one that has a great wide-bell jar with perhaps a dozen tulip bulbs lining the bottom, which are much longer lasting than cut flowers. They also serve as a science experiment for the kids who will enjoy watching the roots and shoots grow.
Nothing beats fresh flowers to welcome home the new season. Buy on Fridays so you have the weekends to enjoy them more. You don't need the $20 bouquet either. Spring flowers are generally $5 to $6 a bunch, and the astonishing colors only need a small glass vase to enliven any room. If you are away from home at intervals or just don't like the upkeep of live plants, there are wonderful silk trees and plants now that are hard to tell from the real thing, just wash them once in awhile to keep dust off the leaves.
The whole idea of treating your home to a little facelift as each season passes into the next is a way of having your life be a little more joyful each morning as you wake up and each evening when you come home. It's a little present to yourself to help you always feel right at home.
Susan E. Gold, ASP and IAHSP, may be reached via mptimes@nwlink.com.
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