Spruce Up Your Space For Spring

Spruce Up Your Space For Spring. During the winter months, your home will have gathered some clutter and been kept as warm and cozy as possible. Now that spring is upon us, you do not need to feel quite so wrapped up and it is time to get you and your home ready for the new season.

You can get your home ready for spring without spending many dollars by breathing new life into it as the flowers bloom and the birds sing their first songs of the year…

Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning is not a tradition without reason. Your home will have gathered dust and clutter while you were more interested in staying warm and now is the time to get it sorted.

Empty each room of its accessories like ornaments and books. What you are left with will be much simpler to clean, and it will also be easier to move things around so that underneath the furniture gets done too.

Then before you put anything back, consider carefully if you really need it. There will always be things that have outgrown their usefulness or can be put away until next winter. Either dispose of them or store them and suddenly you will find that you are putting a lot less back into the room. This will not only look better, but it will also help to keep the cleaning work to a minimum.

When you have done this to every room in your home, then you can start to consider the other things you need to do to be ready for spring.

Change A Color Or Two

If a spring clean is not enough to give a room a fresh look, consider painting the walls in a different color. Spring colors tend to be pale but vibrant such as yellows, light blues, and pinks.

If you have to paint the walls of a couple of rooms to make them look better, it will not cost a fortune and could make a huge difference. If it is bedrooms you are painting, you may want to splash out on some new bed linen to match the color you have chosen, or in the living room, it could be that some new cushion covers would do the job.

Even the kitchen and bathrooms could benefit from a coat of paint on the walls to help make them more inviting.

If you have heavy drapes for the winter and lighter ones for the spring, now is the time to change those too. They will possibly be different colors, and the change they will give will make you feel more like spring has arrived.

Refurbish, Not Replace

If you have some furniture that has seen better days, do not be in too much of a rush to throw it away and replace it. Often, with some loving attention, you can refurbish pieces and save yourself a small fortune. Kitchen chairs, for example, could just need the old paint stripped off and a new one applied. Chairs and seats can benefit from having new material affixed, and cushions from having new covers.

If you have no idea where to start with these things, there are plenty of online tutorials to help you. You just need to remember that if you are working on something you were going to throw away, and you mess it up, you are no worse off than before you started, as the piece can still go in the trash if need be.

Of course, there will always be some jobs that you should not even attempt yourself. Electrics, plumbing, fitting windows, a new roof, and many other jobs should be done by experts. You will always find people accredited with the skills you need, and they have the bonus of insurance if something goes wrong.  Patio doors, come with a warranty that you would not have if you tried to fit them yourself. So, work out what you can comfortably do and what you cannot or should not and act accordingly for the best results.

Aromas

When you are outside you will be able to smell the freshly cut lawns, the new flowers in bloom, and the blossom on the trees. Why not take some of those spring aromas into your home?

There is more than one way to do this. You could buy scented candles, plain ones, and some essential oils. These will give your home a pleasant smell of spring as long as they are burning. You can buy essential oils that help you to relax, and others that promote a good night’s sleep. There is a huge variety of them, all with differing effects. You should look into what they do before spending any money on them.

The alternative is to introduce nature into your home with some plants or vases of fresh flowers. The advantage of the plants is that they will not need to be changed every few days, but for most people, there is something special about having freshly cut flowers in their homes.

Plants and flowers are also good as they take away the carbon monoxide in the air and replace it with oxygen. This will mean that even on a chilly spring evening when you need to close all the windows, the air in your home will stay fresher because of their presence.

Change Your Wall Hangings

Move your pictures around and you may be surprised how suddenly you start to notice them again. When something has been in the same place for a long time, it is easy just to walk past it without a second glance.

You could even change some of them totally. Perhaps put some family photos in some of the frames, or be really brave and paint a piece of art yourself.  It does not need to be a masterpiece to be effective, but just something that matches the tone of the room. Some people get creative by stretching a piece of colorful material over a frame, and that can work just as well.

If your mirrors are in the right place they are probably best left as they are. Mirrors reflect the light from windows and will make a room look brighter and larger. This happens to a greater extent if they are placed opposite a window and if that is where your mirrors are, then leave them there.

Make Sure The Lights All Work

You should go around your home and make sure the lights are all working and that none of them need a replacement bulb. Good lighting in a home is crucial, as your family should have the choice between having a bright light and a duller one, depending on what they are doing. It could also be the time to replace any light fittings that are looking past their age.

Light fittings do not need to be expensive, but a new shade on a lamp, or fitting in the center of your living room ceiling, can make a difference to the amount of light in the room.

Are You Ready For Spring?

Every home and family is different, and only you will know what your home needs to make it ready for spring. The above are a few suggestions to help you on the way, but there are no doubt other things that you and your family will want to do.

The key is being prepared and having a plan in regard to what you want to do. Completing jobs in the wrong order can mean that some work has to be duplicated, and that is something you want to avoid if possible. For instance, do not put your accessories back into rooms until the room has had its deep clean, or you will just have more items to move around during the cleaning process.