Simple Ideas To Spruce Up Your Home This Spring/Summer

The arrival of a new season gets many of us thinking about home updates and creating mental mood boards. If you fancy a change, or you’re keen to execute a seasonal makeover, this guide is packed with simple ideas to spruce up your home for spring/summer. 

New colours

Adding new colours to your interiors is one of the easiest and most affordable ways to update your home for a new season, but it’s also one of the most effective. As cold, dark nights give way to blue skies and bright sunshine, many of us gravitate towards crisp, fresh colours. While rich, warming shades can be comforting during the autumn and winter, there’s nothing like breathing life into living spaces with brighter, lighter tones. 

Trends come and go, but popular shades for spring and summer include neutrals, pastels and vivid colours, such as yellow, pink, lime and turquoise. The beauty of adding colour to your home is that you can choose how far to go. Perhaps you love bright colours and you want to make a style statement with painted walls or patterned paper, or maybe you want to inject subtle flashes of colour with a feature wall or accessories.

Personalise your plans based on your style preferences and tastes and the vibe you want to create in that area. Vibrant shades are ideal for creative and social zones while tranquil, calming colours are perfect for bedrooms and spaces you use to relax and unwind. 

Before you buy paint, test samples in natural light. Once you’ve chosen a shade, make sure you’ve got the right tools and prepare the room. You’ll need to cover furniture and wipe the walls before applying primer or the first coat of paint. It’s worth noting that if you’re painting over a coloured wall, you may need several layers. If you’re covering a blue wall with white or beige paint, for example, it may require multiple coats. 

Painting and adding wallpaper are not the only ways to introduce new colours and palettes to your home. If you like the colour of your walls, you don’t have the time or energy to paint, or you want a more subtle aesthetic, accessorising is a brilliant idea. You can use details and finishing touches to transform the space. Examples include vases, plant pots, storage jars, framed pictures and photos, wall art, cushions, throws and rugs. 

New flooring

Flooring serves a practical purpose in our homes, but it can also revamp the look of living areas and alter the feel of the room. If you’re looking to make your interiors more contemporary, you want to channel new trends or you’d like to lighten up your home ready for warmer climes and sun-drenched days, why not explore different flooring options? Fitting high-quality carpets is a fantastic way to add a luxe feel to bedrooms and living rooms while laying wood or wood-effect floors in hallways, offices, dining rooms and kitchens can create the illusion of more space and light while enhancing aesthetics. Visit stores, compare prices and think about the function of each room.

When you’re shopping for new flooring, it’s wise to think about your requirements as well as your aesthetic preferences. If you’re searching for flooring for your kitchen and you have young kids, for example, it may be best to opt for low-maintenance materials that are durable and easy to keep clean.

If you’re on the hunt for a stunning floor for your living room and you have dogs, a darker colour carpet may be better than white, cream or beige. If you love the look of materials such as ceramic tiles and hardwood, but you don’t have the budget or they don’t suit your needs or lifestyle, consider options such as vinyl. 

Innovative storage

Spring is here, which means that many homeowners will embark upon a spring cleaning and decluttering operation. Investing in innovative storage solutions is a fantastic way to make these tasks easier and give your home a revamp for the new season.

Start by clearing out each room and making piles of stuff you want to keep, donate, throw away or sell. Using crafty storage solutions, you can find a home for all the possessions and belongings you’d like to hang onto. Examples of hacks include hanging racks and rails on doors, buying furniture with in-built storage, maximising vertical storage solutions in compact rooms and using storage as an attractive feature. Open shelving, for example, has become more popular in recent years. If you run out of room even with new storage, you could consider hiring a storage unit.

Maximising natural light

When it’s grey and miserable outside, the temptation is to hibernate and get snug at home. We close the curtains, light the fire and snuggle up in cosy spaces, keeping well away from windows and doors. As the mercury rises, it’s wonderful to see sunlight flooding through the windows. Maximising natural light creates open, bright, fresh-feeling interiors. There are many ways to take advantage of natural light in your home, including hanging mirrors on the walls, angling your furniture towards windows and doors and opting for lightweight curtains. Choosing light colours for your walls and floors can also help. 

If your home doesn’t get much natural light, there are solutions. If you’re interested in taking on a bigger project, you could add more windows, opt for French doors instead of standard-size doors or open up smaller rooms to create a larger, lighter living area.

You might also want to explore options, such as adding a skylight in a loft room or a lantern in a contemporary kitchen. Conservatories and orangeries can also help you take advantage of brighter rooms. These structures will add value to your home while also increasing usable living space. 

Embracing new materials

The first glimpses of spring have many of us dreaming of hazy summer days and holidays. We tend to prefer being outside when it’s light until late and the sun is shining. This preference is reflected in interior design trends, which champion and celebrate natural materials and the beauty of nature. Embracing new materials and fabrics is a fabulous way to refresh your home for spring and experiment with new trends. Examples include swapping heavy, cosy and decadent materials such as velvet, wool and faux fur for light, natural fabrics including cotton and linen. You could also introduce materials like bamboo and jute if you’re keen to bring the outdoors in. These materials work particularly well in spaces that combine indoor and outdoor living, such as kitchens that open out onto the garden, covered patios, garden rooms and conservatories. 

Adding flowers and plants

In the spring and summer months, the natural environments around us burst into life, offering incredible opportunities for us to adorn our homes and gardens with beautiful plants and flowers. Having plants in your home creates a fresh, clean feel instantly and it also elevates aesthetics. Studies show that houseplants can also boost productivity and lift your mood. 

There are several ways to introduce plants and flowers to your home with options to suit every style and size of property. From tiny plants in decorative pots to huge potted trees and vast floral displays, you can choose designs and products that cater to your preferences. If you have pets, it’s important to research which plants and flowers are suitable, as some may be toxic to animals. Common examples include tulips, lilies, azaleas and sago palms. 

Creating new focal points

Creating a focal point in a room is an ingenious way to keep up with trends and transition from one season to another seamlessly without breaking the bank or taking on large-scale decorating projects. As the seasons change, you can create a new feature to celebrate different trends and add a new dimension. Take your living room as an example. During the autumn and winter, you might want all your attention to be concentrated on a beautiful fireplace. When it gets warmer, you can switch your focus to new features, such as a stunning vintage mirror, an incredible chandelier, some custom-designed wall art or an eye-catching coloured couch. Think about the overall look of the room, how you use the space and how you want it to feel before deciding what to buy, upcycle or add. It’s a great idea to flick through interior design magazines, get ideas from TV makeover shows and take inspiration from designs or rooms you’ve seen in hotels, restaurants, holiday resorts or stores. 

Spring is finally upon us and many of us are thinking about sprucing up our homes and freshening up our interiors. If you’re planning a mini makeover or a revamp, there are several ways to create a new look without spending a fortune or redecorating your whole home. Examples include introducing new colours, replacing your flooring, investing in innovative storage solutions and maximising natural light. It’s also a fantastic idea to explore and embrace new materials and fabrics, add plants and flowers and create a new focal point in each room.