10 Ways to Bring Spring Into Your Living Room

Spring clean: Give the floors and walls a good cleaning. Wipe down the door jambs and clean the light fixtures. If you don’t want to do it yourself, spring for maid service.

Toss the trash: Living room’s quickly accumulate old magazines, newspapers and books. Return books to their shelves and recycle, donate or toss the newspapers and magazines.

Declutter your knick-knacks: Bare is better in hot weather. It's visually cooling.

Declutter your pillows: Or consider recovering them in a lightweight fabric.

Open your windows: Let the fresh air circulate through the room. If you have curtains, now’s the time to take them down and have them dry cleaned and pressed. If you have miniblinds or shades, give them a good dusting. You may even want to take them down and wash them. Blinds can easily be washed in the bathtub.

Bring the outdoors inside: We know most people are putting their plants outside but we like to purchase a few to put inside our homes. In addition to adding colour and beauty, they clean the air. And, of course, we always have bunches of seasonal flowers around.

Decorate with fruit – and eat it: A big bowl of oranges, green apples or a sculptural artichoke look good and are good for you.

Rethink your furniture arrangement: With more time spent entertaining and less time in front of the television cozied up under a throw watching television, it might be time to reorient your room. Pull the furniture off the walls. Do you have a great window or a great view? Look at that instead.

Have your rugs cleaned and consider storing them for the summer: Bare floors are cooling for bare feet and lighten a room visually.

Swap out your candles for spring scents: Or cut open some citrus and let the fresh scent permeate your room.

RELATED LINKS:

Spring Cleaning the Container Garden

Spring Cure: How Tos

Look! Chartreuse May Be Hot This Spring!

Sneak Peek: Ikea Spring 2008 Products

[Image from Living Etc.]

Swap out your candles for spring scents: Or cut open some citrus and let the fresh scent permeate your room.

What a great idea!

posted by kimg924 on April 10th 2008 at 1:30pm
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Can anyone tell me where that gorgeous picture is from? I want to kidnap that living room and make it my own!

posted by katiemarie3 on April 10th 2008 at 1:52pm
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i believe its from an old issue of Living Etc.

posted by my little apartment on April 10th 2008 at 8:09pm
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katiemarie3,

i found it in the galleries on the living etc website. click on the link at the bottom of the page to go to their website.

posted by Maxwell on April 10th 2008 at 8:11pm
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that last comment was from me, abby.

My spring gift to myself is going to be a Miele vacuum cleaner. BTW, minor quibble: I'm trying to picture what "creeping in with a vengence" actually means. Sarcastic comment about slow arrival of spring? Sneaking up with ill intent?

posted by KarenH on April 11th 2008 at 6:55am
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I love that old mirror!!!!! I want one SOOOOO bad now!

posted by glassesgirl on April 11th 2008 at 11:11am
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Thank you!

posted by katiemarie3 on April 11th 2008 at 2:10pm
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