One Simple, Free, No-Contact Way to Celebrate Spring This Year

Apartment Therapy Weekend Projects is a guided program designed to help you get the happy, healthy home you’ve always wanted, one weekend at a time. Sign up now for email updates so you never miss a lesson.

Spring feels a little different this year. (OK, a lot different.) But it’s still spring, and there’s something small you can do to celebrate the season, with its blooming flowers and warm weather, no matter where you are or what you’re doing.

Having plant life indoors is beautiful and instantly elevates the look of any room. But greenery indoors isn’t just for looks. Perhaps because of their beauty, plants have a positive effect on our mood and stress levels. To those of us who love plants, this seems abundantly obvious, but the effect holds true even in less personal environments, like buildings with indoor landscaping. This suggests that there’s something deeper at work in the correlation between indoor greenery and individuals’ well-being. Maybe because bringing the outdoors in is a way for us to reconnect with nature, which is a known mood booster.

If you needed convincing, we hope you’ve gotten it, because this weekend’s project is to invite the outdoors in and enjoy all the perks of doing it.

There are a number of ways to do this. You could order a plant from an online nursery like The Sill, or see if your local nursery is open for deliveries. Or call up a small-business florist nearby and order an arrangement just for you.

Still, the simplest and easiest thing to do—which still gives you the great benefits of bringing the outdoors in—is bringing in cut greenery from outside. Grab clippers and cut some branches from a flowering tree or even just some leafy stems from a bush (if it’s not your tree or bush, ask its owner first!). Fill a jar or vase with water and stick your branches in for instant, free verdure.

Having fresh flowers or cut greenery in the house, say, on the kitchen counter or displayed on the dining table, will also encourage you to keep your home neat and tidy. That one bright spot of color and joy could be just the pleasant nudge you need to deal with the paper pile or clear the table right after your meals.

You can catch up with weekend projects right here. Share your progress with us and others by posting updates and photos on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #atweekendproject.

Remember: This is about improvement, not perfection. Each week you can either choose to work on the assignment we’ve sent you, or tackle another project you’ve been meaning to get to. It’s also completely okay to skip a weekend if you’re busy or not feeling the assignment.