As the days become a little longer and warmer, we start to look for ways to bring our homes out of hibernation mode, aligning our interiors with the natural world outside. Luckily there are easy ways to update your home for spring, to enliven any space for the new season.
This could mean cleaning your home and organising your home more efficiently, filling a vase with fresh flowers, or adding a couple of new decorative pieces that make your heart sing.
Sometimes, we end up going years without updating our spaces, and this can leave our homes feeling tired and uninspiring. Below, we have gathered easy ways to update your home for spring that you can accomplish quickly and simply, from welcoming in a spring colour palette to clearing out the clutter.
Easy ways to update your home for spring
Implementing simple styling tips and tricks now ensures that by the time the clocks go forward for the March equinox, our spaces will be feeling all fresh and clean for a new season.
1. Clear the clutter
A spring clean is much easier in a cleared space, and decluttering your home can feel very therapeutic.
"Notice anything you don’t much like – you have no obligation to keep anything you don’t enjoy having around you," insists interior therapist and Feng Shui specialist Suzanne Roynon. "This isn’t just about clutter, it goes deeper into the decor, photos, art, and gifts throughout your home." Suzanne has a list of negative things you should declutter from your home as a good place to start.
Suzanne says if anything triggers sad, difficult, stressful, or irritating memories or it just bugs you, it is making life more difficult for you at a subconscious level. "When you spot something which riles, it’s an easy win to deal with it by donating, selling or giving it away to someone who really will appreciate it in their home," she adds.
You can read our round-up of professional decluttering methods to help you get started. Interior designers Jen and Mar from Interior Fox say once you have achieved a sense of simplicity, a new, large vase filled with your favourite flowers is a must.
2. Do a deep clean
If the idea of a spring cleaning checklist feels overwhelming, you could chip away with shorter cleaning tasks spread over a couple of weeks, or hire a professional if you can. Or, if you'd rather get it all done in one go, dedicate a weekend to a big deep clean. Either way, the new season is a good chance to tick off those often neglected tasks, such as cleaning mattresses and cleaning rugs.
'Get duvets and pillows cleaned – hibernation is ending, and the need for heavy quilts and extra blankets is over,' Suzanne Roynon recommends. 'Understandably after a long winter they absorb dust, hair, and skin particles, so before you store them for the warmer months, put them through the washing machine or have them professionally laundered.'
You can head to our guide on spring cleaning small spaces to set you on your way to a squeaky-clean home.
3. Re-energise your space
Suzanne Roynon recommends tapping into the good vibes of this time of year to fill a home with positive energy.
- Invite in some fresh air: "Well-insulated homes mean the oxygen in rooms can become depleted, so throw the windows open whenever the opportunity arises to refresh and revitalise the space," Suzanne suggests.
- Fix problem areas or broken stuff: "Leaks, damaged paintwork, and unusable items all contribute to a sense of neglect in a home, which can transfer to the people living in it,' Suzanne explains. "This is the perfect time to get everything fixed so it won’t be hanging over you."
- Notice where cobwebs form: Suzanne says spiders love still, stagnant energy, but stagnation is the last thing you need for a healthy, wealthy, happy, and successful home. So clear the cobwebs, clean and spruce up the area, and feel the sense of well-being increase around you.
4. Welcome a seasonal scent
'We naturally choose to swap out soft furnishing like cushions and throws to help refresh our homes or adorn them for the new season with fresh blooms to brighten the space. However, scent-scaping a home is often overlooked but can make the world of difference when bringing in a new season,' says ARRAN Sense of Scotland’s fragrance expert, Robin Fisher.
To make a home smell good for spring’s arrival, Robin recommends floral scents – outdoor fragrances like rose, jasmine and geranium in a candle or reed diffuser can bring a fresh long-lasting flower aroma to the space.
"Fresh scents are also popular for this time of year. Eucalyptus, philadelphus, or bergamot are perfect for sprucing up high-traffic areas in the home such as hallways and bathrooms. Try a room spray for a quick scent fix, great for welcoming guests into your home."
Set the scene in any room with an inviting spritz of aroma – choose a light, floral fragrance perfect for spring. This home spray from Arran combining notes of jasmine, tuberose and mellow philadelphus.
This diffuser omits a balanced blend of essential oils including geranium, cedar wood, eucalyptus and lavender, to help rejuvenate any living space.
This new scent is inspired by throwing the windows open in warmer weather - ideal to give homes a spring awaken. The top notes are Tuberose, Orris and Jasmine.
5. Add flashes of new accent colour
When we think of spring, we think of a light, pastel palette of uplifting yellows, blues and lilacs, although the choice is all yours – perhaps Pantone's Colour of the Year 2024 Peach Fuzz is more your thing.
And it's not only about adding the latest interior paint colour trends, adding colour on a smaller scale can still significantly impact the feel of any room.
Lucy Mather from luxury homeware retailer Arighi Bianchi loves to add unexpected flashes of colour in springtime. "These little touches can make you smile and help you transition to the new season."
"Le Creuset has some fabulous colour combinations that instantly brighten up a kitchen – like these rainbow espresso cups, at Arighi Bianchi, or a vibrant yellow butter dish at Arighi Bianchi. Those colours can’t help but bring a touch of joy to your home as we look forward to the brighter months ahead."
As Lucy St George, co-founder of online homeware store Rockett St George suggests, swapping out cushions can effortlessly transform your home from winter to spring. "And let's not overlook the magic of disco balls! Few things rival the enchantment of sunlight bouncing off those tiny mirrored tiles, casting playful patterns of light that dance throughout the room," she says.
6. Rearrange the furniture
The oldest trick in the book, but it really works, and costs nothing – can a chair or rug from the bedroom be moved into the living room? Can you move your houseplants, artwork or console tables around?
Lucy St George says that as well as adding a new throw blanket or colourful cushion to a well-loved leather armchair, simply moving furniture around means we start to look at things from a different aspect.
"Creating a new backdrop to your living space by moving mirrors or artwork can help inject a feeling of newness, too. Once you start, you might not want to stop!" Lucy says. A few simple switches can transform a living room on a budget and make our spaces feel sparkly and new.
7. Add a wall hanging
Wall-hangings and canvases are a big interior design trend for 2024 and are a great way to bring texture, fun patterns and bright colours to walls. "A wall-hanging, tapestry or canvas can easily transform a plain-looking space and is a more unique approach than a mirror," says Marie Goodwin, head designer at Prestigious Textiles.
"A fabric wall-hanging can help to add new colours for spring and makes a feature of a chimney breast or plain wall in a box room. Using fabrics as wall décor helps to soften a space by adding warmth and layered textures, bringing a sense of depth to the room."
In addition to the Macrame Wall Hanging by Dunelm (shown above) we also love this colourful wall hanging from John Lewis and this neutral, linen blend wall art, at H&M Home
8. Update your bedding
As well as switching to a lighter duvet, spring is a good time to invest in fresh new bed sheets. "Bedding is a must-change when spring rolls around," says Melissa Benham, interior design expert at Hammonds Furniture.
"Your bed is the centrepiece of the room, which means you'll need the right bedding or risk causing a clash with your spring-themed decor.
We recommend choosing colourful tones to lift the energy. Don't forget to change your cushions and throws too, so that all the bedding matches the room's decor."
9. Add fresh houseplants
Houseplants are one of the easiest, quickest ways to bring in texture and happy vibes, whether dotted around on shelves or propped up on a rustic wooden houseplant stand. A Kentia palm, at Amazon, gives a beachy, holiday feel, and a Chinese money plant always adds a cheerful touch to coffee tables and desks.
And don't forget to get rid of any plants that are no longer looking their best: "Ditch any sick houseplants or dried flowers – I always think your home reflects your life, and poorly houseplants indicate more than a lack of green fingers," says interiors therapist Suzanne Roynon.
Follow the expert's advice on how to care for orchids and solve why your Peace Lilly tips are turning brown to save your beloved favourites.
"Dried flowers are another haven for stagnation, and we often find them in Feng Shui areas where things aren’t going well for the household," adds Suzanne.
When should you decorate for spring?
"With the bleak mid-winter in full force, now is the perfect time to look ahead to spring and inject some optimism across your interiors," says Helen Joseph, Interior Designer at Redrow. "Our mindset changes with the seasons, so refreshing the way we live in our homes helps us connect once again with the outdoors."
