Updating Your Home In Time For Spring

By Rachael Djerbi

Article Word Count: 570

It has been decided in the fickle world of fashion that this year's must have colour is white. OK for those who don't carry any weight but not so great for those of us who do! But as an interior designer I can't help but shout hallelujah, finally some common sense that we can apply to the changing fashions of home interiors.

For those of us who have already adopted white as a base colour to our surroundings, white being the new black this year is great news. I recommend always having light neutral colours as a backdrop and then add in colours with clever use of accessories which can be changed when the mood takes us or when the next colour becomes the new black.

Although the old trick of having one accent wall in another colour has been around for a while now, it really does work. This has now been updated with a lot more use of wallpapers as more and more designers and manufacturers are paying a lot of attention to contemporary designs for their papers, often with stunning effect.

So, what can be done to bring our homes bang up to date and give our spirits a much-needed boost in time for spring? First thing's first, if you're still harbouring multi-coloured rooms with colour-dictating paint or paper, banish them and bring your walls back to a neutral colour, white if you follow fashion closely! Then carefully accessorise the rooms with colours and accents that lift your mood, make you feel alive and most importantly, make you want to stay in the room forever!

Great mood-lifting colours for spring time are hot pinks teamed with pastel shades, yellows and light floral patterns of yellows and blues. Duck-egg is great to bring in subtle colour without dominating a scheme.

Clever ways to bring colour into a neutral base is by carefully selecting cushions, throws, dressing a dining table with coordinating linens and tableware. Paying attention to how your bed linen will work in your colour scheme will also help bring the scheme together - if your bed linen has seen better days and is sporting bold heavy patterns from a decade ago, it's time to update it for something neutral which you can accessorise with scatter cushions and sumptuous throws.

Spring time also means it's time to banish the clutter that you've been hoarding since before Christmas. An easy way to do this without feeling overwhelmed to the point of giving up before you've even started is to take one room at a time and spend 30 minutes to 1 hour each day on the room until it's done, then move on to the next one. What works for me is to write a list of things that need doing in each room, tackle 3 or 4 items on the list per day and before you know it, list completed!

I hope this article has inspired you to tackle problem areas in your home and give your home a well deserved update.

An interior designer who has recently branched out and launched her own range of interior accessories aimed at those who live contemporary lifestyles and demand something different. For more ideas on accessorising, check out my website http://www.abodelifestyle.com/ If you'd like some informal design advice, you can contact me through the website by clicking on the Contact Us page. For other home ideas visit my Blog page at http://www.abodelifestyle.com/.