Preparing for Spring: Four Ways to Brighten Your Home

Spring is just around the corner which means warmer weather, budding plants, Easter celebrations, more sunlight, and new life! This time of year is often bursting with hope and excitement for the coming summer, and there is plenty to do to prepare your home for this new season. Keep reading to find out four easy ways to prepare your home for spring.

Spring Cleaning

Perhaps the most obvious thing to do in preparation for spring is…spring cleaning! Something about the end of winter and the new year makes people want to do a deep-clean and declutter of their home. The concept of spring cleaning dates back hundreds of years and often is signified with major religious holidays such as Easter, Passover, and the Persian New Year.

Going through each room in the house and getting rid of clutter and scrubbing all the corners is the best way to feel refreshed with the weather. Spring marks a new beginning, and thoroughly cleaning your house is one of the best ways to feel that. If you can, try to spread your spring cleaning over a few days or even a couple of weeks to make sure that each corner, drawer, and closet in your house is getting the attention it needs. Get the whole family involved with different tasks for everyone. Practicing spring cleaning each year will help establish good cleaning habits with your children. Start by creating a to-do list of everything that needs to be done, split the tasks up, and plan a small reward for the family once it’s done. If done properly, spring cleaning will surely get you in the right mindset for the rest of the year.

Just add color

Color and spring go hand in hand. If you’ve opted for deeper colors and neutrals this winter, try to find a way to add nice pops of color into your home. This year, a lot of interior design trends are about bringing elements of nature into your home, as we discussed in our previous article, 5 Unmissable Paint Trends of 2021. As you walk down the street, you may be greeted with budding yellow tulips, soft pink cherry blossoms, and fresh green grass. Don’t be afraid to bring these colors into your home! An easy and cost-effective way to quickly introduce new colors into a room includes switching out throw-pillows, cushions, blankets, and bedding. Additionally, switching a lamp-shade to a brighter color, or even swapping out decor can quickly brighten up any space.

Houseplants and fresh flowers

Quite literally, spring is the time of year that new plants begin to grow. It’s the perfect time to bring some foliage inside the house as a joyful reminder of the springing new life outside. Additionally, house plants are very trendy at the moment, so will make your house look amazing! When deciding what houseplant to get, be sure to decide where in the house you’d like the plant to live. Take note of how much sunlight or indirect sunlight this area gets, and be sure to keep that in mind as you choose which plant to buy. Most garden center staff will be able to help you choose a plant that’s right for you, and advise you on how to look after it. Opting for a variety of sizes, colors, and type of plants will give your home the best look. Ask the garden center staff about materials to buy to look after your plants.

In addition to potted plants, one of the easiest ways to brighten up any space is with fresh flowers! Sticking with flowers that are in season adds the perfect pop of color. Additionally, fresh flowers can bring a beautiful smell into your home. Putting the fresh flowers in a colored vase is another easy way to add color. After purchasing a bouquet, be sure to cut the stems of the flowers at an angle and add some plant food into the water. Regularly switching this water out will ensure that your flowers stay fresh for as long as possible.

Prepare Your Garden

Your home doesn’t end with your house – it extends into your yard, and nothing is better than a beautifully landscaped garden. Gardening is an activity that the whole family can do. Whether you want to grow flowers, trees, or fruits and veggies, there is something for everyone! According to Psychology Today, “There is substantial evidence that frequent contact with natural environments [such as gardening] has beneficial effects on both physical and mental health, including reduced risk of diabetes, heart disease, enhanced longevity, and for our interest, today, lessening symptoms of stress, depression, and anxiety.”

Now is the perfect time to begin preparing your garden for some spring planting in a few weeks. Whether you need to create garden beds, do some gentle weed-pulling, turn your soil, or contact a landscaper, there is plenty to be done in time for this planting season! Now is also the perfect time to start planning what you want to grow, how you want your garden to look, and to do some research on how to best achieve your vision.

Need help?

Looking to do some renovation this spring? We provide a full range of renovation and design services to bring our clients’ designs to fruition. We oversee and manage the entire remodeling and decorating process. We have ongoing relationships with a range of licensed contractors and skilled craftsmen who work under our supervision on all our projects. They include cabinetmakers, tile setters, upholsterers, furniture makers, carpenters, electricians, and a drapery workroom. Visit our services page to find out more today!


Five Unmissable Paint Trends of 2021

2021 is already going by quickly and now is the time to nail down any New Year trends before this year gets ahead of us. The color of a room is one of the most key parts of interior design and will make or break a room. Every year new colors start to trend, and all of the paint trends of this year have one thing in common. They’re all an attempt to bounce back and heal from the tumultuous 2020. Many of them pay homage to the home we all share: Earth. Very little is as grounding and calming as being in nature, so now we’re bringing those tones into our homes. So get out your paint roller and get ready to get painting with these five unmissable paint trends!

Restorative Neutrals

Up first are restorative neutrals. Neutral colored paints will always be in style, but this year sandy-beige tones are taking center stage. Painting your room a neutral color is a great way to create a calming and bright environment without opting for that hospital-like pure white. It creates a beautiful foundation to incorporate colors in other ways.

I recently remodeled a dining room for a client. They originally had a very bright red color that wasn’t right for the space. It made the room seem smaller and darker. As with many of my designs, I started with a beautiful oriental rug that had a lot of green and sandy shades in it. We decided to repaint the walls with Benjamin Moore HC-99 Abingdon Putty, a great neutral tone that blended with the rug beautifully, while still allowing the greens to shine. Just check out the before and after!

Grounded Earthy Tones

As stated above, many of the trends of this year pay homage to nature and grounded earthy tones are at the top of the list. Surrounding yourself and your family with earthy tones will create a calming and comforting atmosphere for everyone to slowly get back on their feet. We painted this entryway with Farrow & Ball’s Elephant’s Breath – a beautiful grounded neutral tone. It’s reminiscent of rocks and mountains, perfect for this gorgeous winding stairwell. It paired beautifully with a brilliant white for the trimming and provided a lovely contrast to the darker woods on the stairs. Once again, this shade creates a bright and serene environment which is just what you want to come home to.

Serene Greens & Olive

Serene Greens and olive tones strike a beautiful balance of color without being too bright. These shades of green are extremely welcoming and calming. Being in a room that’s painted with the right shade of green can make you feel like you’re walking along a forest path, surrounded by animals, plants, and sounds of nature. Serene Greens and Olive tones also make fantastic accent walls. It’s a perfect shade for houseplant-lovers, as the green will complement your plants and help them shine. Opting for a color like Sap Green or Olive from Farrow & Ball is perfect for feeling cozy and safe in this new year. Sap Green is even part of the Color by Nature palette, which was created in collaboration with the UK’s Natural History Museum to, “bring the true colors of nature into your home.”

Warming Reds & Mulberry Tones

If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that I absolutely love warming reds & mulberry tones. These are such comforting but invigorating colors that are perfect for all year round – not just the holidays! As discussed in our article about picking the perfect paint color for your home office, red can inspire passion and adventure, and evoke a sense of urgency. If there’s one trending color this year that is all about the bounce back, it’s the red tones. However, red has to be used in the correct way to have the right effect. Oftentimes when an entire room is painted red, it can feel overwhelming. I often choose red as an accent color, as seen here where I used a Benjamin Moore Mexicana to paint this built-in bookcase. It’s created such a lovely reading nook, energizing you to get all your reading done in 2021!

Calming & Smooth Blues

Calming and Smooth Blues are perfect for anyone who loves the ocean. Blue is known to stimulate the mind and increase productivity while maintaining a calm effect, which is exactly what a lot of people need in this new year. A shade like UltraMarine by Farrow & Ball is a perfect soothing blue with a slightly romantic and nostalgic edge. It’s also a part of the UK’s National History Museum’s Color by Nature Palette, officially deemed the ultimate ocean color! Once again, blues work as fantastic accent colors. I didn’t design the room below, but I love how they incorporated the gold with the smooth blue accent wall!

Need help choosing?

We want to help! Interior design can be intimidating if you’re just starting out. Let us take that stress away for you. We offer an array of services from painting to full renovations, and we always put our clients at the center of every design we do. Head to our services page to learn how we can help you today.

Want to learn more about paint? Check out our article on picking the perfect paint color, or how to choose the perfect paint for your home office.


Celebrating the Grand Millennial: Ideas & Inspiration

This New Year we are challenging ourselves to grow, finding new ways to design, and celebrating all the victories! In 2020, I had the pleasure of working with Nicole Catherine, a young professional who was looking to build a home for her new family. Nicole is a big fan of mixing older items with a modern flare. She considers herself a Grand Millennial: a younger person who loves all things old AND new!

What is a Grand Millennial?

After working with Nicole, she told me, “Since I was a little, I’ve always loved to collect vintage pieces here and there. Now having my own home to make ours, I am always searching for the details that will complete the room and bring it character. I proudly wear the title of “grand millennial” a love for everything antique and what you might find in your grandmothers home. Combining decor from today and yesterday/year makes the home feel collected and unique. The hunt is also one of my favorite parts of collecting as well as watching a home come to life!”

Nicole’s Grand Millennial Home – The Dining Room

This view of her dining room gives insight straightaway into how vintage and modern items can work seamlessly together. People flooded her instagram calling her home, “a literal dream.” The French chest is a vintage piece, paired with an antique mirror and vintage oyster plates. The table and chairs are kept in a neutral tone to allow the eye to be drawn to the decor and beautiful chandelier. Lighter toned furniture and wood naturally feels more modern. And although the chandelier is also new, she’s matched the bronze with the bronze around the mirror. Green tones from the oyster plates match seamlessly with the green in her house plants.

The tiger statue is reminiscent of vintage decor, but provides a lovely pop of color against the grey vase, which matches the grey marble on top of the French Chest.

Needless to say, this Grand Millennial room is an absolute delight to look at, and even better to sit and have dinner in!

Grand Millennial Cushions

In a different corner of her home, she features cushions made by Kelley Astore Interiors! To help her achieve the Grand Millennial look, I chose a green and white check to be paired with the delicate green and off-white floral printed cushions. Going for toned-down florals is a great way to achieve a modern-vintage look. The floral pattern reminds you of older chintz, but the design is subtle. Pairing these cushions on this white bench with a shiny bronze mirror above allows them to fill the space without taking too much attention!

Upcycled Furniture

Another easy way to achieve the Grand Millennial look is by upcycling antique furniture! We had the pleasure of restoring these chairs (we were brought the image in the left and gave her the chairs on the right!). Restoring an item is more sustainable, and allows you to choose which features to keep. We stripped them down and gave them new springs, webbing, and fabric. But we were able to keep the beautiful wooden frame. I chose a green and white check pattern with some more neutral toned cushions. Once again, both of these patterns date back decades, but presenting them in brighter more neutral colors really does give them a modern spin.

Remembering the past, Looking to the future

We had so much fun working with Nicole, and we are looking forward to incorporating more Grand Millennial designs into our work in the future!

Interested in renovating? Head to our services page to see how we can help you create the home of your dreams!


Kelley Astore Interiors

Expert Interior Design & Renovation Services of Every Style.

Where We Work

Northern Virginia, Washington, DC,
and the Greater Washington Area

GET IN TOUCH
Connect

Privacy Settings
We use cookies to enhance your experience while using our website. If you are using our Services via a browser you can restrict, block or remove cookies through your web browser settings. We also use content and scripts from third parties that may use tracking technologies. You can selectively provide your consent below to allow such third party embeds. For complete information about the cookies we use, data we collect and how we process them, please check our Privacy Policy
Youtube
Consent to display content from Youtube
Vimeo
Consent to display content from Vimeo
Google Maps
Consent to display content from Google
Call Now ButtonCall Us For A Quote!