Spring Fresh

Well winter is over...At least in my neck of the woods it's most likely over.  We've already seen days with temperatures at 90F, though nights and early mornings can be cool and yesterday was miserably damp and chilly.  Nevertheless a new season is here.    

I don't know about you but I needed to see the change of season indoors.  I wanted something fresh.  I had a budget of $20 to do all I wanted to do.  Yeah.  It didn't go far, lol. I spent it all in one place and it made exactly one spot look nice for about a week.  

Well...now my budget was $0 and I'm shocked to tell you that I made it go a long way towards making things look different.

Here's what I did:

I moved the orchids from the mantel to the dining room buffet.  The menorah was on the dresser at the entry, as was the small plaque.  All I moved from this area was an old crock.  I like the live plants here and think come summer I will put African violets or something else that is indoors friendly here.

I made a new centerpiece for the dining room table.  I happened to have seen a photo in my files that I'd torn from a Martha Stewart Living magazine. I wanted to make something similar  Her version featured live daffodils.  I had some daffodil floral picks but they were looking the worse for storage.

                                                  Martha Stewart Living

This is my version:

I wanted to use the rabbit and added the chick a bit later, feeling I needed the extra color.  I opted to buy green colored Spanish Moss rather than the other moss.  I bought the moss several weeks ago with this project in mind but all else was on hand.  The forsythia picks were borrowed from the back door wreath.

The mirror below was actually on the now blank wall by the front door, just above the printer.  I had a wall full of pictures here but felt it looked busy with the living room galley wall.  I was aiming for a much quieter, calmer feeling to the two rooms.  I think the stress of the past week had worn me down...and I strongly believe we should shape our interiors to reflect what we want to feel.

The bottle and floral picks you see here are where I spent $17 of the $20 previous budget (the other $3 paid for the Spanish moss in the dining table centerpiece basket). Originally I used the bottles and floral sprays as my centerpiece on the dining table.  I liked them there but kept feeling it wasn't quite right.  I like them here on the dresser very well.

I like the mirror so much better here, too.  For one thing it takes the light of the window and easily doubles it.  I've never experienced such brightness in the dining area/front entry before.  It's always photographed very dark.  Just look at how bright it looks!  That's with  a very cloudy day outside the sheers at the window!  I am amazed.

I saw a photograph at Christmas that inspired me for the entryway above.  I am seriously thinking I'd like to paint my mirror frame black.  This vignette from Fari Designs was my stepping off point.  I loved the old typewriter, the black mirror, the black desk.  It reminded me of the pieces I had (black dresser, big framed mirror, an old typewriter).

 

                                                        photo by   Fari Designs

The mantel needed to be addressed.  I'd had the orchids here since the buds filled out.  I really love the way the mantel looks right now and think this could work for me all through the warmer months.

I moved the ivy from the shelf in the back entry, the black and white hen on the little shelf is from that same spot.  The quail on the left of the mantel were originally on the little shelf.   The pair of pheasant weren't used this year but I brought them out to use for spring/summer.

The milk glass creamer with the creamy flowers on the left is a real little makeover story.  The creamer is broken at the spout lip, but it was Big Mama's and I have the matching sugar bowl.  I don't want to toss it so I keep finding uses for the creamer.   Last May, daughter in law Lori gave me a bouquet of cake balls that she'd put in a flower pot.  She used some of the flowers to nest the cake balls and then used the dissembled flower stems and stamens to fill in.  She handed me a zip baggy of flower parts at the time. Well I found them this week when I was sorting out the guest room armoire and I put them together and then gathered them in the creamer.  I originally put them at bedside in that room but I think they really add to the mantel.

I've been shifting furniture about for the last few weeks.  John's recliner is really too short for him.  I need to make a new cushion to soften the seat on it.  So originally I moved the bigger recliner for him to use.  I couldn't stand that the slipcover on that would not stay in place for even just one second.  I finally gave up straightening it and moved my chair over in into it's place.  I moved the wing chair into my spot and the smaller ottoman from the chair in the kitchen sitting.  I added the little bench to hold my laptop.  I cleaned off the top of the book case and moved my great grandmother's lamp into that spot along with a little ironstone pitcher and child's cup.

The two recliners now share the other side of the room.  I found the white pottery bowl at a thrift store last year.  I want to put succulents in it, either real ones or faux.  It would be cute with cactus too, but I'm afraid the grandchildren would damage themselves with those.  Unless I find realistic looking faux ones.

And that is my $20 Spring makeover.  I think it looks lovely and fresh and find it very restful. I think I'm going to enjoy this room for the warmer months.