Decorating & Design
20 Rooms That Will Inspire A Spring Makeover
Updated on May 13, 2016
Breezy and fresh, these rooms illustrate the power of a light decorating touch that incorporates hits of nature. Clear the clutter and trade in heavy hues for watercolor pastels. Witty wallpapers, natural woods, and delicate floral fabrics telegraph spring and keep the mood buoyant. Here are some favorite spaces that will inspire you to lighten up.
Shake up a clean palette with a colorful, graphic rug, bright art and a vase full of cut branches in bloom. Borrow a page from this New York apartment and opt for a crystal chandelier to keep the look airy.
Mix up wall treatments for a fresh look. Senior design editor Sally Armstrong swapped dark blue walls for bright white paint and two walls of graphic yet soft Eskayel wallpaper in her dining room. Fuchsia flowers mimic the deep pink sideboard.
Jump start the greenery outside with a clutch of indoor plants. Don’t underestimate the power of wallpaper to lift a spring look. This bird print picks up on the verdant hues of the potted plants.
When rainy, grey spring days take their toll, fast forward decor with nautical items. Pull up the rugs and let floors make a statement. Designer Montana Burnett instills an instant beach-house feel with shells and hurricane lights.
Play with the ultimate spring motif: florals. This principal bedroom, designed by Katherine Newman, features a cherry blossom light fixture, floral artwork and bed skirt. Softly highlight architectural features — such as the chimney brest — with a whisper-pale lilac wallpaper.
Layering blues and greens together mimics what’s going on in the great outdoors. If this exuberant oversized palm print upholstery is too bold, slipcovers are an economical way to impart a seasonal look. A Lucite scrolled coffee table is a fresh alternative to wood.
Think outside the box and choose a contrasting color for an island. Natalie Hodgins and Kate Stuart of Sarah Richardson Design picked a robin’s egg blue shade for a perennial springtime feel that’s perfect in a cottage kitchen.
Full drapes in a bathroom are unexpectedly lush, yet uplifting. The blue and white mini flower print fabric is complemented by organic touches such as a stump table, fresh flowers and natural stone finishes.
Perk up the powder room with a watery ikat print wallpaper; this soft print helps update a more traditional vanity. Add some fresh tulips and a hammam towel.
Go tonal. The Palm Springs bedroom of VitaminDaily’s Sarah Bancroft picks up the playful appeal of a turquoise croc-print wallpaper and carries it through the geo bedding. Clear off your side tables too, these Lucite versions are barely discernible and clutter free, adding to the spare feel.
Extending tile from the counters right up to the ceiling is a new way to reinvigorate a kitchen. If that seems too daunting, choose some openwork chairs and cage-style light fixtures such as these hanging brass pendants.
A rope bannister and gallery of nautical art, like the one in designer Philip Mitchell’s maritime home, lends a plain stairway a heritage touch.
Amp up a space with juicy greens and forsythia yellow. For an instant, exotic update, Sabrina Linn added thick brown fringe trim to a thrift shop cane settee upholstered in a David Hicks geo print.
If a handpainted treatment (like the one in this Knowlton, Quebec summer house that belongs to design duo Les Ensembliers) isn’t in your budget, a floral wallpaper and outdoorsy rummage sale ladder may be.
Bring the greenery and birds into the bath, whether it’s the real thing like a fiddle leaf fig tree, or it’s a John Derian themed collection of plates that riff on a plant’s foliage.
Turn any room into an English garden in bloom with matching sofas in a blowsy peony chintz upholstery, and accent with pops of pink and real blossoms. Make the fireplace a spring-y focal point with openwork lanterns.
Follow this traditional kitchen’s lead and paint cabinetry and trim a fresh coat of pastel blue paint, and pair with a cheery tile floor to lighten the mood.
Nothing says spring like lilacs (the flower, and the color). Go bold with an oversize print, in this case a self-adhesive wall mural, or layer it in rooms through accessories.
Celebrate nature with graphic elements such as designer James Davie’s vintage German botanical charts and wood-grain print sofa for a conservatory vibe.
Make a room feel atmospheric by riffing on different shades of one color. Sabrina Linn made her bedroom extra glam with lilac walls and a coordinating tufted X bench.