Make your home sparkle in time for summer with tips for a spring spruce-up from interiors writer Carol Burns.
Part of the job of an interiors writer is to bring you the best things on offer each season. But making changes every season is a little excessive, so I’m here to help you make the most of what you’ve got. And so we move to “gleaming”. More than just shiny clean surfaces or a twinkle in the eye, gleaming is about making sure everything in your house shines, metaphorically speaking.
Get ready to gleam
Tidy-up gurus advise cleaning rooms out and considering each possession before allowing re-entry. The idea is to only keep things that bring you pleasure, even the practical things. Start with one room (the living room is the obvious choice). Try something a little easier that will only take you a morning to do.
Start by removing cushions, throws and the shelf- and table-dwelling trinkets that you only notice when it’s time to polish them. Household plants have a habit of outgrowing their home (if you are looking after them properly).
Take any plants out of your room, and put them in your kitchen or utility room where you can re-pot, feed or top up their soil before finding new homes. If you enjoyed this little exercise, you can turn your attention to the walls. Framed artworks, photographs and canvases can all come down off the wall (leave up the fixings for now).
Moving things around will help you see them in a new light. The aim here is to shuffle wall-dwelling décor around your home. You might find room for some new pieces or decide some no longer deserve a place on your wall. Next up, take down your window treatments and roll up your rugs.
For experienced gleamers…
You can go further and whitewash the walls to create a literal blank space to work with. It is a brilliant way of looking at your home anew; the last time I did it, I decided to leave the white on the walls, everything else stayed the same.
Kitchens and bathrooms are great rooms to give the blank space treatment. Decluttering alone can make a huge difference, but giving them a whitewash will allow you to judge the space and the fixtures and fittings in all their glory. I hope these tips give you the confidence to try it for yourself. Happy gleaming!
Room to renew
Try these tips for sprucing up each room in your house.
Bathroom hacks
Redoing the bathroom is a major undertaking, but refreshing it will probably be enough. New tiles, painting or even something as simple as swapping out the towels can create a new look.
Kitchen wraps
If your kitchen units look out of place in your newly gleamed home, consider painting or wrapping them. Wrapping is a great way to add colour, especially if you choose to redecorate. Wrapping is a form of shrink wrap that can be bought in loads of different colours. It can also be removed.
Bedrooms
Your bed is the showcase item in your bedroom and deserves to be treated as such. You might not be looking for a full revamp, but investing in new bed linen for the season should be top of the list. If you are all about white Egyptian cotton, try going for a single colour, as dark as you can tolerate so it adds impact.
Living rooms
Soft furnishing accessories and plants are the easiest changes we can make to our room, and after the heavy fabrics of winter, vibrant cotton and linens will make your sofa zing.
Words: Carol Burns. Images: Various brands
