Room by Room Guide to Updating Your Home this Spring-Summer

Spring is the perfect time to refresh your home and give it some well-deserved TLC, but it can be hard to know where to start and how to ensure your interior tweaks are both stylish and functional.

Updating your home needn’t be an arduous or expensive task, so firstly, don’t feel daunted. If you really want to make some upgrades, it doesn’t always have to mean ripping everything out and starting from scratch.

Armed with a few simple tips and tricks, we can easily update our homes with minimal spending, focusing instead on modernising existing design elements, tweaking layouts, decluttering, adding greenery, or creating some simple stylistic flourishes to inject personality and dynamism.

Breaking down design elements by room it’s much easier to work out what really needs refreshing and updating and should help drive out any potential overwhelm at the thought of renovating your entire home.

Kitchen

The kitchen is the heart of the home, so ensuring it’s a welcoming and inviting space is vital.

One of the easiest ways to refresh your kitchen is with a lick of paint. To make the space feel airy and bright opt for soothing, neutral colours. But if the kitchen is the main entertaining space you might want to have some fun with a bolder look to inject some personality.

There’s no need to spend money on replacing tired cabinets; simply update them with a new coat of paint, switch out the handles and they’ll look brand new. Go for playful bright colours that inspire positivity and creativity – key mindsets for any meal prep or family mealtimes. Feature walls also work well in kitchens.

Utilise your floorspace by covering tired flooring with a colourful washable rug or invest in adhesive tiles, which can be placed on top of existing flooring with minimal fuss.

Rather than allowing cookbooks to be stored in a forgotten corner of your home, why not fit shelving in the kitchen that allows you to display your cookbooks in all their mouthwatering glory? Organising them by colour will not only create a visually dynamic display but will also serve to remind you to use them more regularly.

And don’t forget about greenery – fragrant herbs such as basil, rosemary and mint are easy to grow, they look great on a kitchen shelf, and their natural scent will lift the ambience of your kitchen. They’ll also prove useful when cooking and baking.

Bedroom

Your bedroom should be a sanctuary for sleep, so an aesthetic that promotes sleep and relaxation is crucial.

Colours that both combine and reinforce our connection to nature, while also instilling a sense of cosy comfort are key. Think earthy tones like hazy greens, soft and timeless blues, soothing sandy greys and warming muted blush hues. These nature-centric tones will add a calming, serene feel to any bedroom.

Fragrant plants such as lavender are known to lower heart rate and blood pressure and promote a more peaceful and restful night’s sleep.

Whilst you don’t want to overwhelm a bedroom with bright colours, framed prints are an inexpensive way to brighten up a bedroom and showcase your personality, without compromising on an aesthetic that promotes sleep.

Similarly, clutter should be kept to a minimum in your bedroom – whilst there is much research into the psychology behind tidying your bedroom, very simply, less clutter means less dust and less chance of you struggling to sleep due to allergies. Invest in some wicker, canvas or glass tabletop storage solutions and clear the tops of chests of drawers and bedside tables of unnecessary knick-knacks.

Finally, invest in a fluffy rug which will not only add texture to the overall look of the room but will feel like a dream on your bare feet every morning.

Bathroom

The bathroom is one of the busiest rooms in the house, yet frequently overlooked when it comes to design.

A typical Swedish bathroom pairs darker floor tiles with lighter coloured walls to create a striking contrast that is modern, practical and easy to replicate, no matter how big or small your bathroom.

Be clever with your space – many bathrooms end up looking cluttered, so ensure your bathroom design is streamlined with built-in storage units. Minimise dead space by installing corner cupboards or shelving above and below the sink so that you can easily store personal hygiene and cleaning products out of sight.

An easy way to make your bathroom feel more together is simply by investing in some new colour-coordinated towels. Not only will the injection of colour help pull the room together, but the entire household will enjoy wrapping themselves in fluffy new towels.

Give even the most tired-looking bathroom a whole new lease of life, with the addition of some hardy houseplants. Whilst fluctuating temperatures and near-constant humidity aren’t conditions all plants will thrive in, plants native to tropical countries will. Think bird’s nest fern with its tumbling leaves, a humidity-sucking air plant or the near impossible to-kill spider plant.

Home office

Whilst we aren’t all lucky enough to have a dedicated home office, any area dedicated to working from home should be treated as a separate space, with different requirements to the rest of the home. You can set up a desk in an alcove, on a landing or even under the stairs. Regardless of where your home office is, there are a few simple rules to follow…

As the days get lighter and longer, make sure your desk is well positioned to allow you to make the most of the daylight. Exposure to natural light whilst you work will both increase happiness and boost productivity and also helps regulate the body’s natural circadian rhythms (sleep-wake schedules).

Try to keep your workspace clutter-free (tidy space; tidy mind) – especially if it’s in a room that has other uses too. Make sure you have dedicated work drawers, storage trunks or shelves to file away paperwork. A bamboo desk tidy can help to keep surfaces clear too.

A tasteful desk lamp, modern noticeboard or colourful print can really change the feel of a home workspace, and don’t underestimate the impact of greenery here either…

Plants are proven to increase productivity and general wellbeing. They serve as a visual connection to nature, boost mental wellbeing, cheer up your office space and can also provide air-purifying qualities, removing common household toxins from the air.

Living Room

The living room is where we want to unwind and relax. It is our refuge from the day-to-day and from the outside world. As such, the colour choice here is important. To feel cocooned, for example, consider a warm, dark blue, grey or green on all walls. It will give a sense of peace and serenity to the room as you cosy down for an evening with your favourite boxset. That’s not to say that our living rooms can’t show personality. Make a statement by adding pops of bolder colours into textiles, furniture and soft furnishings. Try sunshine yellows, vivid corals and eye-catching pinks to reflect a sense of fun.

If you need new pieces of furniture, consider opting for vintage or pre-loved items, which will be just as (if not more) beautiful than brand new pieces. Opt for furniture that has a timeless quality and that’s made of natural materials that will stand the test of time.

If your living room always ends up cluttered with everyday items such as clothes, shoes, books, toys, or blankets, natural reed and seagrass baskets are the perfect storage option and look great too.

And to brighten up a wall, consider displaying cherished photos or pieces of art by adding a gallery wall to your living room. Simply measure the wall space you want to update and clear an area on the floor of the same size. Fill the floor space with a mix of frames, playing with different sizes, colours and shapes until you have the combination you love. Then affix the frames to the corresponding space on your wall. Voila; your very own gallery wall.