I am so glad February is finally here! Not only is this the month our first grandson will make his appearance, but it feels even more like spring is finally near. Of course the weather doesn’t always cooperate in February but still, I am full of anticipation for sunshine and flowers! After adding my tulips to the living room, I was inspired to get in the spring mood around the house with some early spring decorating! This past week I started some spring refreshing and cleaning. I’ll have more to show you next week but here are a few things I’ve done so far!
A vintage crock makes a charming vase for spring flowers. I was able to stop in a Trader Joe’s on the way back from some errands the other day and grabbed a big bouquet! My original plan was to divide them into smaller bouquets but I set them in this vintage crock temporarily when I returned home. Once I saw them here I loved them so much I decided to leave them! It is an instant joy bringer.
This darling teapot has been a perfect “not-quite-but-almost-spring” pick me up! A spot of tea has been one of our afternoon rituals on many dark days this winter so we were delighted to be gifted this new Laura Ashley teapot. It couldn’t be more adorable and definitely has me romanticizing the idea of a cuppa tea in the English Countryside (while thoroughly enjoying it here on our island in the PNW).
The kettle comes in a few pattern options (all so lovely!)…you can see them all here. There’s an electric kettle version too. The toaster is also dreamy!
Spring cleaning has been on my mind and I found the neatest towels for the job! This set just arrived over the weekend and I’m already in love. They are a reusable paper towel substitute, but much thicker and much more absorbent than regular paper towels. You can wash them in the washing machine, or in the top rack of a dishwasher.
We slowed down using paper towels (other than for the really messy jobs) years ago, but our wash loads increased with all the dish towels we went through. I think these are perfect, sooo cute and just the right size to fit in your hand and to tackle most jobs. Plus they don’t take up much room in the drawer at all! These are already a real hit at our house. I definitely recommend them!
You can see all the cute pattern options here.
I noticed we were getting a little lazy with our bedroom tidying this winter, so it was time for a almost-spring refresh. I don’t know about you but I find it hard to feel inspired in winter! The past few years I’ve challenged myself to work on my bedroom in January and that has helped. Our room wasn’t horrible but I noticed there were just too many random things sitting around.
We’ve been talking about simplifying in HomeBody Gathering Place and last week the topic was simplifying to create a bedroom sanctuary. I finally decided it was time to get out of my winter slump and pick things up in here! I started by cleaning up this corner. It only took a few minutes to put stuff away, tidy and finish it up, but now makes me happy!
Now that we have our hardwood floors upstairs, a few weeks ago I brought in a rug we already had. Partly to make it cozy but also because our pup Jack is getting older now and needs some traction on the hardwoods. Then I fell in love with this quilt I saw and decided to treat myself to it as a birthday gift last month :).
Dreams come true! My dream as long as I can remember was to have a big stack of colorful quilts folded up on a shelf, so one by one I’m going to make that dream come true in this house! Quilts just feel so homey and comforting and the colors and patterns add so much charm to a room.
This week in HomeBody Gathering Place I taught our weekly lesson on simplifying our closet, so I’m doing a mini-refresh in mine, too (along with others in the community who are doing the same!). A couple of our mottos are “baby steps” and “progress over perfection! Speaking of dreams coming true, I began The Inspired Room 17 years ago in January 2007 (!) with a dream to help others turn their home into a sanctuary. It has been a rewarding journey ever since! And it’s been especially amazing over the past year to create the HGP community. I’m grateful to have the opportunity to teach the principles and ideas that have inspired me for so long, as well as continuing to share here on TIR and through my books.
By the way, HomeBody Gathering Place will open to new members again in a few weeks for our spring sessions on style. I can’t wait for that one! I’d love to have you join us. You can learn all about it at homebodygatheringplace.com
Soon it will be Valentine’s Day! Flameless candles are my favorite way to add a little romantic touch to our home all year round. A few months ago I discovered these wonderful flameless candles when I was trying to find flameless colored tapers! I took a chance on this brand I hadn’t heard of and bought the blue tapers to give them a try. We enjoyed them so much all winter (see more photos of them in our home here). Now I have other colors including shades of green and shades of pink which I think will be so fun and pretty for spring. They come in sets of three shades and a remote! They are so pretty we leave them on all evening. There’s also a cream/shades of orange set here.
Source: Green Battery Operated Taper Candle (linked other colors too)
