Maria NasirWhy Transition Home Décor with Season Change
When seasons change, it’s not just your wardrobe that needs updating, your home requires some sprucing up too. And just like with your wardrobe, you want to do it without breaking the bank. At least, most of us, mere mortals, do. There are many decorative items that can be rotated or reallocated to enhance the feel of that changing seasons.
But why do that in the the first place? Especially if everything looks already perfectly placed where it is right now. Home is a place where you should feel happy and nurtured each time you enter after a long day’s work. It’s not a motel where you come back to just eat, sleep and shower. Believe me, monotony is the biggest killjoy. By that I don’t mean that we should make huge and splendid changes in our surroundings every other day. Just adding fresh green branches from the garden or dry twigs and switching the vases can entirely change the ambience.
For me, making seasonal changes to the décor is an act of love. It keeps the feeling of excitement alive and brings in positive energy. It makes you feel alive in the moment and gives significance to the passing time. These little changes will create moments that will become cherished memories for you and your loved ones. Autumn will slip away anyways without the fragrant memory of a spiced simmer pot in the kitchen anyways! If you were able to create that memory for yourself and your loved ones, imagine how precious it would be.
Let’s not die in small doses every day. Let’s try to turn our world a little topsy-turvy with the changing seasons!
Easy ways to Transition Home Décor with Season Change
Change Your Sofa Throws & Pillow Covers
One of the easiest way is to change the the throw blankets and pillow/cushion covers in your home. It’s not as expensive to buy a throw or pillow cover as it is to change the entire basic color scheme of your room according to a season by changing the curtains, for example, or sofa covering. They are easier to wash and clean too, if you have kids and pets or you live in dusty environment.
For instance, fall is a perfect time to add woolen and knitted throws and pillows in warm colors to your living room couch. My own living room is a mix of warm and cool shades of yellow and blue. In autumn, to switch to create a cozy ambience, I replace gauzy and flimsy cotton throws with more textured woolen throws and furs. The dominating blues and greens make way for shades of brown, rust, yellow and ivory.
Since autumn in Lahore is very brief – we almost consider it a part of the three months long winter. It’s difficult to switch the themes completely for such a short while. But still I have some reserved pillow covers and decorations in brighter colors that I only bring out around mid December. One of them is a favorite pillow cover with snowfall over cottage rooftops. It instantly cheers up the room. To cuddle with it in front of the fireplace with a good book is very comforting.
Move Around the Furniture
Our family’s needs and our socializing requirements change somewhat with the changing seasons as well. There are certain rooms in the house that are cooler in summer, maybe, because of better ventilation or air-conditioning and we spend most of our time there when home or entertaining. Some other rooms, maybe, get more sun in the colder months and are more suitable for activity. So rotating the furniture according to our seasonal needs, we can make those spaces more practical and comfortable.
For example, I’ve inherited this really old rocking chair from my parents that goes in the corner my bedroom in summer right under the air-conditioner and comes out in the living room by the heater in winters. In summer I dress it down with a light blanket , while in winter it gets a seat and back cushion as well as a warm throw. Thus, it creates a whole extra comfy nook to sit by the fire and enjoy a good cup of pink tea or coffee.
The most amazing benefit of rearranging your furniture is that, according to psychologists, it increases your dopamine levels and decreases cortisol. Noe dopamine is responsible for reducing stress while cortisol is the culprit that increases anxiety. Do the math. Rotating and rearranging furniture can boost your creativity and mood. The chair that sits aimlessly in a corner with a pile of laundry gathering over it, maybe move it facing a window with a view of plants or in a sunny spot.
Give Attention to All Areas of Home
Even when some people make effort to perk up the living space, they entirely ignore updating the bedroom, dinning room and other areas of home with the changing season. Just dumping a heavy quilt or blanket on your existing sheets or removing them doesn’t create that feeling of change that should come naturally with seasons. At the same time, the transitioning process from breezy to cozy doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming.
Giving attention to all areas of home sounds like a lot of work. But it doesn’t have to be. Tackle one room at a time and start with a clean slate by decluttering. Weather specific items that are still hanging around might be the reason your room is not looking fresh. Just by removing those not-needed-at-the-moment articles, you’ll make your room look more spacious and will make it easier for you to integrate season-appropriate décor.
Start by changing up the basic fabrics and textiles in your space. For instance, swap out lightweight materials from summer for warmer layers of flannel and fleece. Layers can make all the difference to a room looking and feeling warm or cool, both visually and actually. You can use both textures and colors to create these layers. You don’t need to repaint your walls completely. Small changes like chunky knit accent for winters and crocheted or block printed cotton pieces for summer can entirely change the mood of your bedroom or table-scape.
Create Easy Seasonal Displays
Let the change in season inspire you to create displays throughout your house. You don’t need to hire a decorator to help you do that. Go sit in the garden or spend a little time in local plant nursery for awhile. Even going for a walk will help you gather many fresh or dried twigs and branches, leaves, tree bark and pine cones or pebbles and other such interesting stuff from nature to add to your displays. I found some amazing dried branches on one of my walks around the block with my husband one evening. They make such a lovely addition to my fall-winter décor and entirely free too.
Going through your old stuff in the storage can give you many ideas to add to your seasonal displays. Jewelry pieces or parts of it that are no more in use, little stuffed toys, chipped mugs, worn out boxes and cracked trays – all can be out to good use with a little love or lick of paint. If fresh flower bouquets are expensive ( as they are where I live), or you don’t have enough in your garden at the moment, don’t worry! All you need to make a gorgeous display is a nice bowl filled with water, a seasonal flower or two floating in it with a couple of leaves and tea candles will be enough to wow your guests.
Seasonal fruits are always around and besides their health benefits, they look very pretty too. Why not use them to add color and make effort less displays with them in the kitchen and dinning areas! You can arrange them in a colorful bowl, a whicker basket or layer them on a cake stand or even an old mirror. Combining fruits displays with candles, seashells, pinecones, mini plant pot or faux plants can create lovely seasonal displays. Even glass jars filled with dried fruits and decorated with jute twine or ribbons make such lovely festive feature.
Create Appropriate Ambience with Lighting and Scent
We very seldom realize the significant role lighting plays in creating a certain ambience in a room. Just by drawing aside the curtains you can let flood of sunlight in a room which will be a welcome addition in winters but if you are currently in hot weather, maybe you need to add an extra layer behind your curtains too keep the blaze out. We use two comparatively low cost solutions for this problem – bamboo blinds and frosted window paper.
The bamboo blinds can be used both outdoors and indoors behind the formal curtains. They can be rolled up or let down to suit your need. Because we get very bright light on some of our windows throughout the year, we have got only the upper half permanently covered with frosted paper so that we can diffuse the light but still see the plants and greenery outside.
For artificial light – you can always swap brighter, cool-toned bulbs for warmer ones. I’m a big fan of warm lights all year round because it creates a very welcoming glow in the house. In warmer weather, you can switch off overhead lights, spotlight and chandeliers and go for more standing, table and hanging lamps. Covering them with shades in cooler colors reduces heat. And in winter, adding a string of lights, salt lamps and scented candles provide a cozy ambience.
Choosing the scents for your room according to the changing seasons can make a huge impact with very little effort too. Light florals and herbs like rose, lavender, jasmine, mint, lime and lemongrass help create a cool and summer fresh environment. Most spices and fruity fragrances like, apple, nectarine, cinnamon, vanilla, cloves and pine create a warm and homely sensory experience. A subtle hint of seasonal fragrance from scented candle, reed diffusers, essential oil or fragrant sprays can instantly transform your room.