Everyone likes to freshen up for spring, be it a new fresher, lighter wardrobe, lighter makeup colours and looks or the good old Spring Clean, I think it’s hard to not to get caught up in the feeling of a new season dawning. As I am NOT one for cleaning I thought I’d bring you another way to freshen up your home without having to dig out the marigolds. I toddled off to Homesense* in Leeds to see what I could find on a budget to do just that.
1. Fresh Scents
I’m not talking V.I.Poo when I’m talking about fresh scents, I’m talking about switching up your candles and room fragrance vibes away from the deeper scents of Winter and into more Spring fragrances. When I was browsing the massive candle selection Homesense had I can across this one. Basically a tin can, with a bit of an oil slick effect on it and a sticker. The Olfactory candles are named after a year when the smell was first smelt by the owner and they aim to recreate it. As soon as I smelt this one it had to be mine. It’s based around the smell of rain hitting the grass and mud and it’s a strong earthy tone. It couldn’t be more spring like as it evokes the smell of the first grass cut of the season followed by the April showers that ultimately follow. It was £12.99* instead of the £30 price tag, which was great for such a good quality candle. I also spotted some Heyland and Whittle candles whilst I was there, they had a three wick one for around £15 which I thought was really good value too. I didn’t get one as I’m in the midst of burning this Olive and Fig one from them
2. Add a Texture
If you’ve seen my Instagram at any point recently you can’t have missed one of these rugs. I picked the cream sheepskin rug* up from my trip to the Homesense in Birstall Leeds and then when we went to the Leeds store opening I fell in love with the deep red one*. It was just so unusual and after a lot of debating I got it. We’ve used them to style up our footstool and sofa in our lounge, rather than as a rug, and they’d also look gray draped over an office chair- very Hygge. For other textures think velvet cushions in spring colours and chunky knit and furry blankets to keeep the spring chill away.
3. Freshen up your Florals
I’ve had Faux flowers in my lounge but as they are more wintery (think snowy peonies and frosty grey poinsettias) it was time to mix it up. I love hydrangea’s, so much so, we had them as our wedding flowers, and find it’s really difficult to get nice fake ones so when I saw this one for just £1.99* it went straight in the basket.i cute down the stems and added in new eucalyptus (also £1.99* a stem) that I use for blog props and think it looks super effective in this little marble vase.
4. Add a Pretty Plate
Plates aren’t just for eating off, especially when they are this cute. I think my love of flat decorative objects came with the rise of the flat lay, as anything that adds interest to one is a a step closer to achieving flat lay utopia. I must have at least ten and counting! I picked up this ‘Carnival Glass’ Plate, named because they were given as prizes at, you guessed it, carnivals. It refers to the iridescent finish on the glass that mimicked the Tiffany style that was popular in the 1920’s and more was bought than won, but the name stuck as an easy way of describing the affordable glass. Affordable it was too, £3 from a local house clearance shop. Bargain. I’m also loving this plate that I picked up from Homesense, the Ombré shading is lovely as is the typography, I find it hard to put things in it though as it covers it up (so actually making it a little useless but it’s pretty so…..). The final one is the gold cat shaped dish. (See first photo for it properly!) This is a tea bag rest and was £1 from George Home. Perfect for rings and earrings I’ve found (also tea bags I’d expect but who wants to use things for their actual purpose!?)
5. Pineapples
Well any decorative object will suffice actually, but pineapples are my jam. I’m forever regretting resisting this beautiful specimen that I saw at the opening of Homesense Leeds*. I told myself I had enough pineapples, however I was clearly lying to myself and should have bought this. It was only around £13 too! I did buy the Marble Egg though which again serves no purpose other than making my house look a bit Easter-ish. And I couldn’t resist this Palm Tree candle holder from George At Asda too. My lounge is mainly copper but I’ve found myself mixing metals more and more and introducing bright golds and brass colours to it as mixed metals are quite the thing this season, so don’t be afraid to stick to just one!
I get bored so easily of things so I love updating my living spaces with affordable bits and bobs to switch things up a bit- will you be using any of my tips above!?
*post in collaboration with Homesense all items with a * indicates gifted items. As always words and thoughts are my own!