Celebrate the Return of Spring with Appropriate Colors

11 Thursday Apr 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, Guest Posts, The Great Outdoors, The Home

Tags

blue, color, colored decorations, exterior home decor, front porch ideas, lavender, nature, pink, plants, purple, spring, spring colors

As the chilly weather and winter snow thaws away, the colorful and vibrant colors of spring approach. Spring is the time in which life begins again for many deciduous plants including pretty hellebores, daffodils, tulips, and crocus. Animals awaken from a long winter’s hibernation and step into the warm, soothing sunlight. For us humans, it is time to once again step outside our humble abodes and enjoy being outdoors again. Gardens are tilled and prepared for the season’s plantings and décor shielded by the harsh air of winter can be brought out and shown off again. The unhappy shades of gray and brown will eventually become beautiful colors once more. But what are “spring” colors anyway?

Celebrate the Return of Spring with Appropriate Colors

While the picture above may appear moderately attractive as a result of the old style windmill, look at the grass, trees, and color within the photo. Brown, gray, and dull – these are the colors apparent in the picture and while perhaps palpable for a few weeks or a month into winter, it truly gets old after too long.

Winter depression is not just a result of the 10 degrees temperature, as you scrape the ice and frost from your vehicle windshield in the morning. It’s also because the colors we see in winter are depressing as well. Colors that brighten our day also brighten our lives, and this is no different when people drive by the house and see brightly colored decorations and flags hanging outside the house.

What colors should you look to decorate with? Well it’s pretty straightforward. First ask yourself: What colors make me happy or which colors brighten my day? The most common colors which fit this description including various shades of pink, including lavender, amaranth, salmon, fuchsia, magenta, and puce. These are all different variations of pink and each represents a different color of spring.

Photo Credit: Best Moms TV

Photo Credit: Coco Cozy

Photo Credit: Front Porch Ideas and More

A more masculine color of spring includes lighter variations of blue. Some of the best of these to decorate the exterior of your home with include baby blue, Columbia blue, dodger blue, sky blue, powder blue, and turquoise. Blues can be great for painting the small shed in the backyard or light blue window shutters.

Photo Credit: Country Living

Photo Credit: Luxury for the Home

Photo Credit: Paper Bowls and Lemons

Lilacs are some of my personal favorite springtime flowers because the color violet represents imagination and spirituality. Some other beautiful shades of violet can make for a colorful springtime flower bouquet. Hanging baskets of flowers can be hung outside the house to provide color to your home exterior. Hang some of these baskets up outside the front of the house or on mount them on the patio railing. Make sure to keep them watered too to keep them growing strong into summer!

Photo Credit: A Country Farmhouse

Photo Credit: Coastal Living

Photo Credit: nonizamboniblue

Spring is a time of new life. By decorating the exterior of your home as such, you’ll really improve the aesthetic value of your home. Not only that but you’ll also feel much better knowing winter is gone, the wheels of spring are churning, and don’t look now but summer is on the way!

{Jason Smith is a home decorator and blogger. He currently writes for Australian Outdoor Living, a provider of decorativeoutdoor blinds. In his spare time, Jason enjoys hosting barbecues and hunting.}

Open Your Door to Spring

29 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Everyday Design, The Great Outdoors, The Home

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

brick, concrete, curb appeal, exterior, grass, greenery, home, moss, nature, plants, rocks, spring, stone, trees

Soon the cool weather will be gone and before you know it, spring will be knocking at your door. Now is the time to start thinking of how to welcome the season in your home as well as showcasing its beauty on the outside. Curb appeal is an important thing to consider when you have a home. Creating an inviting entrance and beautiful exterior can make all the difference sometimes.

There are many easy and affordable ways to jazz up the exterior of your home. Most of all, you want to complement the architecture and design of the house. You can do this by considering its colors, size, details, and all the elements that stand out. Nature is not only a huge inspiration, it is what will give your home sweet home a fantastic makeover. Flowers, shrubs, trees, and other natural materials like brick, stone, and wood, are all great examples of what to use.

Here are some great inspirations to get you moving. Enjoy!

The brick pattern in the pathway adds interest to the path and the open feel of this entrance way is clean, organized, and inviting.

Photo Credit: Better Homes & Gardens

Giving shape to the landscaping helps build interest around the whole house. Suddenly, lines and patterns appear, which help the eye move with a unique perspective and help the architecture stand out more.

Photo Credit: Laurie Heredia

The use of gray and black really adds a nice contrast to the earthy greens that surround the entrance of this home. The lush feel is vibrant and fresh.

Photo Credit: Better Homes & Gardens

Have fun with gardening and plant lots of different kinds of greenery. Mix and match colors that complement each other and play with texture. For some tips, you can always ask your local nursery for some suggestions.

Photo Credit: Garden Design Inc.

Just by updating hardware or adding a planter box filled with colorful plants can revive an entrance in no time.

Photo Credit: Better Homes & Gardens

Dress up your driveway and backyard with large potted plants and fresh greenery.

Photo Credit: Better Homes & Gardens

Get creative when it comes to your driveway and pathway. Concrete isn’t the only material you can use. Explore your options with other natural elements like stone, brick, rocks, and even grass and moss.

Photo Credit: Down to Earth Landscapes

Landscaping can make all the difference in creating an overall finished look for your home. You want to create an environment where the structure of the house looks as if it was always meant to be there.

Photo Credit: Better Homes & Gardens

Inspiration Photo Friday: Home Sweet Spring

22 Friday Mar 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Inspiration Photo Friday, The Great Outdoors, The Home

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bloom, earth, flowers, gardens, grass, green, growth, home, ivy, leaves, may, nature, spring, trees

I know that it doesn’t feel like spring but it is in fact, officially here. All I can think about is the warmer weather and springtime blooms. I am dying for spring to show her face once and for all.

Dan and I have many plans these next few months so the season will be more to us than just nicer weather. Not only do we celebrate Dan’s birthday this month but our wedding anniversary is May 20th. I can’t believe one year will have gone by. Time flies like there is no tomorrow. Our anniversary trip is booked for the end of the May and we will be relaxing in Charlemont, Massachusetts with our dogs for a whole week. We found the cutest cottage for our stay and I simply can’t wait to get away from it all and be one with nature.

We also have plans here on the home front. Our home will get a number of makeovers which I am very excited about. The kitchen remodel is long overdue and we are about 80% done with collecting all the materials we need to complete it. Once April hits and our windows can be opened, its on! We are also going to work on the backyard a bit and start our vegetable gardens. This is a very much anticipated task. To be able to grow pretty much everything we eat is simple amazing and I can’t wait!

This photo was taken last May, two days after our wedding. When its in full spring mode, our backyard is a true inspiration to me. The lushness of the trees and ivy, the smell of the fresh cut grass, and the little beauties that come alive in our gardens are all the wonderful things that surround our home. All I want to do is lay outside under our cherry trees and listen to the birds sing. I am very lucky to have such an amazing inspiration right in my backyard.

I wish you all happy spring inspirations and hope that the earth can uplift your soul and whisk you away somewhere beautiful. It’s such a gift to have a natural space you can exist in and feel so alive. You don’t know how happy I am to be able to visit mine everyday by just walking out the back door.

Home and Garden: 2013 Resolutions

22 Tuesday Jan 2013

Posted by melissaoconnor in Guest Posts, The Great Outdoors, The Home

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

bold, color schemes, eco friendly, emerald, garden, gardening, green, home, interior design, nature, new year, plants, resolutions, upcycle

We always start the New Year with great intentions for the coming months. A common resolution is to take more care and attention over your home and garden. But it’s usually around now, a couple of weeks into the New Year that these good intentions can start to slide. However, when it comes to your home and garden, there are some simple changes you can make to help keep everything looking and feeling fresh for 2013.

Color schemes: Be Bold
2013’s color of the year is Emerald Green – not necessarily an easy color to fit in with your current decor (unless you’ve already jumped on this trend!) However, this is a great opportunity to be bold with your home interior and add a little something different. Experimenting with colors is a perfect way to inject some excitement, especially at the start of a new year.

Photo Credit: Simplified Bee

This doesn’t mean a complete overhaul is required; a touch of green can come from a variety of objects and ideas. Potted plants such as the Homalomeno ‘Emerald Gem’ provide a burst of color and are ideal for interior settings. If plants aren’t your thing, depending on your existing color scheme, you could add emerald green throws to your couches. For a more subtle touch a couple of green cushions will help to create a similar effect. Whichever way you incorporate the color into your home, making a resolution to try something different with your color scheme is something that is simple yet effective.

Photo Credit: Simplified Bee

Gardening: Be Eco-friendly
Making a resolution to keep your gardening eco-friendly will not only have wider benefits for your local environment, it will help to keep your garden in tip top shape.

One aspect of your garden that may not spring to mind when it comes to the environment is your soil. Most commercial potting soil contains peat which is a non-renewable resource, and it can only be found in certain parts of the world. However, it is used as a form of energy, so it would be beneficial if gardeners looked to other sources of material for their soil. One popular alternative is to use coconut coir. This is a natural by-product of the coconut industry, and it helps to promote plant health.

Photo Credit: Gotta Shop It

Reducing the amount of pesticides and insecticides you use is another way of helping the environment – instead of using whatever is lurking in your garden shed, go to local garden centers and ask for advice or any alternative methods to pest management. One method is to frequently check plants and remove any bigger pests that are visible by hand. Another way of helping is to try and encourage insects like ladybirds and spiders as these types of insects will naturally help to reduce the number of pests in the garden. These may not seem like revolutionary ideas, but will help your garden to look great, alongside the achievement of helping the environment.

Upcycle: Be Unique
Upcycling is the perfect way to save money and make use of items that may have been long forgotten, but it can sometimes seem like a lot of effort for little gain. However, there are simple ideas and inspiration everywhere you look.

For example, a great method for accessorizing old t-shirts only takes some newspaper, chalk, bleach, a paint brush and some imagination. Use on darker-colored t-shirts to get the most effective look. Put some newspaper inside your t-shirt to prevent any bleach from soaking straight through the material.

Draw a design on your shirt with chalk – staying simple is usually more effective; however you can experiment and see what you prefer. When your design is complete, dip your paintbrush into some bleach and trace over the chalk design. Once you’re happy with the color and the bleach has soaked in, wash your t-shirt. The bleach will have stained the shirt in the shape of your design, and the chalk will be rinsed off. You can use this method for other items of clothing or any other material you may have around your home.

Photo Credit: The Berry

This is just one simple example of upcycling – there are plenty of methods you can find online and in craft shops, depending on what items you want to upcycle. So before throwing anything anyway, take a second and think about what you could do with it!

These ideas can help you to keep up with your home and garden over 2013, without breaking the bank and that even a novice could attempt. What home and garden resolutions do you have for 2013?

{Danielle is a guest author working on behalf of Tiger Sheds. She is an enthusiast of home improvement and gardening, and loves to keep on top of the latest design trends and inspiration.}