Prepare Your Home for Spring

Once the holidays have passed, the winter weather has overstayed its welcome. You start yearning for an end to it, so you can jump into spring. You can shake off the winter blues right now. Just give yourself a fresh perspective and gear up for spring.

Start with a plan. Create a blueprint for your springtime activities and actions. Just thinking about what’s coming can lift your spirits. Walk through your home with a clipboard and make notes of the changes and improvements you’d like to occur in each room. It could be as simple as swapping out lamp shades or a light fixture, painting a door, or replacing an area rug. Room by room, build your wish list.

Do you have any rooms that could use a refresh? Of course, you do! Browse magazines, websites, and home improvement shows to gather ideas. Clip or print the images and add the ideas to your clipboard.

Next, prioritize your “spring to do” list”. You might even start by targeting some indoor projects you can do right away. Grab your calendar and set dates for the makeover—from removing the contents of the room to putting on the finishing touches. When you assign a timeline, you drastically increase the chances you will finish the project. Otherwise, it’s just wishful thinking.

Choose your garden’s spring plantings. It’s always helpful to take a photo of your yard and the landscape details during full bloom. That way, you can see what you have and where it’s located. If you don’t have this reference, take an educated guess at your sun-drenched and shady areas, and the location, variety, and color of your perennials. Then, think ahead to enhancing the natural beauty of your landscape. Choose a color palette for your blooms. Determine where you want to plant and what types of plants will do well in those areas. Browse garden websites to look for new and interesting varieties. You can start sowing seeds indoors right now, and the sight of the little sprouts popping up will certainly give you a needed boost. Consider the estimated blooming dates for the plants outdoors so you don’t start too soon. Seeds for hardy plants like calendula and bachelor buttons can be started in February. Late spring bloomers, like zinnia, dianthus, and cosmos should wait for sowing indoors in March.

Purge your closets. Once the warm weather rolls around, you’ll be spending more time outside. You’ll also look for outfits that might have become buried in your closet. Empty your closet during this winter downtime. Donate anything you haven’t worn for six months to a year. Mend items that have been cast aside but could be reborn by replacing a lost button or having a zipper replaced. Check your spring and summer wardrobe now and remove any items that have lost their luster. Reorganize your closet so everything you need and want is within reach. Set a day for everyone in your household to clean out their closet. Tell them they must start by removing everything. Give each person a set of sorting boxes or bins and mark them accordingly: Keep, Mend, Donate, Discard.

Bring the outdoor fun inside. Put together an indoor campout or beach day. Move the furniture aside to make room for your indoor-outdoor fun. For the camp-IN, pitch a tent, and remove everything that could tempt you to plug into electricity—like lamps, microwave, and, yes, the television. Do your cooking on a small camp grill, over a roaring fire in the fireplace, or on your outdoor grill. The kitchen is off limits!

Your indoor day at the beach should include beach chairs, blankets, towels, and an umbrella. Pack the picnic baskets and coolers. Lay down a plastic tarp to protect your floor and fill a kiddie pool. Crank up the heat in the room to encourage you to strip off the layers of winter clothing. Slather on the scented sun protectant to add that fragrance to the room (or light some coconut-scented candles). Fill the cooler with tropical drinks and set up a playlist of lively summer music to spark the mood.

Dance. There’s no better way to shake off the winter blues than to let loose and dance. Turn up the dance tunes and have a dance party with your family. Watch videos to learn new dance steps or just dance along. Grab a partner and try ballroom dancing. The movement will improve your mood and give you an aerobic boost, all at once!

Get lost in a book. Take your mind off the cold weather. Pick up a book, get comfortable, and give yourself the pleasure of getting lost in a story for a few hours. If you’re a multi-tasker, listen to an audio book while also doing something creative, like painting (a canvas, piece of furniture, or a room), coloring, or your favorite hobby.

The change of seasons is one of the wonderful things about living in Oklahoma. With each new season, we have a different menu of opportunities. Make the most of the winter months in your home by finding some ways to enjoy yourself. If you’re having trouble, maybe you’re not in the right home! Look Homes By Taber’s quick move-in homes that are available right now, or check out our new home communities and floor plans to see where you could be in the very near future.