10 Spring-Fresh Tips for your Home

Ten Spring-Fresh Tips for Your Home
By Cait Johnson, author of Earth, Water, Fire, and Air: Essential
Ways of Connecting to Spirit (SkyLight Paths, 2003)

http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/home/2756

Stuck winter energies can sap our vitality and leave us feeling
pretty low. That´s where these tips come in handy. When we make our
homes feel fresh and positive, hopeful and refreshed, we feel that
way, too--and we don´t need a lot of time or money to do it. Find
out ten simple ways to fill your space with the good energy of
spring,
here:

1. Move Things Around: Here´s a quick--and totally free--fix for
winter stuck-energy: try moving things around! Spring is all about
changing your perspective and inviting the hope of positive new life
in. How to do that in your home? Just try rearranging one or two
pieces of furniture--or changing the placement of a rug or painting.
Shake up your old patterns and habits by changing the traffic flow in
a room, or encourage seeing things differently by switching the
positions of pictures or other accents that have always been in one
place.

2. Make an Intention Corner: Give some thought to what you want to
bloom and grow in your life this growing season and begin to imagine
it. Cut out pictures that express what you hope to create or do and
make a small collage. Then make a special place to honor it. This
doesn´t need to be elaborate: a shelf with space for a beeswax
candle and some object from nature--a stone, a shell, a cup of
flowers--are all ways of giving positive energy to our plans and
projects. And when we create places in our homes for the unfolding of
our soul-processes, we make our homes feel more connected to our
spirits, and we make an inner connection to the world of nature that
is beginning to bud and grow outside.

3. Quick Pick-Up: Just because we may not have time for a major
spring-cleaning, that doesn´t mean our homes couldn´t use a
little clearing-out of stuff that adds to clutter rather than
pleasure. Try the Just One Step approach: every day, pick up just one
thing that no longer "sings" to you and donate it, give it away, or
put it in a storage area for later.

4. Clarify the View: Windows are the eyes of our homes, and by the
end of winter, they can be pretty grungy inside. It can take less
than five minutes to wash the inside of a window: just mix up a batch
of this vinegar-based Window Cleaning Formula and spritz it on. Wipe
off with a soft lint-free cloth and finish drying with old newspapers
for a streak-free, fresh new outlook for your home.

5. Air it Out: It may not be warm enough where you live to start
opening windows, but you can close off one room at a time (so you
don´t waste energy) and open a window for a few minutes to release
stale winter air and invite freshness in. Nothing smells as sweet as
fresh air.

6. Lighten Up: Explore some ways to allow more light to enter your
home. Ideally, spring windows are lightly dressed in filmy layers--or
bare--to let in as much of the cheering light as possible. But if
it´s still too cold to put away the heavy drapes, consider using
mirrors or small, pretty lamps to add illumination.

7. Freshen Your Things: Periodically fluffing small cushions and
throw rugs in the drier is a good idea: it helps to get rid of dust
mites and just plain dust. And when you have a sunny day, you can
place items outdoors to soak up sun and fresh air. You will smell the
difference when you bring them back inside!

8. Bring Blossoms In: I recently had lunch at a friend´s house
where a vase of vivid yellow forsythia was blooming on her table,
although outside the windows the hillside was still covered with
snow. Her husband had simply pruned the bush and placed the
still-dormant
branches in water--and they burst into flower all by themselves. It
was such a sunny, cheering sight! You can try encouraging dormant
flowering tree or bush branches to bloom for a lovely taste of
instant spring. Or invest in a few bulbs to place in a pot with some
stones or soil. Keep them moist and watch them flower, then plant
them outdoors once the weather has truly warmed. Many bulbs will
bloom again the following year.

9. Think Colorfully: Winter colors tend to be dark, heavy, and more
saturated, while spring colors have a refreshing lightness and
invigorating freshness. There are many inexpensive ways to bring airy
pastel colors into your home: it just takes a little imagination. A
robin´s egg-colored plate, a buttercup yellow toss-pillow, or a
vibrant yellow-green scatter rug can all brighten up your space and
give it some spring-like energy. If you don´t want to break the
bank buying new spring-colored accessories, search your local thrift
store for bargains: they are often filled with great and inexpensive
treasures.

10. Use Spring Imagery: Most of us associate birds, nests, and eggs
with spring, and it is great fun to fill our homes with reminders of
these lively icons: you can find some great realistic-looking,
inexpensive bird nests at craft stores to fill with egg-shaped
candies, soaps, or stones. Pictures of birds, and other bird-related
accessories--like imaginatively-painted birdhouses, for example--are
also fun to have around as the season shifts. And if you don´t
already have a birdfeeder outside your window, consider making or
purchasing one in time to host the scores of birds returning to your
area. Watching birds at the feeder is a guaranteed heart-lifter. Here
are some super-easy ways to make your own bird feeder
http://www.care2.com/channels/solutions/outdoors/599