There’s no better season than spring for a quick room refresh and the kitchen is the best place to start…
1 Speed-clean your fridge and tidy out the pantry. Get rid of any expired products and old leftovers.
2 Toss out any broken appliances, utensils and other damaged cookware. Faulty appliances can waste a lot of electricity, so repair or replace them.
3 Organise drawers and cabinets, and bring in colourful containers and baskets for simplified storage.
4 Hanging planters weren’t just made for the garden – use them to brighten up your kitchen walls.
Choose colourful ones with quirky shapes and fill them with herbs. Popular choices include basil, dill, flat-leaf parsley, thyme, cilantro, oregano, chives, sage and mint. Start them from seed or buy small plants. Fragrant varieties like rosemary, coriander and lavender will act as natural air fresheners.
5 Nothing says ‘spring’ like a fragrant bunch of fresh-cut blooms in a colourful vase. Got a chipped teapot? Cut the stems of hydrangeas short so that the individual flower heads fill the pot to the brim. Wine decanters look sophisticated with single, long-stemmed blooms. Remove the labels from condiment bottles after your ‘pantry purge’ and arrange them in clusters on a tray to hold an assortment of flowers. Kitchen canisters make great impromptu vases too. Simply flip open the lids and group blooms by stem length for a casual display. Even that glass cloche on your kitchen counter can showcase flowers beautifully (an orchid looks especially spectacular displayed in this way).
6 Bring in some colour with fabric – think vintage-inspired tablecloths and runners or some botanical seat cushions, natural-fibre floor rugs and/or a floral-themed window treatment.
7 Give an old dining table, chairs or stool a colourful new lease on life by painting them a spring-inspired shade. While you’re at it, hang a small piece of art (like a pretty watercolour print). For an all-white kitchen, consider painting the kitchen ceiling or window frames a bright colour, like yellow, which works especially well in kitchens and dining areas as it’s happy and uplifting. You can even paint or wallpaper inside your glass-front cabinets for added interest.
8 Accessorise with some pretty tea towels, a new sugar bowl or milk jug, new fruit bowl, salt and pepper grinders – anything ‘homeware’ that will add a little colour or pattern without breaking the bank. While you’re at it, invest in a collection of rainbow-coloured coffee mugs and put them on display.
9 Stack your favourite ‘spring and summer’ themed cookbooks on a cart or trolley and park it in a corner, ready to roll out when you feel like whipping up something delicious for alfresco dining.
10 If you haven’t already jumped on the recycling, energy-saving and water-wise bandwagon, what are you waiting for? From joining a plastic, paper and/or glass recycling programme, to installing solar geysers and lighting, cultivating a worm farm or even making your own compost from kitchen scraps, green is the way forward – and there’s no better time than spring to get started!
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