Put a Spring in My Step

I might be one of the few people not rushing winter out the door. I actually love living in a place with four different seasons because there's always something new to experience; the novelty of different activities and various types of clothing that won't hang around too long. Since I'm not faced with the dread of a slow, white-knuckle commute to and from work this year (my absolute least favorite part about this time of year), I find myself wishing for more snow to visit our neck of the woods. Bring it, Mother Nature! We want to go snowmobiling!

The cabin has helped Andi and I to embrace winter weather this year. We've spent many of our recent weekends ice fishing on the lake, pulling Tory in her pint-sized toboggan and taking beautiful rides through the snow-covered woods in the Ranger. As long as the temperature stays above 20 degrees and it doesn't physically hurt to be outside, I'm all about the snow staying around through March. I haven't felt stir-crazy at all this winter because we've taken advantage of the season and spent a lot of our time outdoors.

That said, I'm definitely ready for Spring indoors. December filled my house with pretty Christmas lights and warm reds and woody decor. January felt cold and stark in comparison, after all the Christmas pretties came down. I decorated for Valentine's Day by the third week in January just to bring some color back into the mix. Tory helped by adding homemade valentines all around the house. Now that February's almost over, the pink and red hearts had to go. My house is left feeling bare and boring.

So, bring on the Spring decor! This week, I busted out the Easter decorations (I decided to skip over St. Patrick's Day all together since Easter is so early this year) and now everything around here feels so fresh and happy.

I made an Easter egg tree like many of those I've seen floating around the Internet. First, I drug a step ladder and a garden hoe out of the garage and over to the birch tree in our front yard. There's a big branch lodged in the center of the tree so my intention was to climb the ladder, swing the garden hoe at the branch and knock it out of the tree. Turns out, my step ladder was too short to reach the branch but I was able to knock a few smaller twigs loose with the garden hoe. I *may* have looked like the neighborhood idiot standing in my drive-way swinging a gardening tool in the air but it worked like magic and I was able to shake loose a few perfectly-sized twigs for my creation.

Next, I gathered a clear flower vase, some plastic Easter eggs and raffia ribbon from around the house. I was pleasantly surprised to discover plastic Easter eggs have two holes in the top of each egg, so it was easy to thread the ribbon through each hole and tie a knot inside the egg. I let Tory hang the eggs on the branches because, as per usual, she was already sitting on the dining room table anyway. Last, I filled the vase with candy jelly bean eggs and voila! Super cheap and festive Easter table centerpiece.

   
I also changed out my table runner to my spring-y green and white one and it really helped to brighten up the kitchen / dining / living room. Tory loves the egg tree so much! It's no secret, plastic Easter eggs are one of her favorite toys and now that they decorate our table, she points to (and messes with) them all day. (It is not the greatest decoration to reinforce my commands to stay off the table, however).

To continue the spring theme, I bought this adorable bunny for $14 at TJ Maxx the other day. I haven't bought a new piece of home decor in forever, so I felt like I could justify something new for spring. I have no idea why I love this bunny so much, but he makes me smile every time I see him. I added silver candlestick holders, which used to be displayed on my dining room table, and changed out the candles from dark red to cream-colored ones. Finally, I added white and green potpourri which I already had to a clear square vase and poof! New Spring touches to the living room.  

Finally, I splurged on a bouquet of hydrangeas at Trader Joe's yesterday and added them to an existing water pitcher I had stashed in the cabinet. Paired next to an Easter bunny candy dish I bought years and years ago, it brightens my entire kitchen. I'm not usually one to buy fresh flowers (although I do love having them in the house) but my parents are visiting this weekend and I wanted to have things nice for them. They really do make me feel like Spring is on its way.

For a total of $26 ($14 for the bunny rabbit, $5 for the flowers and $5 for the jelly beans candies), I added three points of fresh spring decor to our home. In doing all this, I forced myself to re-purpose items I already had on hand (potpourri, candles and candlesticks, sticks, vases and water pitchers) and use them in ways I hadn't thought of previously. I've had a big itch to re-decorate our basement family room, specifically the built-in bookshelves and fireplace mantle, so I'm going to scour Pinterest and see what other I ideas I can come up with on the cheap.