Spring is in the air, and with its arrival comes a reawakening of our senses and the desire to make our homes fresh and pretty again. The season is associated with cleaning for good reason. After a long winter with doors and windows closed, the house is stuffy, dusty, and in need of those fresh March breezes.
Spring is also the perfect time to refresh your décor. After letting in fresh air, consider changing your home’s look to reflect the season in glorious new ways.
For inspiration, we turned to Stephanie Leleux, owner of Returning Grace Designs. Leleux is the 2024 brand ambassador for American Farmhouse Style magazine, where she shares her love for and expert advice on all things cozy, vintage, and farmhouse cottage.
Take a look at some of the places and ways she suggests you transform your home this spring.
17 spring decor ideas
1. Start with room color
If you’ve been mulling fresh paint for your rooms, now’s the time to spring forward. Spring colors never go out of style and range from pussy willow off-white to robin’s egg blues. Leleux creates a light feeling in her rooms with mostly off-white shades, punctuated by natural wood pieces. If you don’t want to paint the entire room, consider an accent wall, the front door, or even the furniture. That tired oak armoire could look fabulous in a coat of pale pink, or bookshelves in off-white. Choose colors you’ll be happy with year-round.
2. Pillows pack a punch
Integrating pillows into spring décor, Leleux says, is a perfect way to refresh a home’s aesthetic to match the vibrancy and renewal of the season. They offer an accessible and budget-friendly way to infuse color, texture, and pattern into living spaces without committing to permanent or expensive changes. For spring, selecting pillows in pastel hues, floral patterns, or lightweight, natural fabrics, such as linen or cotton, can mirror the outdoor environment’s transition and breathe new life into a room.
3. Floral accents
The beautiful blooms emerging everywhere don’t just belong outdoors. Incorporate flowers into your spring decor with floral accents, which can add vibrant colors and intricate patterns that embody the season. Look for flowers to create miniature details, such as on napkin rings or as drapery tiebacks. Or, scatter floral motifs in myriad decorative accessories like table linens, artwork, area rugs, pillows, and window treatments for easy and impactful springtime style.
4. Mantel vignettes
The fireplace mantel isn’t just for winter decorating — it’s your best all-season display area. For spring, Leleux suggests adding fun elements like florals, rabbit statues, cloches, bunting, and topiaries to create the perfect assembly.
Fresh flowers are a great way to instantly elevate the ambiance of any space, infusing it with life, color, and a touch of elegance.
stephanie leleux
Returning Grace Designs
5. Baby animals
Capturing the wonder of new life in your spring look is a sure win. Baby bunnies, lambs, chicks, and nesting birds all make wonderful details in a room sure to please both family and guests. Leleux is especially fond of rabbits and even offers an easy DIY for making bunny candleholders on her Instagram page. For a festive table centerpiece, look for a ceramic lamb or baby seal, then surround the animals with either little pots of faux grass or seashells.
6. Bookshelf wealth
Bookshelf wealth celebrates everything stylish and smart about well-stocked shelves. Books, of course, are the main event, so why not feature some of your Beatrix Potter or colorful gardening books face forward? Alternate your vertical books with a few stacks piled horizontally. Then, embellish with a mix of nature-inspired elements, marble bookends, pastel accents, and seasonal décor or art.
7. Potting magic
Here’s an indoor and outdoor idea. Paint some of your plain terra cotta pots in a rainbow of spring colors, and pair them with drainage saucers in fun contrasting shades. You’ll be surprised by the impact these colorful pots make on a windowsill, a front door plant stand, or in the garden.
8. Fresh flowers everywhere
“Fresh flowers are a great way to instantly elevate the ambiance of any space, infusing it with life, color, and a touch of elegance,” Leleux says. “The natural beauty and subtle fragrance of fresh blooms create a welcoming, cozy space.” Cut fresh flowers from your garden (if you have one) or order spring blooms to be delivered to your home. Then, create simple arrangements in glass vases throughout the house, freshening the water every few days to make them last.
9. Wreaths
A springtime wreath is just as welcome as one during Christmastime. Made with pastel spring flowers and natural elements like grapevines, a spring floral wreath is an instant décor booster. A trio of graduated size boxwood wreaths look stunning in a window or on the front door. Whether you make them yourself or invest in some pretty ones that are ready to hang, wreaths speak the universal language of rebirth.
10. Spring branches
One of the best things about spring are the blossoms sprouting on fruit trees. Bring in that sense of wonder with long branches of decorative cherry blossoms or pussy willow. Use them to brighten up any of those dark corners in the house, or create a dramatic focal point with gathered branches in your fireplace hearth.
11. Themed florals
Do you have a favorite spring flower? Show it off! For Leleux, it’s tulips. “Tulips are the quintessential choice for spring flowers,” she notes. “They bring a sense of natural freshness and vitality, making them a beloved staple for the spring season.” With a wide variety of color choices, from vibrant reds and yellows to soft whites and blush pinks, tulips are easy to incorporate into any space.
12. Welcome, spring!
This tip is an easy one: Change out your doormat for one with a spring motif. Both family and guests will smile every time they come to the door with a floral mat to greet them.
13. Fresh table (and bed) linens
Leleux suggests decorating with table linens in soft, pastel colors or with floral and botanical prints. “They can instantly lift the mood and give a spring-like feel to the space,” she says. Or add a floral touch to one of the bedrooms with a garden-themed blanket.
14. Indoor plants
They cheer us up during the dark winter months, but indoor plants also play a big part in springtime decorating. Take advantage of longer daylight hours with some spring beauties like pink azalea, peace lily, or miniature roses.
15. Smells like spring
Incorporating candles into spring decorating is a subtle but powerful way to add warmth, fragrance, and ambiance to any space. Choose candles in fresh, floral, or citrus scents to complement the mood of the season.
16. Rugs for the win
Area rugs are the interior designer’s secret to creating a brand new look for very little cost (when you can find some good sales). With springtime’s call for light and breezy style, consider choosing a rug like Leleux’s, made in a muted Turkish pattern with colors that pick up other elements in the room. When fall and winter come around, simply roll up the rug and store it in the garage. Other great places for spring area rugs are the entryway, bedrooms, and places you are trying to create a distinct zone, such as a reading nook.
17. Wicker accents
Since Victorian times, wicker furniture, with its intricate woven texture, was the happy harbinger of warmer weather. Keep your eye out for interesting wicker pieces that you can display on your mantel, dining room table, or china hutch. Leleux’s mantel treasures share space with a pretty wicker vase filled with simple greenery.
