Spring to life

Project ideas and inspiration from Good magazine

Struggling with spring cleaning? As you clear and clean surfaces, reward yourself with some simple revamping tricks. Here are some tips for an inspirational seasonal re-jig.

Some of us embrace the task of decluttering and cleaning with enthusiasm, while others find it one of the hardest things to do. What if I throw out something potentially useful? How come it’s my job to tidy up after everyone else in this household? Where do I even start?

Given the everyday ebb and flow of a home, things naturally tend to stray from order to disorder, and for those of us who are collectors, crafters, or simply just very busy living, things can easily get out of hand.

At the extremes of feminism and chauvinism, a lot of bunkum has been said about housework. Fact is, some of us are instinctively organised and don’t mind cleaning – some will even admit to enjoying it! Others are messy by nature.

“Housekeeping is neither noble nor ignoble, it’s practical,” says Sandra Felton, bestselling author and founder of the hugely popular support group Messies Anonymous. At a basic level, it’s about creating a living space for ourselves and our families. For some of us this starts with reclaiming spaces in our home that have been lost to chronic mess.

Whatever your disposition, the annual spring clean offers us a chance to refresh and revitalise our surroundings. It’s the season of the year to do more than simply clean up after yourself or others. It’s an opportunity to clear out spaces, rediscover surfaces and reassess what’s currently not working in terms of flow and maximising space.

And the good news is that once spaces are cleared and cleaned, even somewhat, we can enjoy getting creative with these fresh new places.

Don’t aim for perfection. If you’re a naturally messy person, you may feel as though you can’t clean things unless you do it perfectly. Fact is, there’s no right or perfect way to clean something.

Think of the maxim ‘something in, something out’ and let that be a motivating principle. If you were to add a shelf, cupboard or other item of furniture, what would it be? Now might be the time to reinvent a piece of furniture with a fresh coat of paint. Perhaps you can better arrange what you have or repurpose an item from elsewhere in the house.

Try starting with the room you spend the most time in – or the space in your house that bugs you the most. That way you’ll get results you can appreciate every day, inspiring you to do more.

Feeling overwhelmed? Think of your challenge as creating an oasis in a desert of mess and muddle. Make it a priority to maintain that oasis, then as you’re ready, add another and another.

As you work your way through your home, consider the difference between clutter and collectables. As organisational expert peter Walsh says, it isn’t just the stuff in your cupboards. “It’s anything that gets between you and the life you want to be living, whether it’s in your home, in your head, in your heart or on your hips.”

Develop a healthy passion for clear surfaces; first create them by clearing horizontal surfaces of clutter. Cleaning things with warm water and a pleasant-smelling eco cleaner is easy when you have space to work in.

Pay attention to what is being kept. Is it beautiful or useful? If functional, are these items collected together in a practical way (for example, Lego in a rummageable suitcase, stored under a child’s bed). If beautiful, are they on display and arranged in complementary clusters – for example, by shade or colour?

Reward yourself as you go. Verbally congratulate yourself, post a picture online for friends to see, or treat yourself to a moment in the sun with a freshly brewed cup of tea.

According to Peter Walsh, the secret to successful decluttering is this: “You will never get organised if you don’t have a vision for the life you want. Ask yourself, ‘Does this thing create that vision or get in the way of that vision?’ If it does, hold on to it with all your life. If it doesn’t, why is it in your home?”

Step-by-step instructions

Bookshelves can become dumping grounds for all sorts of miscellanea and bits of junk. Here’s how to give them a makeover!

Step 1:  Remove everything. Find a home for it elsewhere or put everything in a banana box to keep the mess contained.

Step 2:  Take a hard look at the the shelves. Is it time for a new colour?

Step 3:  Lightly sand shelves, wipe with a soft cloth and give them a new look with cool neutrals and a splash of fresh colour. We used the neutral Resene Black White and added zing with Resene Citrus, Resene Pelorus and Resene Chelsea Cucumber.

Top tips

• Something in, something out: kickstart your decluttering with a new-to-you piece of furniture to store handy items. Trawl TradeMe or visit your local op-shop for potential repurposing projects. Look for furniture with shelves, drawers or handy cubby holes you can tidy up and refresh with paint.

• Go for a soft, natural look by rubbing down that old table and coating it with a beeswax finish.

• Find a use for items you love, such as vintage jars, but give yourself permission to get rid of anything that's dull or damaged beyond repair.

• A wood finish is lovely, but you can have too much of a good thing. If brown tones make a dark corner gloomy, lighten the mood with old-fashioned whitewash.

• Find somewhere to safely display your special cup and saucer collection, if looking at it brings you pleasure on a daily basis.

• Give yourself a visual treat every time you put the dishes away by lining the back of your cupboards with mix-and-match papers. We’ve used vintage wallpaper scraps, mixed with Resene wallpaper from their current range – the green Aria print from House of York.

• Hone your visual skills and check an arrangement’s composition by looking at your objects using cupped hands to make a spyglass.

• Store all that unsightly stuff you can’t get rid of just yet in a stack of colourful boxes. Make a diary note to review the contents at a certain date and pass on anything you really don’t need.

• Put your precious and vintage collectables on display – use colour as a starting point to organise your collection.

Words Sarah Heeringa. Styling Rebekah White. Photography Tony Brownjohn.

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