Spring Cleaning!

Its that time of year!  Time to roll up your sleeves, tie back your hair and open the windows for some fresh air.  Spring cleaning is here!!  So, put on some music and get your mops and buckets out to get your Jewel Box® Home ready for spring weather. 

Spring Cleaning Tips:

1.  Get Organized!

Eliminate clutter.  Sort through old mail, stacks of paper and magazines.  Don't be afraid to throw things away that have no significance or value.  If you don't love it or need it-pitch it, donate it or give it away!  All the odds and ends that you keep, store in decorative, labeled boxes or baskets and file them away.

2.  Transition out your wardrobe.

Have winter clothes and coats cleaned and box them up for lighter jackets and short sleeves.  Yeah for sunshine and warmer weather!

3.  Freshen up bedrooms.

Flip and vacuum mattresses, hang pillows outside to freshen.  Wash your mattress pad and bedskirt.  Clean the bedroom windows and vacuum draperies.

4.   Scrub the floor!!

Wash tile and wood floors.  Have rugs and carpets professionally cleaned.  Don't forget the baseboards!

5.  Light fixtures and ceiling fans!

Now is the time to clean light fixtures, ceiling fans and lampshades.  Using a vacuum attachment with a brush or a microfiber cloth works wonders.

6. Don't Forget About Bathrooms.

Yes, I know we all clean our bathrooms every week...but we don't deep clean them!  Now it's time to battle clutter and refresh old products.  Go through your medicine cabinets and safely discard any outdated products.  Replace worn bath mats, shower curtains, and liners, or wash and dry shower curtains and liners.

7.Organize the kitchen.

Clear out your pantry, cabinets and drawers.  Replace shelf paper and wipe down cabinet faces.  Donate equipment you don't use regularly.  Discard dated spices and canned foods.  Clean your refrigerator and freezer.  Don't forget the top of the fridge!

8.  Wash those windows!

Best glass cleaner ever:  2 Tablespoons of vinegar in one quart of water.  Use squeegie and a lint-free cloth!  Sparkling clean.

If you were really industrious you could also extend your spring cleaning to your car and give it the seasonal scrub it needs as well!  When you are finished with your heavy work regime, put on the coffee pot, put your feet up and enjoy the fruits of your labors.  A sparkling home full of love for friends and family members!

Happy Cleaning!

~Amber

All Photos Courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens

Add Color Without Paint!

Remember how I was dreaming of spring?  Not much has changed in that area except the motivation part...its got me motivated to get cracking...get cleaning...get organizing...spruce up some stuff around here that's been left by the wayside.  One of my favorite parts of this motivation thing is the puttering.  I love to putter around my little Jewel Box® Home!  Rearranging, fluffing, adding little touches here and there.  My goal for this week is to add a little color into our home.  Confession:  I hate painting.  Hate it.  But fortunately for me, there are ways to add color without picking up a paint brush!

Colorful curtains in one vibrant shade.

Throw pillows in coordinating patterns and solids.

Accent pieces in one grouping of color.  I love these startling pink picture frames made into mirrors!

Colorful lampshades add personality and color to any room or tabletop.

Floral arrangements are one of my favorite ways to bring the outdoors in and add color to a room.

Furniture or slipcovers in one shade create drama.

Large colorful area rugs anchor a room's furniture arrangement and require NO PAINT!

Bring in color with wall decor and art.

Even bowls of fruit and veggies can bring pop to a drab and cheerless kitchen.

Are you puttering around your house freshening things up in anticipation for spring or is it just me?

~Amber

Blossom Trees @ Brabourne Farm

Crabapples + snow/silver pears = spring time loveliness!

Early Spring @ Brabourne Farm

Spring is slowly starting here at Brabourne Farm - the days are getting longer, the pear trees and crabapples are flowering, the air smells sweet and the sound of birdsong is everywhere.  This truly is the most wonderful time of year!

Its Memorial Day Weekend, Time to Garden!

The cone flowers in the picture above are from a small perennial flower garden I keep outside my kitchen door. For those of us that live in the Midwest, gardening begins over Memorial Day weekend. Its possible to plant before then, but the soil is not warm enough for plants to make any progress. This weekend I put in both my vegetable garden and flower garden and I'd like to introduce you to a little technique I like to call "clump gardening". I don't recommend this for vegetables, but it is wonderful for flowers, especially annuals. The idea is to group clusters of plants together to create high impact accents of color in selected areas of the garden. You can get a feel for this in the photo of my garden from last year. I "clumped" the geraniums so there would be splashes of red through out the green foundation plantings. The cone flowers shown above were also arranged for pops of color along my fence. I far prefer the bright showy shocks of color that you can achieve with "clump planting" to lonely flowers scattered sparsely throughout a bed.

Until next time,

Genevieve

Quick Color for Your Spring Garden

These stars of earth, these golden flowers.
- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

As far as I'm concerned, its not officially spring until the tulips are in bloom. One year I planted over 1000 bulbs! But even when I'm too lazy to lazy to put down bulbs in the fall - which I was this past year - I still have tulips in my spring garden. How? I run over to Home Depot, Lowes, or my local garden store and buy pre-planted tulip bulbs that have already begun to sprout. Don't expect the same range of color available with fall bulbs, or the fancy varieties, but the basic yellow, red and purple shades are usually in stock. I love to plant groupings of 10 to 20 pre-planted bulbs around the front of the house, and fill two planters at the entry way with bulbs. Its easy and looks terrific. Just remember to stay with a single shade - I love yellow or red - and plant bulbs in groups to get a bright pop of color.

Until next time!

Genevieve