It’s May and spring is in full bloom. The days are long and warm and we have put away our winter things. Have you been spring cleaning? Perhaps along with cleaning your space, you would like to switch things up a little (or a lot). Maybe you would like to change the color of a room, sew a chair slip-cover, adopt some house plants or simply introduce a pretty vase of cut flowers. There are many ways to make your home fresh for spring and the library has lots of good books brimming with ideas and suggestions.
“Simple Farmhouse Life: DIY Projects for the All-natural, Handmade Home,” by Missouri blogger Lisa Bass has recipes for making your own cleaning products, instructions for hand dipping candles, and ideas for using reclaimed materials in your home decor. You don’t have to do it all, like Lisa, and have eight kids, a husband and a large, old farmhouse to experience some comforting farmhouse simplicity in your home. Try making a duvet from vintage sheets or some pretty tie-top linen curtains, to soften the look of your bedroom.
In the book “Aphrochic: Celebrating the Legacy of the Black Family Home” by Bryan Mason it says “Celebration may be the most important element of African American interior design. We do not define our culture by tragedy and oppression but by enduring hope, creativity and joy. The embrace of color, art, and culture in our design creates a joyful place where the stories of a person, a family, and a people are celebrated and remembered.” “Aphrochic” is also a quarterly magazine and a website. The book is full of photos of rooms with bold colors, clean shapes and offbeat textiles. These take you into the homes and studios of artists, musicians, actors, curators and entrepreneurs.
“Style Your Modern Vintage Home: A Guide to Buying, Restoring and Styling From the 1920s to 1990s,” by Kate Beavis, is perfect for inspiring vintage design enthusiasts. It features rooms with beautifully preserved vintage furniture and room decor. There is a range of eras represented including atomic Mid-Century Modern, Art Deco and more, plus, each chapter is divided into different parts of the home. It also has interesting design ideas such as adding splayed legs to a box record player to turn it into a freestanding piece of furniture, storing jewelry in a vintage sewing box or displaying a collection of vintage handbags on the wall. Whether you are incorporating vintage pieces into your modern home or going all out with your period decor, this book is full of inspiration and even contains a directory to source vintage items.
If the walls and furniture of a room are the setting of your home life, your special belongings are the clues to your story. “Collected: Living With the Things You Love,” by Fritz Karch offers collectors tips on how to artfully display their treasures. There are plenty of interesting collections to feast your eyes upon including colorful vintage Pyrex, a folding screen decoupaged with a collection of various red and white playing cards, and souvenir state map tea towels stitched into kitchen curtains or laminated onto a roller shade. The photos are sure to inspire anyone with a collection to display it in a purposeful, playful or artistic fashion.
Finally, “P. Allen Smith’s Bringing the Garden Indoors: Containers, Crafts, and Bouquets for Every Room,” by P. Allen Smith, offers 65 projects to turn your home into a garden home. Learn how to arrange seasonal bouquets, create impressive centerpieces and grow surprising plants inside your home.
As we prepare to welcome the summer season, I hope you find some materials at the library that will inspire you to create a fresh home oasis to enjoy.
