Use what you have decorating ideas to refresh your home decor for spring without having to buy anything new.
Spring arrived last week. Is your house ready?
I enjoy changing up my decor for the seasons and now more than ever is the time to make sure I chase the winter blues away and bring on spring.
Taking on refreshing your home for spring is also a way to give your home a new energy or vibe.
Over the weekend, I started to paint the foyer. A project that has been on the back burner for years. While the paint was drying, I went up to my attic stash of decor to see what I could find to bring a little spring into the house using what I already own.
My mantra… “Just because I have the same stuff, doesn’t mean I can’t use it in different ways.“
I enjoy using what I have to decorate my home, but I also like to buy something new every now and then, even if it is small to keep my decor from getting stale.
When I was up in the attic looking for items to use to refresh the house for spring, I came across something I haven’t used since moving to the lake house.
I wasn’t sure what I found would work the way I was thinking, but it was worth a try to see if I could give my kitchen table a refresh to create new appeal.
Do you remember I had a dining room in my previous house? I made chair back slipcovers for the dining room chairs 10 years ago. When we moved, I gave the table and chairs to one of my daughters because the lake house doesn’t have a dining room.
She didn’t want the slipcovers, so I kept them for no other reason than they were neutral in color and classic. I didn’t think I would ever use them again, until now.
Here is how my kitchen table and chairs have looked for the past year. I really like this and the blue and white cushion covers I made.
I figured I had nothing to lose if I tried to see if the white slipcovers would even fit the backs of the Kubu Dining Chairs around the kitchen table. To my surprise… they did!
Total WIN! I am so happy that I made the decision to keep them even when I thought there no longer was a use for them.
So I washed and pressed them and now my kitchen has taken on a fresh, simple and casual look that makes me happy to be at home.
I know not everyone has slipcovers like this. Instead, the reason I am telling you about what I did is so that you can look around your home in search of items you already own which can be used to change the decor.
Update: A few weeks after posting this. I added new chair seat cushion covers to these chairs without having to buy fabric. I found a way to repurpose fabric from something else I had already and was going to throw out. Find out how in this post:
Plan a ReDesign Day for Your Home
“When you live with something a long time, your eyes don’t see its full potential anymore.”
If you have newfound time on your hands, why not set up a day to ReDesign a room or rooms in your home?
Try These Use What You Have Decorating Ideas…
- Start by going through all the old paint, fabric, gift wrap and other decorating supplies you have on hand or leftover from previous projects.
- Remove all the photos in the frames displayed around your home, print new photos from your phone to refresh all the photos for the frames.
- Remove one or two cabinet doors from your kitchen. If needed, paint the inside of the cabinet with leftover paint or line with leftover fabric, wallpaper or gift wrap and then style with your favorite kitchen items in the new open shelving. Store the cabinet doors somewhere safe so you can put them back someday. Fill the holes with a piece of white chalk or if the cabinets are stained or a color – crumble a matching color crayon and push the bits into the holes. This way if you are not sure how long you plan to keep the doors off, you can still reattach using the original screw holes.
- An old vanity that no longer fits your decorating style, can be reconfigured, painted, reupholstered, or relocated to another room or used as a TV cabinet or a bar in a dining room.
- Slide two end tables together in front of the sofa to create a new coffee table. Place your existing coffee table at the end of your bed to make bench.
- Turn a stool into a side table for a sofa, chair or bed.
- Take rarely used cloth napkins or never worn scarves to make no sew pillow covers, make cafe-style curtains, and more.
- Do a switch-a-roo. Move your dining room chairs to the kitchen and the kitchen chairs to the dining room. Or mix and match them in each room. Move the table lamps from one room to another.
- There’s no point in keeping interesting items if no one ever sees them. Remove a few objects from your china cabinet and use them to style a vignette on a coffee table.
- Use a tray to group a collection of small items together to give it more impact. Place on a table.
- Use the bottom part of your china cabinet as a buffet when you remove the top. If the top has crown molding, use it in a creative way. I did this and created a mantel with the crown molding for my living room fireplace.
- Color coordinate the books on your bookshelves.
- Bring in cuttings from the trees, bushes and flowering plants in your yard. Place in vases and then place on a kitchen table, counter, coffee table, bedside table or in an empty fireplace.
- Make a bed headboard using an unused curtain rod and sheet, blanket, or any colorful fabric you have.
- Candles create a soothing atmosphere in a room even when they aren’t lit. Gather a few you have laying around and place on a tray that can be carried from room to room. Arranging candles in an unused fireplace is another way to freshen up an otherwise dark and unused spot in a room.
- If you work from home, here is an idea to help you stay organized if you don’t have a dedicated space to set up your computer and files and are working from the kitchen table. Find a large basket or tray to place the items you need to work. When it is meal time, you can simply move the tray out of the way when needed. If you don’t have any trays, try cutting down a box that held a recent delivery to your home. Cover it with gift wrap if you enjoy seeing color at your work space.
- Instead of using a matching set of anything, mix and match colors from napkins on your table setting to candles, pillows on the sofa.
Re-pot a plant. Look at containers around the house from pretty teacups to plastic food containers. If you have some spray paint, consider painting the plastic.
What matters when you use what you already own to decorate is that you setup, decorate and organize in ways that work for you so that you are happy and content!
Change what you can with what you own and then enjoy what you have changed.
More Spring Decorating Ideas Using What You Already Own
Repurposed Glass Bottle Vases 
Stacking Pillows 
Easter Table Setting Idea 
How to Cut Flowers to Fit a Vase 
Pink Painted Tray 
Easter Bunny Napkin Ring + Free Printable
Links to Spring decorating ideas shown in the photos above:
- Using Items From the Trash To Decorate
- How to Make Large Comfy TV Watching Floor Pillows
- How to Decorate Using Unused Gift Wrap
- Easy Floral Arranging Tip
- Spring Living Room Decorating Ideas
- Free Printable Easter Bunny Napkin Rings
Have you done anything to give your home a refresh for spring?
Becky says
I always love all the fantastic use-what-you-have ideas you overflow with! You are amazing!!!
Diane Henkler says
Thanks Becky – Use what you have is my favorite way to decorate. Love being able to share ideas.
Linda says
I just love how you think! I’m not into decorating as much as you and other people are, but I love that you give us ideas on how to reuse, repurpose and make do with what we have. That make-do attitude can help us get through some of the hard times. Thank you for always inspiring us.
Jamie says
Diane, you are amazing! Thank you for keeping it real (and affordable). Love your ideas.
K says
Diane, it was interesting to see we are thinking alike. I too have recently taken down frames and located new prints to change the look and I am reconstructing my current bedroom drape into a different look. Thanks for confirming my thought process!
Diane Henkler says
H K – It is the little things sometimes that we stop seeing. Changing out the art or photos in frames is easy and really gives the space new energy. Enjoy the changes and newly styled drapes.
Pamela says
How neat that the slipcovers fit! I have 2 from our last house that I’m going to pull out, thanks. I took a vintage peach basket outta the closet where it was storing quilt pieces & placed it on the kitchen counter to hold an antique aqua dessert set of dishes for spring, my husband painted 2 rusty metal outdoor chairs, trimmed back some shrubs & washed the dog. I cleaned/organized the bathroom vanities and created a menu plan according to the use by dates on all the groceries we bought when the virus came out. I wanted some pale pink palm fronds for spring in my dining room but didn’t want to shop so I remembered 5 green faux fronds I had, painted both sides with gesso & will make my own chalk paint using a tester bottle of pink paint I bought for our last home’s bathroom. Love your blog
PJ says
Hi Diane, thanks again for another wonderful decorate-with-what-you-have idea – an idea of yours I’ve been practicing now for years. After one of my son’s moved out, we’ve decided I could corral all my crafty projects into his not-used room! Other than paint, the idea is to use what I already have to make it the best craftroom for me. My favorite color is purple, so we’re naming it the purple palace. We’re taking advantage of time at home to declutter that room, as well as our holiday storage, even cleaned out the deep freeze. I have an old wooden ironing board (I bought at a garage sale for sentimental value, but it never stands up right) that my husband is going to drill holes in and attach pegs for a massive thread organizer. I also have two beautiful smallish chandeliers that I bought at garage sales that we’re going to repaint and hubs will rewire to use in the craftroom. I’ve had them for years, but nowhere to use them. I also have an old chair in my office that I’m going to move down there after I recover it in beautiful rich purple velvet cushions, with white drybrushed wood; a beautiful place to sit and knit! I’ll have a beautiful cozy room to create in, so I won’t even notice I’m working in the dungeon (basement). That goal just helps me stay positive in this worrisome time. P.S. I LOVE your hydrangeas – I planted some last year and hope they’ll be as glorious as yours are in a few years. The city I live in planted some along common/public areas, and last fall I stopped in to city hall to ask if I could clip some dried blooms for my fall tables, and they said yes – looked gorgeous and lasted forever. Thanks again! Always look forward to your blog entries and beautiful photos!
Pamela says
an upcycled wood ironing board to massive thread holder is fantastic!
Pat M. says
I pulled up a winter-dirty natural fiber area rug from under my dining area table. This area is adjacent to the sliding glass doors to my back yard where my 2 (one large, one medium) dogs go out and come back in. Yes, you can imagine the mess that 8 happy feet make in that area, especially with all the rain we’ve had. I planned to remove it just until I could either get another rug or try to clean this one, but I do believe I will not put another one down on my wood floors. At least not until next fall/winter maybe. I like the morning to noontime sun that shines off the bare floor and the fact that without the rug defining “boundaries,” it opens up the space. Amazing what one simple act can accomplish……
Joan says
Diane,
I love all your refreshing ideas about re-using things you already have to decorate around the house.
I subscribe to another blog where a couple just remodeled their bathroom and spent $21,000 . They had some items sponsored but they did spend over $13,000 on their own. I was appalled. The whole thing was bragging about how beautiful it was and on and on and on. This was just all over the top. The bathroom was perfectly fine the way it was. Needless to say I will unsubscribe from that blogger.
In these times of wondering where the next meal is coming from and trying to stretch the bank account every which way. Anyway, enough venting, thanks for showing us DIY decorating that is affordable and beautiful.
Bonnie says
Thanks so much for the great ideas of how to decorate for Spring. I bought a small, $5.00 bouquet of flowers at Walmart this week. I cut them up and put them in assorted bottles in my Daddy’s old, wood tool box which I like to use on top of my dining room table. I inherited Daddy’s toolbox when he passed away. Every time I pass by my table, I see the fresh flowers and it brings me joy! My family has plans to gather at my house on Easter Sunday to celebrate Easter as well as several birthday parties for family members which had to be canceled because of the corona virus. Because of the virus, I’m no longer sure if we will be getting together on Easter Sunday but I decided to decorate my home anyway even though it might only be for me. I am enjoying the beauty of little bunnies and chicks scattered throughout my home & my Easter wreaths hung on the 2 doors.
Cate says
Love how you always shop around the house, change things up and make your surroundings so comfortable.
A friend of mine is working from home now and said she hates the clutter of office “stuff” she has. So I turned right around and told her what you suggested about using a tray. Well, she didn’t have a tray, so I told her about your box idea. Since she didn’t have any fabric hanging around, I suggested she get creative with paint. I suggested using two or three colors and make stripes on one side, polka dots on the other, and “squiggles” on the other. She’s working on it as I write this, and was thankful for the suggestion. I said “they all came from Diane”, so THANK YOU DIANE! :-)
Lynn W says
Love that you saved the slipcovers and they fit perfectly the newer wicker chairs!! Nice look ?. Re use and switching items from room to room has always been my way of decorating. A new item here or there is always nice too!! Luckily, if you do need something, many retailers are offering free shipping.
Best to stay in…. craft, clean and redecorate!!
On my list this week is to pull weeds and
make lemon curd from the plethora of lemons around here?. Stay healthy!!
Susan says
A fresh look using what you already have. i am also looking around the house to bring indoors, lovely spring. Lots of blooms and buds outside. My favorite time of the year.