Spring Home Refresh Ideas: Ostara, Minus the Chore List

The best spring home refresh ideas start small: clear one surface, open a window, bring in a branch or flower, and change the scent or light in a room you use every day. No giant spring clean required. Here's a room-by-room reset with plenty you can do using what you already own.

The spring equinox falls on 20 or 21 March. In the wheel of the year, Ostara marks this turn towards spring. You can acknowledge it with eggs, seeds or fresh greenery, or simply let the extra daylight show you which windows need a wipe. That last part is less poetic, but it does happen.

Start at the front door, not the whole house

A spring refresh in the hallway begins by making room for what comes in with you. Put away the winter accessories you no longer reach for, clear the pile of post and give the shelf or hall table a quick wipe. Stop there if you like. A visible patch of clear space makes more difference than an ambitious list you won't finish.

If the hallway has a window, open it for a while as you work. If it doesn't, open a window in the next room and leave the internal door open. Fresh air is the least complicated change you can make, though British spring may ask you to put your jumper back on afterwards.

Bring in one living thing, or something that looks as though it belongs outdoors. A single stem in the Mini Terrarium on Natural Tung Wood gives a narrow shelf a focal point without taking it over. It has a clear glass vessel on a natural tung wood base and can also hold a tiny plant garden. An empty jam jar works for a stem too. Trim a branch from your garden if you have one, rather than buying a whole bouquet for a space you pass through.

Let the living room look lighter

To refresh a living room for spring, remove a layer before adding anything. Fold the heavy throw and put it away if you no longer need it, or move it to the bedroom for cooler evenings. Swap dark cushion covers for lighter ones you already have. Then clean the window and leave the sill fairly clear so daylight can reach further into the room.

Keep the pieces you like all year. Spring isn't an instruction to replace your furniture with pale versions of itself. A room with dark wood or a deep-coloured sofa can look seasonal with an open window, a few branches and more space around its everyday objects. Try moving a lamp or plant before you decide the room needs something new.

For a taller arrangement, the Cantal Grass Bunch in Blue can stand in a vase in an empty corner. It's Cantal grass, so it doesn't need water. If blue isn't already part of the room, though, use what you have: bare branches, garden cuttings or a vase that's been sitting in a cupboard. Height matters more here than a matching colour scheme.

Tip: look at the room from the doorway before moving anything else. If the clearest surface is also the first one you see, you've probably done enough.

Give the kitchen table a small Ostara nod

The kitchen table is enough space for a spring or Ostara display; you don't need an altar or a themed haul. Eggs, seeds and new growth make simple symbols of the season. Set a small bowl of eggs beside a jar of budding twigs, or put a packet of seeds where you'll remember to sow it. Keep the arrangement low enough that you can still eat there.

This is also a good place to use the things already waiting in the cupboard: a plate as a tray, a spare glass as a vase, a linen napkin instead of a runner. Pick two or three pieces and leave space between them. Otherwise, the centre of the table quietly becomes a second storage area.

If you want a floral detail that stays after the branches have faded, the Natural Diffuser Flowers, Carnation on Reed are four cream sola wood flowers fixed to reeds. Put a reed in a bottle of fragrance oil and it draws scent up through the flower. You'll need a diffuser bottle and fragrance oil separately, so these aren't a ready-to-use scented bouquet. For help setting up a diffuser, see our reed diffuser guide.

Change the feel of the bedroom without changing the bed

A spring bedroom refresh is mostly about light, air and what you see when you walk in. Pull back the curtains, open the window when the weather allows and clear the bedside table down to the things you use. Move a heavy bedspread off the foot of the bed if it's making the room feel wintry. None of this requires a new duvet cover.

If you like a room scent, this is a sensible moment to change it. Put away a fragrance that reminds you of dark evenings and choose something herbal or floral that you enjoy. You could use a diffuser you already own, or just bring in a small bunch of garden flowers. Scent is personal; opening the window first helps you decide whether you want any at all.

On a windowsill, give a single stem room rather than filling every gap with pots and ornaments. By 1 April, London has almost 13 hours of daylight. The light is part of the decoration now, so let it in.

Keep one gentle change for the evening

Spring evenings still call for a lamp or candle. The trick is to use that light beside the signs of spring, rather than trying to make the room look like summer has arrived early. Put a few stems on the table, turn off the big light and leave the rest alone.

The Primavera Straight Candle Holder is made from recycled glass with real pressed leaves and blossoms inside. It measures 8 x 8cm and takes a tea light or small pillar candle. It's floral without being an ornament you have to pack away at the end of March. If you already have a glass candle holder, use that beside your branches instead.

Earth Hour, usually on a Saturday evening in late March from 8:30 to 9:30pm, is another good excuse to switch off. You might spend some of that time away from the big light, with a drink and a view of the arrangement you've made. If you use a candle, place it on a stable, heat-resistant surface, keep it clear of stems, curtains, children and pets, and extinguish it before leaving the room.

If you started the seasonal clear-out back in February, our Imbolc candlelit clear-out picks up the earlier part of the same idea. Spring can be a continuation, not a fresh set of chores.

In short

Choose the room you look at most, clear one surface and add either fresh air, greenery or softer evening light. You can do the next room another day. If changing the scent is your one spring swap, browse our room sprays and reed diffusers, then give your chosen flower or bottle some clear space to sit.