Spring Tour: How To Use Organics To Decorate Your Home For Spring

Enjoy stepping into our home for a spring tour that features the use of spring organics, blue and white accent decor, and a few other surprises.

Happy Spring, Friends! Welcome to my Spring Home Tour. I’m so excited to show you our home dressed up and ready for this beautiful time of year. My hope is you will find a few ideas to take away and help you decorate your spring home.

I’m thrilled to be a part of Marty’s Spring Home Tour. Thanks for hosting, Marty. I look forward to being on her season tours.

Welcome to all! Have you come from my friend Suzy’s home? Suzy and I are dear friends. She spent several days back in December with me here at the Tanglewood House. Suzy is smart and funny and has a blog with solid decorating advice. No matter where you have come from, I’m so glad you are visiting! I always say our front door is open to friends old and new.

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Over the last year, I’ve been focusing on decorating smarter, not harder. I call it LAZY GIRL DECORATING. A big part of this easy and pretty way of decorating is to use seasonal organics; things I would see and find right outside my front door.

And speaking of my front door…

The forsythia is just starting to wake up and bloom in our area, so I added a brambly forsythia wreath to our front door. A seasonal wreath is a cherry welcome to all who pass by. This FORSYTHIA WREATH is so easy to make. Even if you are not crafty, you can create one for your home.

I’m so happy you came for a visit. Come on in!

The Foyer

This year, I am using spring flowers in our home to celebrate the season. To mimic the wreath on the front door, I added forsythia to a white urn in the middle of the foyer table.

Do you love blue and white decor? I do, too. I’ve been collecting blue and white decor for years but have not added this color combination to our Tanglewood home… until now.

Blue and white accents play a big role alongside spring organic in this home tour.

I used spring bulbs in a big way this year. I found some at our local grocery store and a nearby greenhouse and potted them in cups, planters, and other decor pieces. The foyer table is a study in spring! Forsythia mingles with blue and white accent decor and pretty little grape hyacinths growing from a cup.

This cup’s handle was broken off, but it makes a sweet little container for spring bulbs. I have two other matching cups with handles I planted with grape hyacinth as well. I so enjoyed digging in a little early spring dirt. To help keep the hyacinth leaves from drooping, I staked the plant with a few twigs from our weeping redbud tree and tied it up with twine.

This is a simple and pretty way to bring the outdoor beauty of spring indoors to enjoy.

I love the color brown with blue and white, so I added a wonderfully scented candle in a round, nubby glass container to the foyer arrangement. Brown visually grounds blue and white and adds some depth to these classic colors.

Spring weather in our area can be a bit temperamental. As weather fronts blow through, we can get our share of showers. Colorful umbrellas in a blue and white umbrella stand are ready near the front door. We like to go out to greet friends and family who come to visit, so these umbrellas are ready to go with us when it’s rainy.

I like to use real and faux flowers together in vignettes and arrangements like I did here on the foyer console. I think real greenery and blooms give legitimacy to faux flowers and blooming branches. And in the spring, I use them liberally. Now is the time to go a little bit flower crazy in your home.

The Living Room

Spring blue and white accents and spring organics continue into the living room.

In this area of our home, I added a pop of orange to complement the blue and white. Along with brown, blue and white comes alive when mixed with orange. I really don’t like crayon orange or pumpkin orange but when orange is muted and muddie it is gorgeous.

The white buffet is the first thing you will notice coming from our long foyer.

Every year since we moved to the Tanglewood House, I’ve put branches of faux white blossoms on the buffet. This year, I put them in a tall white vase instead of an urn or planter. The urn is a statement that grabs everyone’s attention when they walk towards the living room.

I have one rule when it comes to using faux blooms and branches in our home… they must look real. I’ve used these blooming branches for quite a few years. I added one more branch to my stash this spring. Often time, very realistic faux plants can be a splurge but if you use them over and over again for a number of years, they are worth it. Just having something so amazingly lovely in my home is absolutely worth the expense to me.

Next to the urn are two handsome rabbits.

I’m not much of a chotchkie kind of person, but I love handsome rabbits. I found these a few years ago, and I look forward to using them every year. I love to change up my decor, but there is also such comfort in having a few items you use year after year. They are like old beloved friends!

In back of the the handsome rabbits is a long wooden dough bowl I plante with two varieties of peach pansies. Look for an upcoming post about how to plant bulbs and spring plants, like pansies indoor and use them as decor.

If you decorate with blue and white, a little orange is the perfect color to complement this classic duo.

Sittin under the window, close to the white buffet is the tall glass vase full of pussy willow branches. Aren’t these iconic harbingers of spring? They make such a statement! Using a seasonal organic, like pussy willow, brings a twiggy look to the living room. And spring is all about twiggyness.

I found these tall branches at a local greenhouse and had to bring them home. If you are local, I found them at Cherry Hill Orchard. Pussy willow is an invasive plant that is actually not very attractive. But their spring catkins are so worth bringing in and enjoying them as one of the early spring miracles of nature.

I’ve brought pussy willow in as decor for decades. It’s best to put them in a container without water. They will last a very long time. I’ve made the mistake of putting them in water and they grow roots very easily and sprout green tendrills. So, if branches and catkins are what you want, better forego the water.

I replace the brown and white buffalo check plaid curtains in the living room and dining room I had up all winter with the ones that usually hang in these room. I am on the lookout for new curtains, with just a tiny bit more pattern and maybe a little more color. Who knows, I might try blue and white.

Another blue and white addition to our home this season are these spring inspired lumbar pillows I found at a local shop.

The motif on the pillows also has a spring feel. One of the biggest obstacles to adding blue to our home is the undertones in our neutral color palette. It’s warm. And blue is a cool color. In small doses, blue can work with our colors. But only in small doses.

One reason I love these pillows is because the blue is muddied or warmed up. If you look at the little box on the drink table next to the chair, you can see the difference. The box’s blue color is very cool and vibrant and harsher than the blue on the pillow.

The muddied blue color of the pillow acts as a nice color bridge between the cool blue in much of my accent decor and the warm color palette of the living room.

You might like to read HOW TO MIX WARM AND COOL COLORS IN DECOR. Color theory and how color creates beauty is so interesting.

This is a view of our living room standing in the dining area. You can see how I used branches and spring blooms as well as blue and white accents, mostly chinoiserie items, to decorate this room. In a large open area, a rug works like walls to define the space.

At the end of the sofa is a very inexpensive small upholstered ottoman I am using as an end table. I love its shape and the black legs that mimic a little black here and there in this room, but the upholstery was the same color as the sofa. I thought about having it reupholstered but instead I’ve opted to lay a throw across it to add a little color.

A pair of rattan boxes sit on top of the throw. I love to use baskets in our home. They are textural and great filler decor, as well as places to stash things. That’s a decorating win/win/win! Many baskets are made from organic materials like rattan and wicker. And they add so much depth and texture to the living room in the spring.

You might like to read Stylish And Useful Ideas For Decorating With Baskets.

The oval coffee table is always changing. Right now, it’s blooming with spring flowers. This is one area of our home I love to play with.

For today’s coffee table, a glass vase with deep orange tulips and another cup with grape hyacinths on a pedestal add more than a seasonal nod to spring. Chinoiserie items and a pair of books complete the look.

Over the last year, I’ve started to collect brown and white transferware and chinoiserie. I absolutely love this new collection. If you follow StoneGable, and I hope you will (HERE), you will see the brown and white pieces as I add them to our home. And some big changes I am making soon, too.

I put a second cup of dainty hyacinths on a dark, barely-turned pedestal. I used moss to cover the dirt in this cup. Like the pillow in the background, the color of these spring flowers are more muted and quiet so they work seamlessly with my warm neutral color palette.

The curlacue chest in the living room is lightly decorated for spring. It is a good thing when you are decorating a small-ish area to choose some surfaces in the room as support actors and not the divas of your room. When a room looks too busy or too frenetic, choose a surface that is not the focal point and edit it a bit. You will see a difference in your whole room.

The sun streams in the windows near the curlacue chest. If you have been following StoneGable for a while, I’m sure you know that the curlacue is am iconic StoneGable piece of furniture. I found it over a decade ago and love it just as much as the day I found it. I always say, if I were a piece of furniture, I’d be the curlacue!😉

I thought it would be a good place for a second arrangement of pansies. I used a traditional terracotta pot that has been treated to look used and well-loved. This spring when the pansies are spent I’m going to paint it with yogurt and dirt and let it sit outside or a bit. This will age it naturally. Don’t you love the look of old terracotta?

The pansie pot sits in a white pedestal bowl, giving it a little more visual presence alongside a hammered brass container with a rabbit finial and a pair of brass candlesticks. I reprised an old lamp from the basement for this year’s spring decor.

Do you collect furniture? I tend to gravitate toward lamps, chairs, bowls, and small tables. Oh, and I forgot about the mirrors. I collect them, too. I’d love to hear about the furniture you collect in the comments.

The candlesticks on the chest and on the mantel are honey-colored beeswax candles.

The Dining Room

The living room and dining room are really one big space only divided by some architectural elements and ceiling height. When we weren’t looking to downsize but were just house snooping, the architecture in this home made it very hard to resist!

The dining room is certainly less color-filled, flower-filled, and less decorated than the rest of our home. This is a room where your eye can rest! It’s important in open spaces to have areas that are a bit more restful. Our eyes read too much decor to look through as busy and chaotic. The dining room creates a bit of calm for our home.

This winter, I added the setee from our bedroom to the dining room. I like the idea of a settee at a round table. I’m not sure if this one will stay, but it has been a fun addition for now.

Be brave and adventurous when it comes to switching around decor in your home. It will make you a more confident and better decorator. And it’s fun!

A handsome rabbit pillow sits on one of the dining room chairs. He is the newest rabbit to join my handsome rabbit hutch.

As well as decorating our home the Lazy Girl way, and using lots of organics, this spring I’m embracing colors that might not quite work into my color palette. Before, I would not have used the rabbit pillow in my dining room because the background color looked a bit too apricot. And it really does not work with the rest of the room. However, I’m embracing (is anyone else tired of this word?) that it is a bit “off” and enjoying the rabbit pillow for what it is, a statement piece.

On the center of the table is an EARY SPRING DOUGH BOWL ARRANGEMENT that is so easy to make. I used an old dough bowl and things I already had and put it together in less than 30 minutes.

After Easter, I think I’ll add some pretty chinoiserie to the table, along with brass candlesticks.

Next to the dining area is the kitchen.

The Kitchen

Let’s take a little look…

My very favorite place to sit is at the little round table. I eat my breakfast here with lots of birds who are eating their breakfast at our birdfeeders just beyond the window. For my birthday last year, I asked for a birdfeeder. I thought it would be a fun thing to share with our grandkids. However, I never guessed how much I would enjoy watching the birds. So whenever I drink my first cup of coffee in the morning or have a minute or two of downtime, I like to sit and visit with the birds. They bring a sense of calm to my sometimes hectic life.

Right now, the table holds some of the bulbs I transplanted into pretty containers.

The tete a tete daffodils were transplanted in a glass hurricane. They’ve grown so much. What is so interesting about these tiny daffodils is their darling little faces follow the sun.

The third blue and white cup sits with the sweet daffodils, and so does a planter with more grape hyacinths.

There’s one more blue and white addition I want to show you.

Bobby hung some odds and end plates on the wall so I could see if I liked them there. Yes, I do like the plates on this wall, but I think I’ll use a mix of white, blue and white, and brown and white plates and platters. These plates were hung with velcro, so they should be easy to take down. Hopefully, by the summer tour, I’ll have new plates hung and some new wallpaper in the kitchen,

I’ll share the rest of my spring kitchen soon.

Shop My Home

The most frequent question I get is, “Where did you get that.” Here are sources for many of the items in this post and some I thought you would like. When the in the post cannot be sourced I try to find something similar. Enjoy!

It’s time to say goodbye for now and send you on your way to Laura at Decor To Adore. Laura is another long-time blogger. I know you will love visiting her beautiful spring home.

Monday March 4th

A Stroll Thru LifeWorthing CourtStoneGableDecor To AdorePeacock Ridge Farm

Tuesday March 5th

White Arrows HomeThistle Key LaneCalypso In The Country – Eleanor Rose HomeA Pretty Life In The Suburbs

Wednesday March 6th

Whispering Pines HomesteadOur Southern HomeThrifty and ChicBluesky At Home – County Road 407

Thursday March 7th

It All Started With PaintBungalow 47Lyndale DriveFrom Farmhouse to FloridaMy Thrift Store Addiction

Friday March 8th

Pasha is HomeFollow The Yellow Brick HomeThe House of SilveradoMy Family ThymeRae Elizabeth’s House

I hope you have enjoyed your visit here and are leaving with a few good ideas you might like to try in your home. It’s been such a pleasure being with you!

Happy Spring!

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60 Comments

  1. Yvonne,
    You have a lovely home. I enjoy your blog each week. Thanks for sharing your space. It’s so lovely. I love the blue and white. You gave me an idea to place plates on the walls.

  2. Judi Herr says:

    Where are your living room curtains from?

  3. So happy to see the blue and white porcelains, especially plates on the wall! I long for the decorating days of the 90’s with a touch of color (no red/green walls tho) and blue and white porcelain. 🙂 So sick of all the white and black or white and gray. Happy Spring!

    1. You will be jumping for joy when I tell you that many of the beautiful things of the 90s are back in a BIG way!

  4. I love the addition of blue and white and the brown transferware. I have a small collection of brown transferware that started with a large pitcher of my great, great aunt. Using organics makes it so easy to clean up after a season, no storage required, just plant them in the yard. I also asked for a bird feeder for my birthday and new passion ensued. Love the settee at the dining table, I would choose that seat for sure. 😉 Really enjoyed this tour, thank you.

  5. Nan, Odessa, DE says:

    Thank you for your invite to tour!
    I am waiting to see your wallpaper. Will you keep the Simply White paint?
    Is Simply White a warm white?
    Looking forward to the next post.

    1. Hi Nan, so glad you stopped by to tour. Yes I will keep our home Simply White. It is a warm white. I’m getting samples. The issue I am having is finding wallpaper I like with a white background. Happy Spring.

  6. Laura Ingalls Gunn says:

    Yvonne your spring home is like a breath of fresh air. I adore all of the natural touches. The gorgeous blue and white cup filled with muscari is truly charming!

  7. Linda @It All Started With Paint says:

    Yvonne, you had me at Lazy Girl (lol) but there is nothing lazy about how beautifully your home is decorated for Spring! Just love the mix of fresh and faux flora, the gorgeous color combos with your base of blue & white and those handsome bunnies are the chef’s kiss!

    So beautiful and thanks so much for sharing with us all!

    🙂 Linda

    1. Linda, Happy Spring! How absolutely sweet of you to leave this comment. Looking forward to visiting your spring home on Thursday.

  8. Just love this tour!! Love that you are incorporating blue. I love blue too!! I would love to lighten my wood furniture a bit. I have all upholstery similar to yours. Pottery Barn. What do you suggest? Thank you for your inspiration.

    1. I think dark wood and blue and white look gorgeous together. I think the trick is to use lots of white with this combo. White walls do wonders. Hope this is helpful, Laura.

  9. I just love the addition of blue and white for spring! And all of the blooms are gorgeous! Must remember to do that myself next year. I so enjoyed “visiting” your home again now that I’ve actually been there, I was able to picture every single space and where it is. Pinned!

    1. Suzy, I’m so glad you are planning another visit this summer! Thank you for pinning! I love pins. Your home is a beautiful and happy splash of color, my friend.

  10. While I do love color, my favorite is soft neutrals with just a touch of color and your home is so well done with just the touch of blue. You add so much flair with all the various textures you use and I love it all. I never visit without leaving inspired. Thanks so much for joining the tour again this season, your home is definitely a favorite.

    1. Marty, being in your tour is such a blessing. A thousand thank you’s for your very kind comments and for all the work you do hosting us. I know it must be like herding cats at times. LOL!

  11. Oh my goodness! Your home is so lovely. I adore all of your chinoiserie and florals. Absolutely stunning. So fun hopping with you today.

    1. Happy Spring, Renae! Thanks so much. You are such a lovely positive person. You made my day.

  12. Love, love, love the blue and white in your home. And the addition of other colors is also surprising! Thank you for sharing your talents with us! As always, this is an inspirational post.

  13. Kimberly Snyder says:

    Oh my goodness! Your home is stunning! I love all of the Spring touches! Especially the dough bowl filled with the orange pansies! Thank you for sharing your home!

    1. Hi Kimberly, Thank you so much! Looking forward to chatting with you on Thursday.

  14. Yvonne, your blue and white decor is so lovely! I’m also a big fan of pairing faux and fresh florals and nothing says “spring” like flowering bulbs–love them all! Blessings, Cecilia @ My Thrift Store Addiction

  15. Linda Gardepe says:

    Can you please tell me where you purchased the sideboard in your living room from? Your home is lovely.
    Thank you

  16. Calypso in the Country says:

    I could stare at your lovely home all day! The way the blue and white and touches of color stand out against the white is perfection! Thanks for the beautiful tour!
    Shelley

  17. Your home is always such an inspiration Yvonne! I always examine your photos to see and swoon over every single detail. Happy spring!

    1. Heidi, Happy Spring! I fee the same way about your home too! Looking forward to your tour.

  18. So pretty Yvonne! I love those bright tulips and the forsythia with all your blue and white. The daffodils and little grape muscari make my heart pitter-patter and want to fill every corner of my home and garden with them.

    Happy spring!

  19. MARY-ANN (FROM CANADA) says:

    Thanks, Yvonne, for the lovely Spring tour of your gorgeous home! As usual, you have done a wonderful job with your decor. I love how you have brought in the blue and white. Chinoiserie is my favorite! Your Spring bulbs are beautiful and I can just imagine how nice they smell. The plates on your kitchen wall look so pretty. I really like that idea. Have a wonderful week.

  20. Michelle | Thistle Key Lane says:

    Gorgeous spring tour Yvonne, just as I knew it would be. I’m loving the addition of your pretty blue and white accents, the beautiful bulbs and pops of orange. The placement of the settee is such a fun idea! Happy spring!

  21. You know I LOVE your blue and white! Your Spring home looks gorgeous!! I love how you did the coffee table. Hope we can get together soon!!!! XO

  22. Your home is so bright and cheerful, and perfectly springy! It’s like a gorgeous magazine spread! Happy Spring Yvonne!

  23. Carol@Blueskyathome says:

    Yvonne, absolutely lovely decor, as usual. Your mix of florals, both fresh and faux, strikes the right balance of color and neutrals with great texture. My “where did you get that” question is your entry console table. Enjoyed being on the tour with you.

  24. Jill | Bungalow 47 says:

    Omgeeee, the “hello” on your front door is adorable! Love it.

  25. Kristin | White Arrows Home says:

    Everything looks so beautiful! I love all your organic spring touches.

  26. Please share your yogurt and dirt process to age a planter.
    Thanks, Judy

    1. Hi Judy, I cover terracotta pots with organic plain yogurt and then rub them with dirt. I leave the pots outside in a flower bed next to our house so that it is in the elements, but protected a bit. It takes a while for the pot to age so be patient. I hope this helps.

  27. I always enjoy seeing how you decorate and set so many ideas from your blog. I particularly love your orange tulips. Are they real or faux? If faux, do you have a link?

  28. I love your dining area but have seen so many different tables in there. What table are you currently using and how do you fit your whole family when entertaining? I too have downsized and am currently looking for a new table and chairs for my open concept home. Perhaps you can do a blog post on choosing the right table and chairs for your dining area?

    1. I have had three tables in the dining room at our Tanglewood House. The first one was from the kitchen at StoneGable. It was 60 inches and had a leaf. I gave that to my daughter and found a concrete topped rectangle table. I liked it but decided a round table worked best for our downsized home. So I sold the concrete table and got another round table with a pedestal and a leaf. The current table is from Ethan Allen and we love it. The first round table had four legs and when we had more than four people around the table, someone was stuck with straddling a leg. Because our current table has a pedestal, we can sit 10 people around it without someone dealing with the table leg. We have had 11 people around the table, but it was a little cozy. For holidays, like Easter, we usually have 14 people here. Four of our six grandchildren sit around a round table at our banquette. As far as the chairs, I chose chairs without arms, so they have a slimmer profile and fit around the table easier when we are feeding a crowd. We also have “ghost chairs” sturdy, stackable acrylic chair when our family gathers for a meal. We store them in the basement when they are not in use. Another big benefit of the ghost chairs is that they clean up easily and are nice chairs to sit messy kids on. I hope this helps.

      1. It has helped immensely. What size is your round table?

  29. Christy Little | Our Southern Home says:

    Yvonne,
    Your home is lovely for spring and a treat to tour no matter the season. I just love the use of yellows and orange with your florals for the season. I think your dining space is my favorite. That bench is gorgeous! Happy spring!!!