How to bring Spring into your kitchen

​There’s no better season than spring for a quick room refresh and the kitchen is the best place to start…

1. Speed-clean your fridge and tidy out the pantry. Get rid of any expired products and old leftovers.
   
2. Organise drawers and cabinets, and bring in colourful containers and baskets for simplified storage.
   
3. Hanging planters weren’t just made for the garden – use them to brighten up your kitchen walls.
   
4. Choose colourful ones with quirky shapes and fill them with herbs. Popular choices include basil, dill, flat-leaf parsley, thyme, cilantro, oregano, chives, sage and mint. Start them from seed or buy small plants. Fragrant varieties like rosemary, coriander and lavender will act as natural air fresheners.
   
5. Nothing says ‘spring’ like a fragrant bunch of fresh-cut blooms in a colourful vase. Got a chipped teapot? Cut the stems of hydrangeas short so that the individual flower heads fill the pot to the brim. Wine decanters look sophisticated with single, long-stemmed blooms. Remove the labels from condiment bottles after your ‘pantry purge’ and arrange them in clusters on a tray to hold an assortment of flowers. Kitchen canisters make great impromptu vases too. Simply flip open the lids and group blooms by stem length for a casual display. Even that glass cloche on your kitchen counter can showcase flowers beautifully (an orchid looks especially spectacular displayed in this way).
   
6. Bring in some colour with fabric – think vintage-inspired tablecloths and runners or some botanical seat cushions, natural-fibre floor rugs and/or a floral-themed window treatment.
   
7. Give an old dining table, chairs or stool a colourful new lease on life by painting them a spring-inspired shade. While you’re at it, hang a small piece of art (like a pretty watercolour print). For an all-white kitchen, consider painting the kitchen ceiling or window frames a bright colour, like yellow, which works especially well in kitchens and dining areas as it’s happy and uplifting. You can even paint or wallpaper inside your glass-front cabinets for added interest.
   
8. Accessorise with some pretty tea towels, a new sugar bowl or milk jug, new fruit bowl, salt and pepper grinders – anything ‘homeware’ that will add a little colour or pattern without breaking the bank. While you’re at it, invest in a collection of rainbow-coloured coffee mugs and put them on display.
   
9. Stack your favourite ‘spring and summer’ themed cookbooks on a cart or trolley and park it in a corner, ready to roll out when you feel like whipping up something delicious for alfresco dining.
   
10. 10 If you haven’t already jumped on the recycling, energy-saving and water-wise bandwagon, what are you waiting for? From joining a plastic, paper and/or glass recycling programme, to installing solar geysers and lighting, cultivating a worm farm or even making your own compost from kitchen scraps, green is the way forward – and there’s no better time than spring to get started!