7 seasonal decorating ideas to welcome spring

I was helping a California friend reorganize her garage recently when she pointed out a box she told me held her fall dishes. She grew up on the East Coast where she said it was traditional to change out the dishware every spring and fall. We actually grew up in the same state, but I don't remember my mother changing dishes seasonally.

Even if you don't swap your dishware according to the earth's rotation around the sun, you might enjoy using other seasonal elements to banish a long, snowy winter. Here are some decor tips for transitioning your home into spring and summer mode.

Winter to spring decorating swaps

• Bed linens. As the days and nights gradually grow warmer, you don't need the heavy comforters and blankets on the bed. Flirt with some spring and summer colors like aqua and tangerine or minty green lightweight quilts. If your comforter stays on the bed all year round, opt for a duvet cover with a botanical print.
• Sofa throws. If you put too many throw pillows on the bed, you have to push them out of the way each night. A sofa can usually handle a few, however, in some fresh colors, and they don't have to be new pillows. Recovering the old ones doesn't require sewing skills, either. You can use heat bond and an iron. Put away the wintery throw blankets draped on the couch, and replace them with a big, crocheted summer shawl or light-colored pashmina. Make use of spring and summer fabrics and ditch the heavy winter ones like corduroy.
• Woven placemats. Go ahead and bring out your fiestaware if you have it, but don't forget to put out the lighter weight table runner and placemats to go under the spring dishes.
• Wall art. If you've been staring at a large, snowy landscape print above the mantel for the past six months, now is the time to put together a grouping of floral prints to pick up some of the spring color palette you have on the sofa pillows. Adding some glass wall hangings and mirrors into the arrangement reflects spring and summer sunlight. Hang shadow boxes with dried flower arrangements to introduce real flowers behind glass if the fresh ones make you sneeze.
• Wind chimes. Every season is a feast for the senses, so don't forget sound. Hang some delicate wind chimes in your kitchen window, and let the breeze create a spring percussion section to accompany the bird songs.
• Indoor herb gardens. If you're up for a small remodel, a garden window makes the perfect place to grow herbs in your kitchen. As an alternative to replacing an entire window, erect shelves across your existing kitchen window. A search of the Internet for vertical indoor herb gardens brings up a wealth of ready-made and DIY indoor potting ideas.
• Spring scents. Do you have an outdoor garden that's already in bloom? Throw open the windows and let the fragrance of all those spring flowers scent your living space. If not, cut flowers in vases may go out of season but never out of style. Bringing in elements of nature representative of spring turns your home outside in.

Finally, don't forget to plan menus with foods that remind you of spring and early summer, especially as local produce becomes available. Taste, like smell, can stimulate pleasant seasonal memories.