The story below is a preview from our March/April 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!
Embrace the season with easy, budget-friendly upgrades that enhance both function and style.
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Spring into action with practical ideas to clean, organize and transform your space for a brighter season ahead.
Spring is notorious for arriving with companions: the rain, the flowers and the itch to clean house. It makes sense! After months spent in dark hibernation, the longer days and warmer air invite us to throw open our windows and let the light in — which can sometimes, unfortunately, spotlight every single little thing that needs a good scrub.
Then there’s the awkward weather. When a forecast shows a day that goes from frosty to balmy with the promise of scattered storms, we might be reluctant to pack up our winter gear, even as we stuff umbrellas and windbreakers into the mix. For some people, especially those with kids and pets, all that clutter might start to require a little bit of creative attention. And if you’re anything like me (or a certain literary rodent offered a certain sweet treat), one thing just leads to another. What starts with an idea for more attractive shoe storage somehow snowballs into a full-scale home design overhaul worthy of its own HGTV special.
But if being featured on a reality TV show with your own team of designers isn’t on your 2025 bingo card, don’t despair! There are more accessible ways to scratch the upgrade itch that don’t require a major renovation. Here are some no-cost to moderately-higher cost improvement ideas with a huge visual and/or functional impact on your home — that are more than worth what time, effort and money they cost.
NO SPEND IMPROVEMENTS
Spring cleaning is a thing for a reason: Now that you can open all the windows, it’s time to give them a good wipe down as well. Deep cleaning isn’t your regular dusting and vacuuming; this is about the details. Leave no surface unwiped, be it baseboards, radiator screens, or every lip and groove of whatever woodwork and trim you can find in your home, from the furniture to the walls. Take a duster to your blinds and your ceiling fan blades. Scrub an old toothbrush along the back of your guest sink faucet. Take your rugs out back and whack ‘em with a broom; then mop your floors and shampoo your carpets. Wash any cushion or furniture cover that can be washed. Use cleaners in scents you love, and turn up your favorite music while you give your home the spa treatment of its dreams.
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Rearranging a room can be as simple as new wall hangings (or finally hanging it after it’s been stored away for a while).
Do a five-minute declutter, one space at a time. Start with the outerwear section, and use a timer. Bring a trash bag for junk mail, receipts and any other trash that’s accumulated in your pockets, bags and mail baskets; use a basket or box to gather all the items that belong in other rooms. Repeat in every room, focusing on the sections that tend to attract the most strays and piles (kitchen junk drawers, bathroom counters, wherever you keep your tupperware…).
Reorganize storage with high visibility. Think: bookshelves, media consoles, or whatever is the first thing you see when you walk into the house. If it’s a shelf or a closet, take everything out and clean out the dust bunnies. Group things by color or size for visual cohesion. Clear off tabletops. If there are desks or surfaces that can’t be cleared, create clear, orderly piles. Stack papers, put caps on all your pens, then put all the pens in the same cup. Put paperclips and rubber bands in their own separate spots. It might be tempting to purchase a bunch of containers for this, and if you have the budget for it, go for it! But don’t overlook the tools in your recycling bin: Small cardboard boxes and even toilet paper rolls make excellent drawer dividers.
Rearrange your rooms. Sometimes, all you need to breathe new life into your home is to simply shake things up. This can be as small as switching around your end tables with your bedside tables, or bringing an old lamp out of the basement into your kitchen. Or it can be as big as flipping the dining room with the living room. Just be careful to solve problems, not create them: Don’t remove a storage unit from the foyer, for example, without replacing it with something for all those bags, shoes and coats. Instead, look at places where rearranging might make the area function better — is there a small table that isn’t getting a lot of use somewhere that might be a perfect station for a key bowl and letter tray by the front door? What about the bench in the guest room that might be a better fit at the breakfast table, instead of the chairs the kids are always shoving into the wall or leaving pulled out in the middle of the kitchen? Try things out — you can always put them back!
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A little fresh paint on just the trim or doors (or scuffs around the house) can make a huge difference.
Style your spaces with what you’ve got. Take everything you love to look at — framed photos, favorite books, beautiful hats, tchotchkes and souvenirs — and put them all in a staging area. (Be sure to check anywhere you might be storing stuff!) Start with your walls, hanging up art and framed photos. If you have a bunch of photos not yet framed, consider an old school collage on a corkboard (a quick Pinterest search can show you how to make this look elevated and not middle school). Stack your most beautiful books on the coffee table, and pull your candlesticks out of the cabinets so you remember to light them. Display anything you love, grouped in ways that look nice to you — and make sense for the space you put it in. There isn’t a wrong way to create a tableau, just inadvisable places; if you have a very happy labrador, maybe don’t lay out your collection of sand dollars on the coffee table in tail-wagging range. A successful styling arrangement is one that looks great to you, while meshing well with your lifestyle.
LOW-TO-MODERATE COST IMPROVEMENTS
Want to learn more about how to transform your home with low-to-moderate cost improvements, from upgrading lighting and repainting trim to organizing cords and adding stylish plants? Check out the latest issue, now on newsstands, or see it for free in our digital guide linked below!
The story above is a preview from our March/April 2025 issue. For more stories like it, Subscribe Today. Thank you!