When we moved from Connecticut to Florida, one of the things we gave up was our beautiful fireplace. The sunshine here keeps us warm enough, but I still lost that perfect space to display seasonal decor. We purchased this bar/hutch with our dining room set a couple years ago and it’s one of my favorite pieces of furniture. While it doesn’t produce the cozy glow of a fireplace, it ended up being the perfect replacement for a mantel. It’s located in an open space in our apartment that looks into our great room, which makes it an ideal focal point.
I don’t make any claims to be a home decorator, but I really love celebrating every holiday and season, so I switch out the elements on our hutch frequently. Spring comes early in Florida, so as soon as Valentine’s Day was over, I made a little trip to my favorite trio of stores, (Target, Home Goods and Michaels) to pick out some new goodies. My goal was to create a display that was clean, simple and could transition from March, to St. Patrick’s Day, to Easter and into the end of the season.
This vintage bird cage was the first item I saw in Michael’s and it was exactly what I had in mind for the space. I knew that I wanted to stick to a palette that had a lot of white in it, so I then started looking for some ceramic. I found a pretty milk jug and a vase with a beautiful bark-like texture to it, and I was sold.
Live plants and greenery are the best, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I did not inherit a green thumb from my mom (who has a really amazing garden). Furthermore, this side of the apartment gets virtually no light, so I sheepishly grabbed some fake greenery and headed to the cash register. Just a little anecdote that everything I picked up was on sale, and then I realized I had a coupon on my phone that gave me an additional 25% off (including sales)! You can imagine that I walked out of there with a pretty big smile on my face.
Next stop was Target where I had remembered spying some ceramic bunnies on a previous shopping trip. I picked up a mama and two baby bunnies (which also happen to be candleholders) and threw them into the cart. I headed next door to Home Goods (it’s really dangerous having these three stores in such close proximity), where I didn’t buy anything, but was reminded of a nice big picture frame I bought from there a couple months ago, that I still hadn’t hung up. I knew for sure that it would be the perfect focal point for the set up.
When I got home, I wasted no time putting everything up on our “mantel”, adding two candle holders and candles that I already had on hand. I was really happy with how it came out, but thought it could use a little something extra.
I looked through tons of mantels on Pinterest and different blogs and nothing was really jumping out at me. I saw a bunch of banners and buntings that people had created that said things like “Spring” and “Happy Easter” on them, but I knew that they wouldn’t really match the simplicity of the space I had created. I started brainstorming other phrases or words that I could string up that would not only match the existing decor, but could also have some sort of meaning and possibly be inspiring. Finally the absolute perfect phrase came to me: Bloom and Grow.
If this sounds familiar to you, it’s because it comes from a song played in one of my all-time favorite movies, The Sound of Music. The phrase is sung in Edelweiss, and song about a white flower that is grown in the Alps of Austria. If you don’t know the song, do yourself a favor and pull it up in Spotify— it’s so incredibly lovely.
After a lot of deliberation, I decided to fill that big, beautiful frame with a photo of my family taken at my sister’s wedding last May. I thought it was a nice fit because it was taken in the spring and also represented new beginnings (not to mention that it matched perfectly)!
I’m super happy with how it all came together and I hope you love it too!
Have your started decorating for spring yet? If not, I’m more than happy to share my “Bloom and Grow” banner with you!
You can download your own printable version for free by clicking here.
I’d LOVE to see your springtime spaces and decor. Please drop me a line in the comments section and tell me where I can find me photos of your creations!
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