Spring

Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.

Are you cleaning your home in a way that’s safe for your family and the environment? As you dig into this year’s spring cleaning, take some time to evaluate your cleaning products. While they might be products you’ve depended on for years, they could also be filled with chemicals that are harsh on you, your kids and Mother Nature.

These are my quick tips for identifying harmful products, replacing harsh ingredients and reducing your overall impact on the environment as you clean.

 

Laundry

Detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets — laundry products are a central source of dangerous chemicals in the home. These might be products you’ve used year in and year out, but they can also be the culprit of serious health problems. Ingredients such as petroleum, phosphate, phthalates, dye and fragrances are often the source of skin irritation, headaches and a host of other problems.

When shopping for laundry products, choose something with ingredients that are gentle, plant-based and non-toxic. After all, these products wash the clothes that sit directly on your skin!

 

Bathroom

To combat a smelly, dirty bathroom, it’s easy to turn to the harshest products you can find. That being said, eco-friendly products can be just as effective as their chemical-laden counterparts.

In the bathroom, always choose a bleach alternative that’s free of chlorine. Bathrooms often don’t have good ventilation, and that combined with the steam from a shower or bath will make the negative effects of bleach residue on your bathroom surfaces that much stronger.

 

Kitchen

The cleaning products you use in the kitchen come in direct contact with the food you eat, so it’s imperative to use products that are safe, gentle and chemical-free! From dish soap to surface cleaners, always select kitchen cleaning products for the kitchen that are simple, gentle and organic.

 

DIY

From the bathroom to the kitchen and everywhere in between, if you want a cleaning product you can truly trust, make it yourself. While it might seem easier to simply pick up a product at the store, you can save a significant amount of money by making your own cleaning products using safe ingredients you already have in your home.

Whether you need to clean the carpet or the fridge, click the link to find some of my favorite recipes to get your house clean without the chemicals.

 

Refuse, Reuse, Recycle

Last but not least, think about packaging and waste when you overhaul your spring cleaning routine. Between disposable wipes, plastic bottles and cleaning tools, a single household can generate a significant amount of non-recycled cleaning waste without even trying.

Take small steps to start cutting down on your waste as it pertains to cleaning. Instead of a disposable surface or floor wipe, choose a compostable wipe, or better yet, choose a reusable cloth. As for packaging, always select bottles that can be 100 percent recycled after use. If you make your own cleaning products, preserve them in glass containers for an even smaller environmental impact.

 

What are your favorite green cleaning tips?

 

Bree

Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.

If you’re looking for a quick, easy way to refresh your home for spring, all it takes is finding the perfect combination of throw pillows. Decorating with throw pillows is a relatively low-risk, inexpensive way to make a bold personal statement of style in your home. A fresh new color or pattern in your living room or bedroom will give your home that seasonal pick-me-up everyone’s looking for right now.

Today I’ll be sharing a few styling tricks and formulas I rely on to curate a beautiful collection of throw pillows, but don’t be afraid to experiment to find the combo that best reflects your style.

Color Scheme

For those starting their throw pillow collection from scratch, the first thing to do is settle on an anchor color. An anchor color complements the room it’s in, meaning it can either be a neutral or a hue that’s related to the most dominant color in the room. One of my favorite ways to choose this accent color is to draw from the colors of the art on the wall. Without choosing a central anchor color to work with, the pillows will look random and the room will feel mismatched.

Pattern Play

Add dimension to your assembly of pillows with a dose of pattern play. For a traditional look, layer a solid pillow with a strongly patterned pillow that has at least one overlapping color. Feeling a bit more adventurous? Try mixing two kinds of prints or patterns in your pillow arrangement. There are several ways of doing this and no right or wrong answers.

For beginners, combine one strong, large-scale pattern with one discreet, small-scale pattern. In this situation, the small-scale pattern looks almost like a solid from far away. An even bolder experiment is to layer completely opposite patterns, such as geometric with toile, or even layer multiple floral patterns for an eclectic, English countryside style.

Mix Textures

If you prefer your pillows to come in solid colors, then you’ll want to mix in some texture for extra dimension on your bed or couch. Depending on the room you’re decorating and the kind of traffic the pillows will be expected to withstand, consider statement fabrics such as faux fur, velvet, linen, damask and even silk.

If a large pillow in a simple cotton or linen needs an extra bit of pizazz, consider embellishing it with an eye-catching trim. Fun tassels around the circumference might be too overwhelming to put on a patterned pillow, but on a large, single-color pillow, it becomes an exciting accent.

All Shapes and Sizes

If you’re playing with patterns, prints and colors, it’s important to keep the size and shape of your pillows relatively similar to maintain some visual consistency. On the other hand, if you have several pillows all in the same color and size, odds are it probably looks a bit flat. In addition to mixing a variety of textures, experiment with pillows in different shapes and sizes. A blue and white striped bolster pillow might be just what an all-white, square pillow arrangement needs!

Do you have a pillow lineup on your couch or bed that you’re especially proud of? Tell us your color scheme or arrangement formula in the comments below!

Bree

Bree here, from Home Zone Furniture.

Why is it that we wait until the most beautiful time of year to stay inside and clean house? Beats me! This year, instead of putting off major spring cleaning for that perfect, sunny day in April, tackle the project now! If you’re not convinced, here are a few reasons to start your spring cleaning today, plus some helpful hints on cleaning strategically.

Everyone is sick

With changing weather comes allergies and all kinds of viruses. If your family has recently been sick, now is the perfect time to completely disinfect your home and make sure no one else catches the bug. Disinfecting everything from countertops to doorknobs will help raise the quality of the air and ward off sickness. Even if your family has been well up to this point, a good home cleaning will help ensure they stay healthy.

The weather

It’s safe to say that there are beautiful spring days ahead. If you’d like to be gardening on these days rather than organizing closets, plan ahead and get all of the dirty work done while the weather is less than desirable. Especially on rainy days where you’re stuck inside, take advantage and check some things off your spring cleaning list!

Spring fashions

From bed linens to footwear, a change in season means a change in fashions. Spring cleaning means more than scrubbing and polishing — it means digging through all of that stuff in the back of closets and drawers, too. Pull out all of your spring items — warm-weather clothing, Easter decor, lightweight blankets — to make sure you don’t go out and accidentally buy duplicates.

Okay, so we’ve convinced you to get your spring cleaning done now. But where to start? Here are some tips for tackling your spring cleaning with a strategy.

Make lists

Another reason many of us are guilty of putting off spring cleaning is because there’s just so much to do. As in any stressful situation, begin by making a master list. Break down your list by room, and then list each task for each room. While it’s tempting to just write “vacuuming” once at the top of your list, be sure to write down the task under each room’s list so you stay focused.

Start with the closets

But where on the room’s list to start? In each room, begin by organizing the closet. This is likely where the majority of your items have been left and forgotten. By eliminating items from the closet and putting what’s left in order, you’ll be more mindful about the other things you end up putting in the closet as you continue cleaning.

Set a timer

Spring cleaning is a big project, but it doesn’t need to consume you! I suggest you don’t try to tackle spring cleaning in one day. Instead, break it up into sections. Give yourself an hour to complete each room. Especially when you’re working on eliminating and organizing, sometimes it feels like there’s no end in sight. However, if you give yourself a set amount of time to complete the task, you’re more likely to get it done quickly and move on rather than linger and doubt what you’re getting rid of.

With these strategies up your sleeve, spring cleaning this year will be easier than ever.

Bree