French Garden House curator and antiques expert Lidy Baars offers her top 5 tips on decorating for spring.
1. Bring the beauty of nature indoors.
In spring, add color with fresh flowers and blooming branches. To create a stylish arrangement, choose an unusual antique container. An heirloom sterling teapot, an ironstone pitcher, or even a few Limoges teacups filled with flowers all celebrate the joy of spring in your own personal style.
2. Lighten up.
Choose lighter color accents in a softer palette. Shift to subdued bisque, cream, white, and linen colors. Pantone’s color of the year, greenery, is the perfect revitalizing accent for this soothing color scheme, bringing a seasonal pop to your décor.
3. Curate your collections.
Creating a home surrounded by things you love is a beautiful way to express yourself. Your collections infuse your home with your personality and evoke memories of places and people you love. Perhaps put a few of your pieces into storage to really let the ones on display shine. Or mass a number of your items together in one exceptional presentation in an antique French armoire, or on a silver tray, so that they take up less visual space.
4. Focus on floral patterns.
Add seasonal touches to your home by displaying flower-themed decorative accents. Antique, floral, hand-painted porcelains on your tea table, a rich floral-patterned French pillow on your settee—these all whisper spring in a beautiful way.
5. Set a fresh new table.
As the season changes, reimagine your table settings. Be daring and try something new! Combine your antique dishes with a new charger or plate, add a contemporary striped linen napkin, mix up patterns. Table settings are not about being perfect; have fun and create some new looks for entertaining that make your heart light up.
About the expert: Lidy Baars developed a passion for antiques at a young age in her native Netherlands. In 2007, she launched French Garden House, where she sells a wide array of antique items on her website, including much-coveted toleware.
Interview Cynthia Reeser Constantino
Photography courtesy French Garden House
