Seasonal Decorating

When the warm weather arrives, lots of things change for me. The first sign that summer has arrived is my discomfort with clutter, its almost as though having stuff around makes me feel tense. In years past I would go through the house, de-cluttering and then donate the things or have a yard sale. It was as though, as soon as the temperature warmed up, the baskets hanging off the beam that I once loved so well, now drove me crazy. The pewter on the shelves feels like too much stuff. Even the curtains in the windows get taken down and I opt for the mini blinds alone as the window treatment.
Its like this every year. The balls of wool waiting to be spun sitting in a basket that looked so pretty to me this last winter, just feel like clutter, same with my baskets of yarn and knitting projects. I go through my stash of quilting fabric and want to get rid of lots of it. But....here is the thing, come fall, when the warm weather is chased off by the cold winds from the north, I will want to have these very same things around me once again. In the past I have had to go out and purchase more baskets, because I got rid of them all in the summer.
One year I actually gave away 8 kerosene lamps in the summer, only to realize the next fall that there were no lamps for the long winter nights !
After a few years of this cycle Emery figured out it was cheaper if he just boxed up my winter goodies and saved them for me, to surprise me when cold weather arrived. I had told him to take the boxes to Goodwill, but he would sneak them into the attic and surprise me later. Now, I just pack the stuff up myself and put them away. Wiser through the years that our definition of clutter changes with the seasons. In cold weather we like to have more around us, some old fashioned gene that has hung on, helping us prepare for the harshness of winter. In summer we are busy, outside more, less cleaning time, time to air out the cupboards type thing.
In summer I envy the zen look, in winter I want the cozy cottage look from the 1700's.
Spring and Fall bring transition looks into place. Spring is more that Victorian look for me, that white and pink frilly look to a certain degree anyway. I am not much of a fru fru look person.
Fall time is the earth look, with a touch of Hippy to it.
There are cycles to life and that stands true for many even in the way they decorate their home.


The winter look as you can tell by the fire burning in the wood stove.