Spring Decor that isn't Pink

I have a problem with spring.

It doesn't fit my home's decor.

Spring colors are usually pastel and primarily pink. My home's palette is bright reds, deep blues and earthy greens. Pink doesn't work.

But a few splashes of season in my house make me happy. So a few years ago, I devised a solution. I went through my spring decorating bin and got rid of all the pastels (which was almost everything) and started over with a mix of creamy whites and fresh greens. (Bonus: There are years in Minnesota when spring is slow to arrive. Whites and greens aren't as disconcerting against 10 inches of fresh snow as are pinks and yellows.)

 It's taken me a while to build up my white-and-green collection, but this year, I finally feel like I have enough items to play with. And the timing is perfect, because this is the first spring in our new house in which I have the energy to decorate.

I loved my Valentine's fireplace, but it's been up since mid-January. It was past time for a change.

Megan's post on spring mantles inspired me, especially since she has a lot of red in her home too. Here's what I came up with.

This fireplace is in our kitchen sitting area, which is next to a playroom, so I like it to be whimsical and cheery, not too sophisticated. That said, my own style and this house scream out for texture and touches of nature. All of my mantles include something of the outdoors - birch bark pillars, rocks from Lake Superior, bumpy twig balls.

I found the fuzzy felt bunny at a local grocery store this week and fell in love. It's the perfect blend of spring and make-me-smile. Plus, it's green-and-white.

The only other place I decorate seasonally is the front entry table. Here's what I've got right now.

I need something else on the right-hand side. Because this is next to the living room, which is decidedly more adult in feel, I'm comfortable making this more sophisticated than the fireplace. (Read: I tried to put a felt chick in here, and it didn't work.) Any ideas? Maybe a stone bunny?

By the way, that is a real bird's nest. My precious. I love that thing. A robin built it on one of our deck beams when we lived in the country. She laid four blue eggs in it, and because it was perfectly situated between cracks, we were able to lay on the deck every day and put our faces on the wood and peak into her world. (Which drove her crazy, naturally, but I promise we were very respectful.)

(I just found that picture! It makes me so happy that I took a picture of it.) 


Connor, Natalie and I watched the eggs hatch, we watched the scrawny baby birds change into feathered nestlings. We watched them learn to fly and then we watched them leave. When fall came, and no other birds seemed to care about the nest, I asked Corey to take it down so I could keep it.

And now it sits in our entry, filled with a trio of fake blue robin's eggs, a reminder of the sweetness and miracle of spring.

And it's not pink. Which is just about perfect.