(Late) Springtime rituals
While we were traveling, everyone at home in Amsterdam was working on their balconies, beautifying their gardens, and giving spring a proper welcome. Here at Palazzo Plazo, well, we’ve had some catching up to do. Springtime isn’t all flowers and sunshine—it also means a fair bit of work!
While our neighbors are already hosting backyard barbecues, we’ve spent the last couple of weekends catching up on springtime chores… although maybe “rituals” would be a sunnier way to put those tasks in perspective.
A lot of our yearly springtime “rituals” involve the balcony: clearing away the herbs that I killed Nature took over the winter, replacing them with new ones, and adding some colorful flowers to the mix. I’m taking a lot of inspiration from the Urban Jungle Bloggers and hoping I can join them soon!
Springtime also means scrubbing our wooden deck with a chemical cleaner to zap the mossy gunk that accumulated over the cold months. Now the deck is clean enough for Tala to play on. It’s like we’ve gained an entire room of unexplored crawl space! Yay.
We also hung up a second-hand baby swing (thank you, Peggy!), which Tala absolutely loves.
It’s our new favorite activity on sunny mornings—Tala swings and squeals while I enjoy a cup of coffee in (relative) peace and quiet. Baby laughter doesn’t count as noise.
Indoors, the biggest chore has been packing away our winter wardrobe in vacuum-seal bags, and bringing out the lighter spring/summer clothes.
Before packing the winter clothes away, I took the extra step of de-pilling all my knits and wool clothing with a knit shaver (or wool razor). The weak light of winter lets some things slip unnoticed, but in the bright spring sunshine I couldn’t believe how I’d let my favorite navy wool duffle coat get so pilly. Que horror!
Depilling with a wool razor is oddly therapeutic, and the results look super sharp. Check out the before and after on that coat pocket. I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve done this!
This spring, I’m also embarking on a massive closet cleanup, inspired by this amazing personal style and wardrobe building blog I’ve just discovered. I’ve already thrown out two trash bags of clothes and donated another giant bag to a King’s Day charity sale. I also finally put away my pregnancy and nursing wear. And there’s still more!
When I’m done, I just might be brave enough to open my closet doors and show you the results. Right now, nope—it’s a war zone in there. At least my closet door handles are pretty.
Do you have any home gardening, herb growing, or closet organizing resources to share? I’d love a few tips!
