It’s no secret that I am all about celebrating the seasons and holidays. I am not even partial to particular ones, really, I just love the refreshing newness that comes with the change of season. And I love that each has its own particular feeling, aesthetic, colors, and traditions. Whatever they are, I’m into it.
I have found, however, that fully decorating our apartment for each holiday could quickly become a full-time job. Holiday decorations can be cheesy, and they come out so early, who can keep up? So I came up with a great alternative that is festive, subtle, and low-maintenance: switching out the filler in our Beatriz Ball centerpiece bowl, monogrammed hurricanes, and outdoor lanterns at the start of each new season. (Of course I make a big exception and break all the rules for the month of December, when the entire apartment is Christmas everything.)
The idea for the rest of the year has been to bring a bit of the natural seasonal changes from the outdoors in. For fall I had lots of pumpkins, hay and foliage. Since the beginning of January, we have been enjoying what I call our “generic winter” (not Christmas) pine cones, greenery, and berries:
The hurricanes actually had tiny battery-operated lights leftover from Christmas in them, but I’m still calling it “generic winter,” because I make the rules. 😉
I really loved the cozy, rustic feeling our winter decor brought into our home, especially since the weather played along–we had the coldest, snowiest winter around here!
But as soon as the weather started warming up and March 1st hit, I was ready to hit reset on our seasonal decor. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was how hard it would be to come up with good ideas for spring! Nice Easter eggs for the bowl would be beautiful, but that would defeat the purpose of my seasons, not holidays idea, particularly since Easter is so early this year. I love bunnies and ducklings as much as the next girl, but that wasn’t really working for me either, and I always said I wouldn’t use fake flowers in our home. But as I searched high and low all over DC for spring ideas and nothing seemed to work, I finally realized that embracing those silk blooms and learning how to style them was going to be the only way out. So never say never, folks.
I eased my way in with some loose moss filler and peony potpourri from Pottery Barn, some moss balls from Target, and some larger moss “spheres” from Pier One. I also decided I was ready for the beach, and the lanterns on the balcony could be too, so I grabbed some shell filler at Target. Then I just went off the deep end with some silk ranunculus from Michael’s, and Pier One cherry blossoms! We’re just embracing the DC spring spirit around here.
I usually have no idea where I’m going with these projects, so I just gathered everything I thought might look good together to see where that cherry blossom spirit moved me.
I decided to start by lining my centerpiece with the loose moss.
Then I added all the beautiful, neutral, magnolia accents in the potpourri, which I wish you could smell through the internet, because it’s heavenly.
Finally, I topped it off with the pink peonies. Easy!
For the hurricanes I decided to use the moss balls as the base and sprinkle the florals in around them.
I started the hurricanes with some of the small moss balls, then lined the edges with sprigs of blossoms. 
Next I added some ranunculus in and kept alternating it with more moss balls.
Then I cut the cherry blossoms into tall sprigs and stuck them in!
Ta-da! I’m not usually known for my subtlety, but I actually thought the fuchsia ranunculus was too bright, so I left it out.
Finally, I filled the outdoor lanterns with the shells, and decided they could hang out like that through August.
And there you have it! I love the change and the reminder each morning that spring is here before I even go outside!
