Home & Living
How to Spend a Rainy Spring Weekend at Home
A good lunch, one small project and somewhere comfortable to read while the garden does without you.
Set at The Glasshouse · 4 min read
For a rainy spring weekend at home, choose a few things that belong together: something good to eat, one manageable activity and a comfortable place to spend an hour. Leave room for the weather to change. You can enjoy the green view from inside and still go out later if the rain eases.
The main difficulty is often the alternative weekend you had already imagined. The café terrace. The garden chair. The long walk with the coat you were finally ready to put away. Let those plans move to another day before replacing them with a list of indoor obligations.
Give the morning a proper beginning
Make breakfast you can sit down with. Toast on a plate, coffee in a cup you like, the newspaper or a few pages of your book. A bright window is still a bright window when it has rain on it.
If the room feels chilly, use the lamp and the blanket. Keep the curtains open where you can enjoy the daylight. The room can be warm without borrowing every detail from December.
Decide what you would genuinely enjoy doing before checking what needs doing. The laundry will make its position known soon enough.
Choose one small project
Pick something you can leave in a satisfying state before lunch. Repair the loose button. Arrange a few photographs. Write the card you have been meaning to send. Put a plant into the pot that has been waiting beside it.
Set out the materials first. If the project needs an online order, a complicated tutorial and an entirely different table, save it for a day when that preparation appeals to you.
In the Willowmere story A Table Among the Pots, three women bring very different ideas to the same worktable. You can borrow the pleasure of making something without inviting compost into the sewing basket.
Plan lunch before you become hungry
A warm sandwich, soup from the freezer or bread with a few favourite things can make the middle of the day feel considered. Choose lunch from what you have, then put it on the plates you normally reserve for company if you feel like using them.
If someone is joining you, agree on the food before turning it into a gathering. “I have soup; bring bread” is a perfectly good invitation.
You don't need a new recipe for the day to feel different. You may simply need to eat somewhere other than beside an unfinished task.
Leave an hour unclaimed
Choose your book before you sit down. Put a drink within reach and settle somewhere with useful light. If reading isn't what you want, watch something you already know you enjoy, listen to an album or take a short nap.
You can let an hour be pleasant without producing anything from it. No record, photograph or finished project is required.
If your phone is likely to interrupt, move it a little further away. Keep it available if you need it; the aim is a comfortable hour, rather than another rule to obey.
Take the opening in the weather
If the rain eases and you would like to go out, choose the short version of your walk. Wear the shoes that suit wet ground. The route to the corner and back may show you something you missed in sunshine.
If it keeps raining, stay with the indoor plan. There is no requirement to prove your affection for spring by returning with wet socks.
A loose plan for the day
Here is one way the day could go.
- Morning: breakfast by the window, then one small project.
- Lunch: something familiar, served at a cleared table.
- Afternoon: reading, a film or music; a short walk if the weather suits.
- Evening: an easy supper and one pleasant thing left to look forward to.
Swap the order, leave something out or invite someone over for coffee. The outline should make the day easier to enjoy.
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Written by Esther
Esther is a photographer and storyteller, and the founder of Essy's Essentials - a seasonal home for stories, rituals, recipes and everyday luxuries.
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