1. Use color to feel the season. Use refreshing, upbeat colors to brighten up the room. This means voiding out all the dark autumn and winter colors. We all don’t have the money or the time to change the paint color of a room each time the season changes, but changing out the décor items and throw pillows for either lighter colors or brighter colors will make the room feel more like summer.
2. Move the furniture around to accommodate for entertaining. The best part of summer is the time we spend with our friends and family. So arrange the sofas and chairs to face each other instead of facing the fireplace. And replace all those warm and cozy throw blankets for chic serving trays that are great for décor and practical for entertaining.
3. Go sheer. Take down all the heavy draperies and replace them with softer sheer fabric panels in summer inspired colors. Doing this will not only make the room feel more summer inspired, but it will also keep the room cooler in those hot months because the softer fabrics will let the air breeze through.
4. Slip a cover over it. Covering your furniture—such as your sofa and dinning room chairs—with softer or brighter summer colors is the easiest way to give the room a major summer facelift without spending big bucks on new furniture. You can also use small swatches of fresh colored fabrics as runners for coffee tables and side tables in order to lighten up the color of dark wood furniture.
5. Set the table for summer. Changing out the dinning room table setting is a very simple way to throw in inspirations for each season. A great summer inspired table setting can include some of the refreshing citrus fruits we all love during the summer, such as lemons, limes, and oranges. You can find a faux centerpiece that is already arranged and most home décor stores, or you can be creative and make your own.
6. Create a beach cottage. Nothing feels more like summer than a day at the beach and during the summer, it is very easy to find a ton of beach cottage décor to bring that feeling into the home. You can do a beach cottage on a small or large scale. On a small scale, you can incorporate some simple sea shells as décor throughout the house or in just one room. And on a large scale, you can add white washed furniture and seascape artwork. White wicker furniture also can be used to help create a beach cottage feel.
7. Pick up the heavy rugs. Put all those heavy accent rugs away for the season. Not only do they make the room look warmer, they really do make the room feel warmer. This is true especially if you have hardwood floors; leaving the floors bare can cool down a hot room.
8. Make the bed for summer. Take off all those heavy comforters and thick flannel sheets, and replace with lighter cotton sheets and a simple throw blanket. You don’t need those heavy fabrics on those hot nights anyway. You can also add light or bright colored pillows and floral fabrics to make the look more summer inspired.
9. Frame your summer adventures. Take all those pictures of you and your family on your summer vacations out of those boxes and off of your hard drive and frame them. Seeing pictures of summer fun makes the room feel more like summer.
10. Flower up the room. The easiest way to add a little summer to your home is to bring home some fresh flowers. And with all the summer farmers markets, finding fresh flowers is easy and will get you out of the house to enjoy that nice summer weather.
<< One of my favorite pieces right now is this Westport Heights sofa. It has an important quality that I love to look for in home décor—it mixes classic and traditional styling with contemporary details!
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