Hello there – and welcome to the Summer Home Showcase sponsored by Kelley Nan! I’m so happy you’ve stopped in for a visit today! If you’ve found your way here via Haneen’s Haven, then I’m sure you’ve already gotten a eyeful of beautiful color and fun design. Haneen has such an artistic eye – I always love getting glimpses into her gorgeously styled and personality-packed home.
My goal for today’s tour is to show you how I’ve lightened things up for summer, give you tips for doing the same, and point you to some sources in case you want to incorporate some of these warm-weather design ideas into your own home. I know I always love getting the scoop on where to find great products that I see in other people’s homes. If I wasn’t able to find the exact item online, I’ve pointed out products that will give you a similar look and feel to what I’m showing you in today’s tour. So grab a cold glass of lemonade and let’s visit! (This post contains some affiliate links.)
Today I’ll be showing you around my entry, living room, kitchen, and dining areas (since all these spaces are open to each other, if you see one, you pretty much see them all), plus I’ll give you a little peek into my master bedroom and hall bath. Okay – let’s get busy!
Tip #1: Add lighter, brighter accessories and furniture.
I started the summer lightening-up process in my front entry by swapping out a heavier wood end table for the little gold number with a glass top on the right. Adding lighter furniture and accessories helps keep a room feeling cool and airy, and that’s what I’m going for here. This little end table was a Home Goods find. It was originally a bright orange, but a single can of gold spray paint glammed it up a bit and made it fit into my current color scheme of mostly whites with touches of metallics and fresh summer colors. A frosty green glass lamp on the table, and lots of white in slipcovers, pillows, and picture frames was all that was needed to make this little space feel warm-weather ready. (As you can see, I’ve even swapped the pillows between pics. Nothing stays in the same place for long around here!)
I love adding little vintage touches to every space – besides the instant charm factor, vintage items help a room feel lived in and loved. I found the cute green clock on our recent trip to Europe — it was a $5 find at a flea market in Amsterdam. Gotta love those kinds of souvenirs! (Aaand I just noticed the upholstery pin still sticking in the settee from when I sewed these slipcovers, oh, a year or two ago – oopsy! Pretend you didn’t see that!)
I get questions all the time about where I got my bluestone topped console table, and I’ve found it for you! It’s sold by Crate and Barrel, and you can find it here. It’s a great table – lots of room for showing off your favorite seasonal accessories.
I designed the shelves to dress up the half-wall surrounding the stairs to the basement and to add a place to display favorite pieces. Adding some custom woodwork to the stairwell also keeps the space bright and makes the stairs look more important (and not like basement stairs, which are usually pretty ho-hum.) The columns bring some craftsmen charm and help to divide up an otherwise wide-open space.
I love my gallery wall filled with the faces of people I love the most! And for the life of me, I cannot take a photo of the gallery wall where something doesn’t look like it’s hanging crooked. I swear they are all straight in real life! (Although I admit that I’m missing a photo in the bottom left corner – it got removed at one point, and I have yet to replace it.)
Tip #2: Make your shelf displays feel lighter and brighter for summer by eliminating clutter and bringing in some pops of metallics.
To simplify the summer look, it helps to add more visual space to your shelves by skinnying down your displays. I kept just a few simple items on my shelves (with lots of white and texture for interest) to bring in a lighter feel. I gathered up some of my favorite brass and copper pieces to add interest and a little pop of warmth. Another thing I always keep an eye out for in thrift stores and flea markets are inexpensive landscape prints and paintings. I paid less than $15 each for these two pieces above. Love!
Tip #3: Bring in your favorite summertime colors in pillows
You can bring summer into your living room with some fun light and bright pillows. I’m a big fan of the crisp and clean feel that the contrast of black and white provides. Another thing I’m a big fan of are these mudcloth pillows that are so popular right now. These beauties on my couch are courtesy of Jen from The Modern Farmhouse Co. They are made with authentic African mudcloth and have special touches like gold metal zippers and cute beaded zipper pulls. Aren’t they just gorgeous?
You can check out Jen’s Shoppe One Twenty on Etsy and Instagram to see lots more of her beautiful handmade indigo and mudcloth pillows.
And one more shot because they are just so pretty…..
I also packed up the throws in the living room because I knew I wouldn’t need them for warmth, and I like the cleaner feel without them for summer. I also tossed in a few gold touches on the coffee table to help warm up all that white and add a little sparkle. I’m having a custom coffee table made to replace the one in this photo. I really wanted it to be done in time for this tour, but no luck. Can’t wait to show it to you soon – it’s a beauty!
It takes summer a while to get all the way up to my little mountain valley, but when it finally hits, it gets pretty darn hot! More white touches in the form of picture frames and vases are an easy way to keep things bright and cool in the middle of these hot dry days. (Isn’t my momma so cute – I love this picture of her as a child. One of my absolute favorites.)
More bright and colorful pillows for summer.
Tip #4: Add some white or light colored slipcovers if your upholstered furniture is a dark color
Adding white slipcovers to my living room furniture is probably the best decorating decision I’ve made in a looong time. It gives me so much flexibility with pillows and accessories. When I want to change up the look, all I have to do is swap out the pillows and throws. Throwing on a white or light neutral slipcover will make your living room feel like summer in a snap.
I wrote a post about sewing these babies myself here. Check it out if you’ve been considering taking the leap and sewing some slipcovers yourself. It’s not for the faint of heart, but it is do-able if you have some basic sewing skills (such as sewing a straight line and doing LOTS of pinning – which is mostly what is involved) and a lot of patience.
Tip #5: Bring in lots of greenery in the form of house plants or cuttings from the yard
I didn’t add a single thing to my summertime mantle. Not one. single. thing. And I’m loving how clean and fresh it feels. I did add a picture and a couple of houseplants to the base of the fireplace. Green means summer in my book! I often get asked about the tile around my fireplace – it’s a gray penny tile. Some of the tiles are glossy, and others are matte. I really love the subtle sparkle it adds.
Here’s a not-oft seen view of my living room from the kitchen island. I love that mid-century dresser – I found it at a thrift store in Albuquerque, NM, which by the way, has the most amazing thrift stores I’ve yet encountered. I love the contrast of the warm wood with all the white upholstery. You can also see my collection of vintage floral paintings from this view. I think the key to mixing vintage pieces into your home decor is to make sure you have plenty of clean, updated pieces in your room alongside the vintage, and lots of bright white or light neutrals. (I don’t know about you, but I’m not aspiring to having my house look like a museum or even worse, like a thrift store!).
All I really needed to do to bring summer freshness to my kitchen was chop off some branches from a shrub outside the front door and throw them in a pretty white pitcher. Done! You can just barely see a peek of my green metal barstools in this shot. I love how they keep my kitchen looking fun and casual, instead of formal and stuffy.
Oh, and I also tried out the little white planter on my pretty Jadeite cake stand. I”ve told you how much I love green, right? Because I do – in just about any shade, and that fact is pretty evident in my kitchen.
More of the shrub chopping occured here in the dining area. This plant (Bridal Wreath Spirea) is always a favorite of mine because it reminds me of my grandma’s garden when I was a child. She had this plant growing in her yard, and I always loved its graceful branches and tiny white flower bouquets. This pretty blue vase is actually an urn with a lid, but it’s pinch-hitting here to add a little bit of color to my table. I think it looks especially pretty with the green leaves of the spirea branches, and it ties in the blue in the living room pillows.
I love mixing up the chairs around a dining room table. Here I’ve mixed some texture-rich rattan chairs with two upholstered wing chairs, which I painted. Yes, these babies were originally a not-so-lovely blue floral print. You can check out that process in this post. And in case you’re wondering, they have been wearing very well. At first they were a little stiff and almost crunchy, but now they feel kind of like a buttery leather. The best thing about them – spills wipe right off the painted fabric. Perfect for an eating area!
Tip #6: Swap out heavy, dark bedding for white or lighter linens
Now just a peek into the master bedroom. A few months ago, I lightened this room up with crisp blue and white bedding, and white bedside lamps. The lamps were orange in a past life too, so a can of spray paint did the trick to lighten these babies up as well.
Lots of white linens with some crisp blue really speaks summer to me. You can do the same with white bedding and whatever color you love as an accent.
About a year ago, this hall bath got a stencil treatment on the wall behind the sink. I love that it adds just enough color to be interesting, without being overwhelming.
And that’s it! Thanks so much for stopping by for today’s tour! I’d love to hear how you’ve lightened things up for summer – just leave a comment below. I always love hearing from you!
I hope you’ll continue on to see all the other talented ladies who are sharing their summer-fied homes today as part of the Summer Home Showcase. From here, hop on over and visit Tamara’s beautiful home at Citrine Living. You’ll love her elegant and classy style.
And here’s the full list of all the ladies participating in the tour. Be sure to check out the tour on Instagram as well by using the #SummerHomeShowcase hashtag. Have a great day!
Kelley Nan | Decor Gold Designs | Design Loves Detail | Randi Garrett Design | The House of Silver Lining | Haneen’s Haven | Lindsay Hill Interiors | CitrineLiving | Addison’s Wonderland | Z Design at Home | Sunny Side Up