The warm season sees us shedding layers of outerwear and donning cool summer fashions. Our homes need a reprieve from the winter blahs as well. A fresh colour palette and a few summery accessories will cheer up your decor for the warm months ahead.
Changing your decor with the seasons doesn't have to be a huge expensive endeavour. A few key elements can be changed with the seasons to help keep your decor current.
Flexible elements
The wicker furniture in this room is great for a changing seasonal decor. Simply replace or cover the sofa cushions in a lighter colour for the warmer months. If your sofa and/or armchair are a solid dark colour you can certainly lighten them up for the summer with a fitted sofa/chair slipcover in a casual, seasonal fabric. If you don't care for slipcovers, a light-coloured furniture throw along with coordinating toss cushions will brighten the room and the dark furniture. Toss cushion covers in seasonal colours and fabrics are great flexible decor elements that are easy on the budget. Pack them away with seasonal clothes and you'll be sure to find them each season.
The larger furniture pieces (and flooring for that matter) are conveniently light-coloured in our featured photograph. If you have dark wooden pieces consider painting them to give them new life. A scratched and dinged dining room table might benefit from a two-tone paint treatment. Dated bookcases or buffets might also be revamped with paint. If you love your dark bookcase but want to lighten it up for summer you may want to try temporarily lining the shelves and backs of the shelves with a light fabric or mirror pieces so that the dark cavities will reflect some light. Change up the bookshelf accessories with summery accents like seashells, wicker, fresh flowers, light wood photo frames and candles in cheerful colours.
Scatter rugs can replace more formal area carpets. Choose easy care fabrics like the cotton one in our photograph in bright and breezy tones. Several scatter rugs can help brighten up the look of a dark wood floor.
Dark, heavy window treatments are cozy in the winter but can make your decor feel gloomy and stuffy during summer months. Let the sun shine in! Opt for simple pull-up blinds or Roman shades. The clean lines of these window treatments speak to a casual space and will provide the required privacy when needed. Lightweight tab panels or rod-pocket sheers are another great option and are easy on the budget. You may even want to create your own unique window treatment by using a panel of your favourite fabric and simple curtain ring clips. Tablecloths in fun summer patterns can become cheery window treatments in a kitchen. I still use colourful tea towels as café curtains at the cottage. They are easy to wash and inexpensive to replace if they fade. Other items that might make unique window treatments are things like vintage linens and bed sheets, and for toppers decorative shelves, a wicker basket grouping or simple valance covered in fabric.
If you need a new colour palette, then the sunny yellow and blue featured in our Dulux paints photograph are a great summer combo. Yellow for sun and blue for the sea and sky instantly evoke the feeling of a lazy summer day. Other colours reminiscent of summer are soft, earthy greens like fern or celery, soft taupe like beach sand and bold accent colours like cherry tomato.
Other items to consider updating for the season are smaller but important things like dark lampshades, wall art and table accessories. Replace dark lampshades with their lighter counterparts or temporarily cover them with summery fabric. Switch out unrelated artwork like winter scenes or darker-toned paintings in dark frames for more appropriate summer pieces like simple canvases painted in seasonal tones, large photographs of flowers in light wood frames and so on. Display accessories befitting the season; summer magazines instead of heavy coffee table books, for instance.
connieoliver@shaw.ca
