Bring the colors and feelings of summertime into your home with our best tips and tricks -- everything from furniture arrangements to the smells of the season.
A New View
While a fireplace is a great focal point, consider rearranging your furniture away from it during the summer. Rather than huddling around the hearth, shift the focus of the room toward a beautiful window or French doors. Stow away heavy draperies and hang gossamer sheers that flow with the breezes.
Update Old Furniture
Give a tired chair or side table new life using high-gloss spray paint in a summery hue, such as sky blue or grassy green. The glossy paint creates a fun lacquered look and gives an old piece a fresh and modern edge. Make sure to properly prime the furniture to help the paint adhere to the surface and wear longer.
Garden Fresh
Interject bright, summery colors in your home with freshly picked flowers. To make the biggest impact, stick to arrangements featuring warm colors -- such as bold oranges, radiant yellows, or vibrant pinks -- and save rich reds and deep purples for other seasons. Small clusters of bright color look cheery and create an undeniable summertime vibe.
Summery Scents
For a continuous seasonal aesthetic in your home, switch out scents as the seasons change. Gingerbread and evergreen are great smells for winter months, but in the summer many people crave fresh scents, such as ocean breeze or cucumber-melon.
Set a Colorful Table
Consider buying accent dishes to add splashes of summertime color and pattern to your next dinner party. Mix bright floral, tropical, or nautical-theme dishes with your everyday plates and bowls. To ramp up the summertime look, clear a small table to create an impromptu bar, and arrange bottles and glassware on a pretty serving tray. Fun elements such as stir sticks and paper umbrellas create a look that is perfectly seasonal.
Art Swap
Brighten dark walls with colorful art pieces. Affordable pieces can be found just about anywhere online or at flea markets and resale shops. A large piece or a collection of smaller pieces also provides the perfect blank-wall solution for large, open rooms.
Party Starter
Welcome summer by entertaining outdoors. Low tables, floor pillows, and strands of clear outdoor lights will set a merry mood. Winning combos of bright colors, such as turquoise, red, and white, create a festive atmosphere and will keep everyone in a party mind-set.
Light Up the Night
Summer is as much a state of mind as it is a season, so transform your spaces to embrace all the benefits it has to offer. String paper lanterns on tree branches around an outdoor patio to allow gatherings to last well into the night hours. Or should the weather turn stormy, cozy up by lamplight on a covered porch. Because pleasant summer days sometimes fall few and far between, you'll want to take full advantage of the time you have to spend outside, rain or shine.
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