15 Hacks To Make Your Home Summer-Ready
Easy, breezy home styling ideas for summer
While my mind often wanders to where I’d like to have a summer home – currently, a cottage in Devon, England positioned where the rolling country meets the sea (check out my travel guide to Devon & Cornwall for a visualization) – I quickly come back to reality and start imagining how I can adapt my home to make it feel like summer.
To that end, I’ve been adding references to a Pinterest board, called Summer Home, since February. I’ve always been a big believer that small changes can make a big difference, and the turning of a season is a prime opportunity to apply that thinking. While we tend to spend less time indoors as the weather warms up, the home still serves an essential role in summer’s lifestyle. It’s a launching pad for activities and adventures, where we gather our supplies before heading out. The home’s footprint expands to backyards or rooftops creating a whole other living space that we imbue with homey touches; and nature comes indoors extending our enjoyment of it, for instance with freshly cut flowers loosely arranged in a vase. Not to mention, it serves as a home base for hosting a rotating cast of friends and family. Home is more than a place to live, in the summertime especially.
So, on to the how…. Filled with images of romantic, breezy settings and spaces, I thought about what made them places that I wanted to spend time this summer. I distilled it into these small styling updates and additions, below, that invite summer in and help support all of those magical moments and memories that summer is all about. And to aid in the creation of these summer vignettes, you’ll find handpicked homewares, each beautifully crafted and made to enhance your enjoyment of home in some way.
1. Skip slipcover. Throw on a kantha.
Many people opt to cover upholstered furniture with slipcovers during the summer as a way to create an entirely new look that also protects the fabric from sunlight, sand, and sweat, and offers coolness. Throwing a kantha on sofas or chairs provides all those same benefits and is even easier to pull off, or throw on, as the case may be. The layered styling, pattern and colors of the embroidered Indian textile exude a bohemian feel that reminds me of breezy faraway lands.
Image: @cotedefolk
2. Display summer accessories.
Straw hats and market totes are the essence of summer to me. Instead of burying them away in a closet, hang them on hooks to create a beautiful display and make them easy to access while heading out the door. My favorite way to do this is with a wooden peg rail.
Image: Pinterest via @ella
3. Pile large bowls with fresh fruit.
With the abundance of fresh fruit in summer, a fruit bowl is never more in need. I come home from the farmers market and pile fruit into multiple bowls and tiered displays on my counter to let them ripen and admire the bounty. There are few things as beautiful as a still life of fruit, perhaps that’s why there are so many paintings of them.
4. Display your shell collection.
When you walk into a summer house by the sea, you will almost certainly spot lots of shells - there is no clearer marker of a seaside summer. But it’s not only for those on the sea. If you feel like shells don’t make sense to display in your all-season house, summer is the one time you can get away with it. I like to display larger ones on a table and fill up hurricane candles with smaller shells for a table decoration.
5. Create a beach / pool station.
If you have a pool, you probably have a whole area devoted to towels and all the pool accessories. For everyone else, I saw this smart idea to create a station for all your pool and beach stuff to make it easy to grab and pack a bag when heading out. One way to do this is to roll up beach towels in a wicker basket and fill a tray with the essentials, like sun lotion, goggles, and a water bottle.
Image: Crow Canyon Home
6. Serve enamel dinnerware at BBQs.
I am a huge proponent of enamelware, vintage or new. The reason? Typically the designs are super cute, whether splattered, rimmed with a color, or swirled. Most importantly, enamelware is incredibly durable and thus sustainable and made to last — you’ll probably pass it down to your kids. In the meantime, it’s impossible for them to destroy it, making enamelware perfect for outdoor gatherings and ultimately much better for the planet than disposable paper plates or plastic melamine.
Image: via Pinterest
7. Festoon window sills with plants.
Even when spending time indoors, you can still surround yourself with nature. Collect houseplants and re-pot them in attractive pots, then put them in a sunny window – on the sill itself, a table, stools, or a jardiniere. This is a big one for apartment dwellers, but I suggest it for anyone with a sunny window. All of the greenery and buds are so fresh and revitalizing. Check out the SoS Guide to Floral Decor for curated pots, planters and more.
8. Be the host with the most with a great pitcher and glasses.
As the temperatures rise and people stop by more frequently in the summer, take a cue from Nancy Meyers (or the host muse of your choice) and keep a pitcher and matching glasses on hand to serve up icy drinks. It’s a tad classier than bringing over the Brita pitcher, and the little extra effort and coordination goes a long way toward making guests feel welcome.
9. Swap out lighter, fresher bedding.
Darker linens might make sense in the winter, but crisp, light linens are ideal in warmer months to keep cool. I'm always a proponent of white, with accents like throw pillows or blankets to add color. But I can’t help but be seduced by a supremely cheerful stripe for summer. It’s for a limited time so it’s not a huge commitment.
Image: tumblr via livinginluxuryandstyle
10. Break out displays for cakes and pies.
Although the summer is not technically baking season, there are more occasions to serve cake and pie between summer birthdays, seasonal festivities, and endless entertaining, not to mention that’s when so many ingredients are in their prime. Make your creations shine with cake stands and serving dishes.
Image: @m.o.andres
11. Create a potting area.
This applies to gardeners and aspiring gardeners. If you don’t have one already, create a space to organize your gardening tools, pots, and accessories, like baskets and watering cans. It could be a table in a garage or porch. In addition to serving a very functional use, having it all laid out is beautiful and may inspire you to do more gardening!
12. Collect tablecloths for multi-purpose.
Tablecloths are one of the quickest ways to pull together a table when having guests over. But did you know you can also use them as picnic blankets? If the ground is damp, you can put some grasscloth matting below. Especially if the tablecloth will be used outdoors, I like to go bold with more color and pattern especially stripes and florals.
13. Dig up lots of bowls for serving snacks.
I find in the summer I can never have enough serving bowls for snacks. I guess it's that aperitivo life of serving lots of little things to nibble on, and a bowl is needed for each of them. They don’t have to match your dinnerware, and in fact they’re more fun if they don’t.
Image: via cozylittlehouse.com
14. Be prepared with a moveable bar.
Trays allow you to move the bar wherever the party is. I like to use one for glasses, low tumblers that are sturdy. Then, another tray for drinks, a bowl of ice, napkins, and garnishes, keeping it to the bare minimum.
Image: @anthony.bellomo
15. Add a touch of fun with a statement planter.
Summer is the time to keep things light and fun, and one way to do that from a decorative sense is with a bold planter, something in a unique shape, like an animal or some other organic form that’s unexpected. It can go outside if the material is appropriate or in an entry hallway or some other prominent location where guests will see it (and likely comment).
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