Colorful Summer Decorating Ideas – Home Tour

4 summer decorating ideas to refresh and brighten your home — part of It’s a Colorful Life Home Tour, Summer Snap Shots.

graphic a colorful life home tour

Sunny weather,

Family time,

Barbeques on the patio,

Cheerful summer style…

That’s what summers at home are made of — everyday pleasures!

This week, I am excited to participate in the It’s a Colorful Life Home Tour — Summer Snap Shots with some fabulous home design bloggers! We’ve joined together under the initiative of Jennifer, Dimples and Tangles, and Jewel, Jeweled Interiors, to share our summer home style with y’all.

This tour is about little casual touches you can make around the house to celebrate summer and feel more inspired there this time of year. If you are following the tour schedule and hopping over from Paige’s delightfully preppy abode, welcome!

I’m sharing 4 Summer Decorating Ideas that you can easily implement to make your house feel more cheerful and refreshing!

Summer Decorating Ideas

No. 1 Hang Colorful, Happy Art

Colorful, happy art on your walls makes home feel so much more cheerful! I’m a proponent of colorful decor all year long, but summer calls for particularly vivacious colors.

I was lucky to discover these floral still life paintings at the artist’s estate sale the other week. I love the abstract Matisse like style and bright, exuberant palette. The artist, Nancy Thompson Mills, worked in Western North Carolina, and I love supporting local art. I hung this pair of florals in my entry, so that we have an extra cheerful welcome home.

Summer decorating ideas: new floral art in my entry by Nancy Thompson Mills.

I have two more Nancy Thompson Mills artworks available in my shop: a beautiful painting of red geraniums and a floral still life with pink flowers against an aqua background.

 

No. 2 Bring the Outdoors In

One of the easiest summer decorating ideas to implement is to bring fresh flowers and plants indoors. Summer is the time of leafy green and colorful blooms after all!

The mantel and fireplace are prime areas to do this. Place big vases of hydrangea on the mantel or use classic topiaries. Instead of leaving my fireboxes empty voids, I place a big planter with a fern on the hearth to fill the space.

I’ve got more mantel decorating advice in this post about styling a preppy traditional mantel and this one about grandmillennial mantels.

Bright mantel with abstract painting, hydrangea arrangement, and brass candlesticks for summer decorating ideas

No. 3 Set a Colorful Patio Table

If your family is like mine, you spend mornings and evenings outdoors during the summer. Which means coffee and breakfast as well as dinner are often enjoyed there. We love our patio balcony that overlooks our back yard and has a lovely view of the mountains in the distance.

I find colorful place settings help create a refreshing and inviting space to enjoy those meals. I love Indian block print in a bold combo of colors for placemats and napkins, while whimsical monogrammed pagoda plates add another layer of color and fun.

Patio tablescape with colorful placemats, pagoda monogrammed plates, and Henry sitting in chair

Colorful summer place setting with Indian block print placemat, pagoda monogrammed plate, and aqua goblet

No. 4 Create a Charming Bar for Summer Cocktails

Probably the most refreshing summer decorating idea is our newly acquired wicker elephant set up as a bar for coconut mojitos! Totally refreshing!

I found this chic vintage wicker elephant at a little antique store in my home town. She was in rough shape, so I gave her a good scrub and painted her a pale robin’s egg blue. She is just the cutest now, and I’ve even named her…Wendy! Yes, all darling wicker animals deserve names!

You’ve got to try my recipe for coconut mojitos. It is an absolutely delightful and easy to make cocktail. Get the recipe here.

Vintage wicker elephant stand used as bar for coconut mojitos

Get the Look of My Summer Home Tour

Cheers lovelies! I hope you’ve enjoyed my summer home tour and are inspired to implement one or two of these ideas in your own home. To continue the tour explore Courtney’s bold home.

Below are all the lovely gals participating in the tour:

IT’S A COLORFUL LIFE- “Snapshots of Summer” Tour 2020

 

MONDAY
TUESDAY
WEDNESDAY
THURSDAY

 

10 Comments

  1. Joan on July 22, 2020 at 12:44 pm

    Everything looks so happy!

    • Katherine on July 22, 2020 at 1:04 pm

      Thanks so much Joan! Glad this brought a spot of brightness to your day!

  2. Jewel on July 22, 2020 at 1:28 pm

    I love that elephant! If you ever want to share….just sayin’ . LOL

    • Katherine on July 23, 2020 at 7:11 am

      Haha! I’m hanging on to her for now, but maybe one day Wendy will come for a visit. I understand the search though. It took me 6 months of hunting to find one I could afford.

      Thanks for stopping by!

  3. jadoreledecor on July 23, 2020 at 1:11 pm

    That is the cutes little elephant tray station I’ve ever seen! Such a great idea.

    • Katherine on July 27, 2020 at 7:58 am

      Thanks so much! I’m so excited to have finally found one of these little tables, and I love how great she looks in blue!

  4. Jennifer Griffin on July 28, 2020 at 6:00 pm

    These are such practical, easy to incorporate suggestion for adding some summer style to your home. Thanks so much for joining us on the tour, Katherine!

    • Katherine on July 28, 2020 at 9:39 pm

      Loved being a part of the tour! Thank you!

  5. VivalaVintage4YourHome on July 28, 2020 at 11:20 pm

    Very cheerful space you created

    • Katherine on July 30, 2020 at 8:02 pm

      Thank you so much!

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