Relaxed Summer Style

Summer! Lazy days of summer!

Something about summer makes all of us long for a slower pace, more casual surroundings and bright, crip colors. This week I will be adding relaxed summer style to some spaces in my home. I'm going to start with my sunroom and deck. These two areas will get a lot of use over the next few months especially with the kids home from school. Pulling a little inspiration from Pottery Barn, I think I will be off "shopping" the house and the garage later today to see what I come up with. Red, white and blue is a classic color scheme but for my house these colors won't work. So, I am going to modify them to a color pallette of orange, cream and turquoise. All of these colors are just various hues of the primary basics. Let's look at some pictures from my idea file. While these aren't the colors I will use, the look and style is what I'm going for.I'm going for a similar look with the mix-n-match pillows in my sunroom. I love the stripes, floral and geometric prints combined. Shopping the house for the right mix will be fun and challenging! I love the pop of sunny yellow thrown in the mix.

I have several pieces of older wicker. The plan is to paint it chocolate brown. My BFF, Bella~Mella, recently painted a wicker piece an espresso brown at my suggestion. After seeing pictures, I loved it so much that I think I'll take my own advice and paint my pieces. In the picture above I love the mix of wicker with metal folding chairs. The mix of pattern again caught my eye. I think mixing up patterns has a natural casual appeal perfect for the hot, sticky days of summer.

The bright navy blue of this umbrella is what drew my eye in this photo. I guess it's my association of blue with water that makes me lean towards shades of blue during the warm weather months. I have three umbrellas in the garage. A leopard print, a terracotta floral print and a solid golden yellow. Depending on what I pull together from my "shopping" trip, will determine which one is featured in the months to come.

I would LOVE to have an outdoor sectional like this! The whole set is just perfect for entertaining outdoors. Cushions so thick you can just sink down and daydream the day away.

Oh, to have a functional outdoor kitchen! We would eat every meal outside! This kitchen is covered by a porch. Whenever I get around to designing an outdoor kitchen, it will need to be weather proof since we have an uncovered deck.

At the end of a long day, to lay and relax on this summery chaise lounge would be perfect. Especially if your back yard bordered a lake or the coast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, I better get going if I'm going to get a start on that deck today....

Until I see you again,

Happy Decorating!

~Alisa