“Summer”izing a Living Room in an Afternoon
Happy First Day of Summer! I have been so focused on making over the guest room and bathroom, that I was not paying attention that summer is officially here.
It hit me when I walked into my sofa-less living room this morning and realized I didn’t lighten things up for the summer months. Time to make at least a little effort to “summerize” the room.
Since giving my sofa to my daughter a few weeks ago, I found I really don’t miss it. I have been looking though online for one, but even Ed mentioned last week, why get one at all? The chairs suit me just fine, maybe get two more chairs instead. After hearing him say this I remembered I had saved a photo of a room with four identical chairs. I found it. I love this room in the above photo. The clean, easy breezy, uncluttered look. To me it says… summer, but I would love it all year round.
I do think I would miss a sofa though, unless I could find recliners that were stylish and comfy at the same time.
I also have been thinking of a light blue slipcover if I do get a sofa, like the color on the upholstery on this sofa.
Decisions…decisions. I am in no rush to buy any furniture right away as I want to make sure whatever I do find fits all our needs…function, style, and is affordable.
So, back to this morning when I realized that the first day of summer would be a good day to “summerize” my living room. I didn’t go crazy, instead I shopped my house and grabbed some light blue fabric I bought a few months ago to make pillows for the sofa I gave to my daughter.
Here is what I did on a very wet and rainy first day of summer.
5 Ways To “Summerize” a Room in an Afternoon
1. Change things up – I rearranged the furniture. This alone gave the room a new look and feel. The empty space where the sofa once was is now filled with two swivel rockers. I used a blanket from a twin bed as a throw blanket. Since I wanted to use light blue, I went in search for it. I haven’t used it in years, but kept it because I like the color. Glad I did as it looks perfect as a throw. It is from IKEA. It is so old, like 32 years old when IKEA opened their first store in the US very close to where I lived. I call it my “vintage IKEA” blanket.
2. Instant Color Change – The cushions on these chairs are an ecru color, not white. To make them white, I covered the back with white twill fabric. I covered the bottom with light blue twill. For both cushions I used my no-sew cushion cover method. As simple as wrapping them like I was wrapping a gift and using safety pins underneath to secure the fabric. It can be done in 10 minutes. You can find out how to do it in this post. How to Make a No-Sew Cushion Cover
Don’t have any fabric to make an instant cover? How about using a scarf, sheet, or tablecloth?
3. Bring the Outside In – To add some drama to the room, I headed out to my yard with a pair of clippers and see what type of free foliage I could find to cut. I have no idea what the name of the bush this came from, but it does the job when placed in a large vase filled with water.
4. Remove excess accessories and put away until fall. I like a few pretty things around the room, but paired back. To find a few light and airy items to create simple accents around the room I shopped around my house. No need to buy anything new. Moving items from room to room every so often gives them new life and may look brand new to your eye placed and used ina different way.
5. Summer is all about carefree living – Like I said above, I didn’t go crazy since summer living for me is about getting outside and enjoying the outdoors. I kept my efforts simple and enjoyed the process of moving, mixing and playing around until I liked what I saw. Come fall, I will put a little more effort into the room…and maybe even have some new furniture to move around. :-)
Do you change your decor for summer in any of the rooms in your home?
Happy Summer!