Decorating for Summer in Casual, Easy Style

Summer is one of my favorite seasons of the year to decorate my home. This year I went with a slightly different color scheme to flow with the outdoor colors that surround my house.

This post is in partnership with Bona Flooring.

One year ago this month, the hardwood floors in my living room and kitchen were refinished with Bona by a Bona Certified Craftsman.

Summer decorating ideas for a kitchen. Kitchen showing newly refinished floor done by a Bona Certified Craftsman. The stain color is Grey.

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You probably remember the post, because the transformation to the floors was amazing.

Little did I know at the time, just how much that the previous orange-toned floor finish was holding me back from decorating the two rooms in the style I dreamed of.

The previous floor finish was in good shape, but looked orange. The only time of the year that it coordinated with anything in the room was in the fall.

The new Bona Grey stain for the floor that looks almost like a driftwood color on my hardwood was a stepping point (literally and figuratively) for me to decorate the rooms, especially the living room.

Since the beginning of the year, I have been working on creating a “white and woodsy” vibe that I have been leaning towards since moving to live on the shores of a lake.

3 girls holding hands while jumping onto a lake from a dock.

This is lake life at it’s best!

Pink and purple hydrangeas in a lakeside yard.

In my previous house and when we first moved to the lake house, I liked to decorate with blue and white to create a coastal vibe and I still like to decorate with these colors like I did in my bedroom.

Green and brown colors of nature.

But when you live on a lake – the view right out every door and window… the color vibe runs more towards green and brown.

My Decorating for Summer Color Palette

Decorating for summer color scheme. Faux barnwood paneled wall in living room with photo gallery, white sofa with green pillows and seagrass rug.

With the new durable waterborne matte Bona Grey finished floor, it has make it easy to bring this “white and woodsy”, comfy-causal vibe into the room with worry-free furnishings, white slipcovered seating, and the indestructible natural seagrass rug that I brought from my previous home.

I have been adding decorative accessories slowly over the last year to create the look. The green pillow covers I made a few months ago really pop against the white sofa and add to the woodsy feel as does the greenery clipped from my yard.

The floor color has made my quest for the decor in the room to be seamless with the outdoors and connect with nature, which in turn, helps me live a simpler, more relaxed life that I crave.

Summer decorating ideas for a sofa table. Green clippings from shrubs in glass and white vase next to purple photo frame and wood beads on a table.

The color of flooring has been the key for me to bringing everything in a room together that feels relaxed and effortless, yet cozy.

White mantel on stone fireplace with wood planter box filled with greenery is my go to summer decorating idea.

I showed you in my last post how I decorated the fireplace mantel without spending a cent. The weathered color of the wood goes perfectly with the Bona Grey floor color. :-)

Living room with Bona refinished floor after one year.

The floor color has made such a huge difference for all of my decorating efforts. I had a previous floor refinished in my previous house, where the contractors hung plastic around the doorways so that it would lessen sanding dust, which it didn’t. They also used smelly products that had Ed and I wanting to leave the house for a few days.

None of these happen when our hardwood floor was refinished with Bona.

Bona dustless system being used in house floor refinishing project

When the Bona Certified Craftsman came to refinish our floors, he used a dustless sanding system where all the dust is contained in a vacuum that is placed outside your home, so it is dust-free with easy cleanup. It is really smart and cool to watch. No plastic sheeting around doors needed.

I loved the fact that he also used low-VOC products that are safe, durable and dry fast with no toxic odors.

There was no need for us to leave the house while the 3-day refinishing process was taking place, in fact we could walk over the floor a few hours after the stain and then poly was applied. I chose to not cook on those days and since it was summer, we ordered food and ate our meals outside at our deck table.

The whole process from choosing the color to the last coat of the finish was made effortless except of course having to remove the furniture from the room. But, it sure was fun, putting it all back in and seeing how nice the new color looked with my furnishings.

Bona Flooring Grey Stained floor in kitchen.

Now that it has been a year, living with the refinished floor, I could not be happier with how well the floor came out from the color and also the durability factor.

Above is a section of the floor in front of my kitchen cooktop that gets a lot of abuse from spills of hot liquid and foot. It is also the main traffic path in the kitchen.

The floor looks as good today as the day it was refinished.

Bona Floor Care Mop and cleaner

The waterborne finish is so easy to clean. Bona offers a residue-free formula that comes in a refillable cleaning solution mop and washable microfiber pad which I like as they produce less waste. It is 1…2…3… and done! More lake time for me.

Dishtowels hanging from towel bar in summer decorated kitchen.

The whole Bona floor refinishing process was safe and stress-free. The Bona contractor that did my floor was a pleasure to work with in all aspects of the job.

Birds eye view of kitchen table setting done in driftwood grey, white and green.

Having a beautiful new finish on a floor is always a nice thing, but what makes me smile is that now all my furnishings beautifully coordinate with each other. :-)

Summer decorating White sofa with green pillows in living room with faux barnwood paneling on wall.

Living in a home with the right colors from the floor all the way to the ceiling has made me enjoy this room more than I ever have. Happy colors = Happy Diane.

With the previous orange floor, I would not have been able to add the faux barnwood paneling accent wall in the room.

Dough bowl on sofa table filled with moss globes and wood beads. white clock with black Roman numerals on the wall.

Grays, neutrals with a hint of brown and of course white with pops of green, blue and pink come together where people can feel completely comfortable kicking off their shoes and just hanging out.

Black marble gel mat on Bona Flooring grey stained hardwood floor.

The Bona Floor Refinishing System has a full range of products designed to work together to install, renovate, finish, transform and ultimately care for hardwood floors.

As you can tell, I love my Bona refinished floor and highly recommend using a Bona Certified Craftsman to have a hardwood floor in your home refinished.

You can read all about what an easy process it is getting hardwood floors refinished in my post here: My Hardwood Floor Refinishing Reveal

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10 Comments

  1. Hi Diane!

    I love your blog! It’s so creative and informative. Beautiful lake house remodel. Love your casual decorating style. Your blog posts are packed with helpful DIY information and beautiful pictures. I always know where to go for inspiration.

    XoXo~Linda

  2. Your home looks so inviting. I’ve seen previous posts, but those floors are the best. It’s nice you were able to keep them and still enjoy all the work someone put into laying that herringbone pattern. Here’s to lake life this summer!

    1. Diane Henkler says:

      Hi PJ – Thanks – The floor was not original to the house, but was added sometime after. I wish I knew when. The flooring guy told me he has never seen anything quite like it before. The pattern does offer a nice look.

  3. colleen george says:

    I love all your decorating and ideas. I was wondering if you had a post about the covers you made for your chairs in the kitchen. I have the same chairs and that would be a nice addition for summer.

    1. Diane Henkler says:

      Thanks Coleen – Yes, I have a post about how I made the slipcovers for my kitchen chairs. I originally made the covers for ladderback chairs in the dining room of my previous house. When we moved, I gave the dining set to one of my daughters and she didn’t want the covers. I kept them thinking maybe I could use them again. I was so happy that they fit on the Kubu chairs. More snug, but they work.

      Here is a link to the post: https://bit.ly/3huEYXq

      Let me know if you have any questions about their construction.

  4. susan ross hill says:

    Love love love it all!

  5. Catpainter says:

    Isn’t it wonderful to see how it all comes together and how the choices you made really stand the test of time. That’s a reward for you in itself. Your home has a resort feel and the colors you chose from the cool side of the palette are refreshing and calming – perfect for a retirement home. You’ve done a great job and your home has a marvelous flow from room to room.
    We’re sheltering in place here, by governor’s mandate and wearing masks everywhere, which is fine, but I look at the expanse of your lake and I think how wonderful it must be there to wake up every morning to that vista. And with your energy level, I’m sure that you find things to do every day to stay busy and fulfilled.
    You have created a good life for yourself with your talent, your energy, and your sharing your life with all of us – a good lesson for us!

  6. Hi Diane, Totally off topic (sorry) but I was wondering where you found your green dish towels. It’s so easy to find blue ones, but I’ve found the green more difficult to find. I’m glad you like your floors. You do have a beautiful home!

    Blessings,
    Marilyn

    1. Diane Henkler says:

      Thanks Marilyn – I find all my dishtowels at HomeGoods, TJMaxx and Marshalls. It is hit or miss, but they have a nice selection. Target sometimes has a wide variety of colors also.

  7. Lisa Marie says:

    You have created such a beautiful, colorful and cozy home. You are so talented and you have taken your house from “needs a LOT of work” to gorgeous. You could be a very successful interior designer in any city. I don’t know where you get the energy for all of these projects. We moved in December and I still have pictures leaning against walls that need to be hung up. I work full time, now from home due to the virus, and I’m working twice as hard from home. Most days I want to fall asleep exhausted on the sofa. Please come to my house and work your fairy dust magic! LOL.