Quick summer decorating

Quick and Cheap Summer Decorating

By Kathy Woodard

Summer is a time when we want our homes to be welcoming, to be functional for hosting get togethers with family and friends, and be a relaxing place to make some memories. Here are some quick, easy and cheap ways to make you summer decorating…a breeze!

Start in the room with the most chaos…this is always the most used room in the house, usually the kitchen/family room. Don’t feel like you have to make a whole seasonal transformation of the home, remember, you are trying to simplify.

Time to put away all clutter, take down and store any unnecessary window coverings, rugs, and throws. Pack away busy collections until next fall, and replace with simple, larger and lighter colored objects.

Consider inexpensive wall hangings to offer color and texture to replace your groupings of framed artwork such as quilts or rugs.

Add dash of brighter color through the room with a few simple throw pillows in a shade that are a bump up from your normal color scheme. For instance, if your usual color scheme is blue and white, use a periwinkle or French blue on the pillows, or if you have a lot of subdued greens in the room, try going to a fresh and bright apple green.

Need a large piece of simple artwork for over the sofa or mantel? Pick three fresh summer colors that meld well with your room, and get a large piece of plywood or mdf board, cut to your finished size. Prime the whole piece, including the edges. Now tape off three horizontal stripes, making the stripe in the middle narrower. (You’ll have to do one stripe at a time). Paint the center stripe the brightest color, the top stripe the palest shade, and then the final bottom stripe. Interesting, colorful, simple. And cheap!

Finally, always bring a bit of the outside indoors during those warm months. Pot up inexpensive shade annuals from the garden center and use as summer houseplants in a bright spot. Plant a few seeds of sunflower and cosmos now for super easy armloads of blossoms to cut and bring indoors. If you are not a gardener, pick up a weekly bunch of flowers from the supermarket, and divide them into several smaller bouquets. Display them in bud vases, sugar bowls and teacups wherever you need a splash of color and romance. Mums and carnations both last longer than a week in vase.

Enjoy the simple ness of summer colors in your home, and spread those summer good times throughout your home!

Kathy Woodard is editor of www.TheBudgetDecorator.com, www.Women-on-the-Net.com and www.TheGardenGlove.com. Please visit her for ideas and inspiration!