Summer in style

Spend your summer in style with a few key decorating ideas. Cotton and linen read summer, especially in white or cream, and if you’re real handy with a sewing machine, or you have a fabulous upholsterer, slipcover the sofa or the chairs and pair them with sisal, jute or seagrass carpets.

Here are my tips to keep your abode summer-ready this season.

1) Infuse that creamy, colour palette with pillows in bright, bold colours and patterns. If you’re going for several different patterns in a room, choose each in a different scale – tight close patterns mixed with loose flowing ones work better than patterns of the same size.

2) Bring on the colour – paint one wall raspberry, teal, or tangerine. Or paper a wall in the powder room in a lush tropical floral pattern for a summer feel all year long. Consider repainting the coffee table, or upholstering the ottoman, in bright aqua, coral or jade green. Buy flowers like tulips or daffodils in spring colours: yellow, coral, purple tulips.

3) Smell: Smell evokes memories, so bring it on with summer scents. Lampe Bergere is an effusion lamp that disperses beautiful aromas into your rooms — Ocean Breeze or Zest of Verbena are two great summer seaside scents. Put out fresh flowers, especially if they have big fragrance.

4) Accessorize: Rearrange the furniture, artwork and accessories. Add some sparkle with crystal candlesticks, vases and mirrors. Splurge on crisp, new bedsheets in a light, fresh colour; exchange the duvet for a coverlet. In the bathroom, kitchen or powder room add beachy accessories – blue-green towels, glass jars, and sea shells.

5) Get outside! If the evenings are still chilly, invest in a fire pit or heater and some comfortable deep-seat furniture. Investing in good quality furniture makes financial sense if you can use your backyard all summer. Those throws you were about to store? Press them into service in a wicker basket by the back door.

6) Condos and townhouses have less outdoor space but that shouldn’t stop you from getting outside. It just means being a little creative and bearing in mind certain things, like higher floors can put you in a whole growing zone colder. When it comes to furniture, pay attention to weight – on upper floors wind is an issue, especially when it comes to umbrellas.