15 Fresh And Easy Summer Decorating Ideas To Try Now
Lighten up your home for the season with 15 easy summer decorating ideas using color, texture, and simple seasonal touches.
When it comes to summer decorating, my best summer tip is to keep home furnishings and accent decor simple. The warm weather and endless fun activities make it the perfect time to embrace an easygoing approach to home decor. Instead of feeling tied down by complex designs, focus on adding simple yet stylish accents that capture the essence of summer.
From light, airy fabrics to vibrant, seasonal flowers, these decorating ideas will help you create a refreshing and inviting space without overwhelming your schedule. Let’s explore the best ways to effortlessly fill your home with the beauty of summer.
Today, let’s chat about how to get our homes summer-ready!
Keep Decorating Simple
My best tip for summer decorating is to keep home furnishings and accent decor simple! The heat and abundance of summer activities mean we should focus on enjoying the season rather than being tied down to lots of decorating. So, embrace simplicity with your home decor accents and summer details.
Tidy Up
To truly enjoy the beauty of summer in our homes, we need to keep them tidy and clean. Spend just 15 minutes a day organizing your living area, and by mid-summer, you’ll notice a significant difference!
I’m following my own advice. See How To Declutter Your Home In 15 Minutes A Day.
Lighten Up Your Textiles
When warmer weather rolls in, it’s a good idea to use lightweight fabrics. Store away heavy pillows, draperies, throws, and bedding, and opt for light cotton, linen, and other lightweight materials. Stripes, checks, and sweet florals are perfect for adding a summery touch.
Summer Ideas For Any Bedroom will give you a guide to making the bedrooms in your home summer-ready and comfortable. In the image below, a matelasse white coverlet and another lightweight coverlet with floral patterns are just enough for warmer nights and air-conditioned bedrooms.
And you might like to consider lightening up these textiles too…
- curtains
- throw blankets
- duvets
- rugs
- table runners
- tablecloths
- placemats
A light color scheme also creates a cool, summery vibe. Don’t forget to add pops of color like navy, citrus hues, and greens.
Decorate With Summer Flowers Or Organics
Summer is all about bringing blooms inside. Create a summer flower arrangement or centerpiece for your home. It can be big and showy or as simple as a little greenery and a couple of fresh blooms in a tiny bottle. If you don’t have garden flowers, use flowers from the grocery store.
My favorite way to use flowers in the summer is to make small arrangements and tuck them into my decor where I will see them.
A few knockout roses and some greenery from a bush in our side yard are a sweet welcome when I go to get my first cup of coffee in the morning! Summer flowers by my sink make cleaning up the dishes a much prettier job!
Here are some of my favorite summer flowers to cut and use in centerpieces and arrangements…
- hydrangeas
- sunflowers
- knockout roses
- daisies
- salvia
- peonies
- geraniums
- lantana
- Butterfly bush blooms
To keep summer flowers lasting longer and looking their best, keep them away from direct sunlight and heat.
Make sure to check out How To Use Summer Annuals and Perennials To Decorate Your Home.
Use Natural Fiber Materials
Wicker, jute, and other textural organic materials are perfect for summer. They create a lighter, laid-back summery feel. Incorporate natural fibers in furnishings and accents like lotus leaf rattan placemats or sisal rugs.
Jute rugs are perfect for summer decorating because they bring a natural, earthy texture to your space, complementing the light and airy feel of the season. Their fibers are durable and breathable, making them ideal for high-traffic areas, while their neutral tones easily blend with summer decor, adding a touch of effortless style.
See How To Mix And Match Rugs And Coordinate Them Like A Pro.
Set A Colorful Table
Setting a colorful table using summer elements like flowers, lightweight textiles, and stacked dishes is such a joy! Whether inside or outside on the patio, a pretty table sets the mood for any gathering. If hosting a larger group, make simple recipes or ask guests to bring a dish. Instead of a formal dinner party, have a taco bar or make hot dogs and hamburgers. Summer was made for fun!
I like to set a table with a theme and then carry it over to the food as well!
Be your own photographer and take images of every table you set. This way, you can recreate your favorite tablescapes anytime you want. Who says you can’t remake a beloved setup? Each photograph serves as a visual recipe for a perfect table setting, making it easy to repeat for future gatherings.
Make sure to see…
10 Amazing Outdoor Dining Ideas
Infuse Your Home With Summer-Inspired Scents
One of my favorite summer decorating ideas is adding scents of the season to the home. Diffuse summer scents or burn scented candles to make your home smell heavenly. My favorites are mint and geranium.
Aromas can be mood lifters. Put a handful of fresh herbs in a small pot of water on the stove and let the summer scents of fresh herbs waft through your home. Whatever summer aromas you like, let them be part of your summer decorating!
Here are some popular summer scents…
- citrus
- lemongrass
- any summer florals
- fresh linen
- beach house
- orange
- lime
- lemon
- grapefruit
- rainstorm
- mojito
- lemonade
- spearmint
- peppermint
Have you ever made a simmer pot? It’s so easy, and you can use what you have in your home and garden.
Use whole fruits or just the peel filled with essential oils, as well as clippings of herbs and flower petals.
See how easy it is to make a Summer Simmer Pot.
Add A Little Coastal Charm
Adding coastal accents to your home for a summer look is easy and charming. Start by incorporating nautical elements such as seashells, driftwood, and rope. Use a color palette inspired by the beach, featuring shades of blue, white, and sandy beige, to create a breezy and relaxed atmosphere. Accessories like woven baskets, glass vases filled with beach finds, and lanterns can further enhance the seaside vibe, making your home feel like a summer retreat.
A little bit of coastal decor goes a long way if you don’t live near the beach. Maybe a chinoiserie oyster spoon rest (coming later this month), a glass container of shells on a coffee table, or a piece of vintage artwork with an ocean scene is all you need. Treasures from a visit to the ocean you collect yourself are personal and very charming to display because they have a story.
The glass container of shells sits on our console table for the summer. My grandkids collected them on a trip to Corolla OBX last year.
Decorate With In-Season Fruit and Vegetables
Look no further than your refrigerator’s fruit and vegetable drawer to find summery ways to decorate your home. Right now, it is strawberry season! So I have a big bowl of washed strawberries on the counter, ready to nibble. They look so pretty, too! It’s a win/win: yummy and attractive!
Put citrus, like lemons, in a big bowl with leaves and use them as a quick centerpiece. We love artichokes on the grill, so I keep them in a big, white, shallow bowl on my kitchen counter. They look like summer to me!
Many fruits and vegetables, like tomatoes or peaches, keep better on the countertop, so don’t miss the opportunity to create a pretty and simple centerpiece or vignette with them.
Choose Summery Looking Accent Decor
Using summery accent decor to decorate your home for summer creates a light, fresh, and inviting atmosphere that complements the season’s relaxed feel. Use decor, flowers, textiles, and even lamps with a summer aesthetic.
Summer annuals and perennials are my favorite way to add a bit of summer to our home.
Try your hand at a fun and easy DIY, like Rope-Wrapped Chandleholders, to create your own summer accents. This DIY is so easy, and you do not need to be crafty to make them!
Have A Summer-Ready Front Door
Summer decor ideas should begin at your front door. A summer-inspired wreath is the prettiest summer welcome. I usually hang a wreath at the beginning of a new season. A big seasonal wreath on your front door will go a long way to make your front door, front porch, and outdoor spaces look welcoming!
Here is summer door decor you can make…
Summer Front Door Hydrangea Basket
A charming basket brimming with summery hydrangeas that adds instant seasonal beauty to your front door. It’s simple to assemble and has a light, airy look that works all summer long.
Easy 30-Minute Peony Wreath
This pretty wreath comes together quickly with faux peonies and other summer blooms. In just half an hour, you’ll have a fresh, welcoming wreath perfect for the season.
Summer Hydrangea Wreath
Lush and full of soft summer color, this wreath features layered hydrangeas in soft pinks and greens. It’s a classic look that makes a stunning statement on any front door.
Summer Dogwood Wreath
Don’t miss this easy DIY wreath! It’s made with lovely white dogwood blooms for a clean, crisp look that works from spring through early summer.
Add summer details to make your front door and porch special! For even more seasonal inspiration, you might also enjoy 7 Small Porch Decorating Ideas.
Be Patriotic
Summer is the time of year to be patriotic. There are three American holidays during the summer months! So, make sure you fly your flag proudly and decorate your home with a bit of red, white, and blue!
My favorite way to add a bit of patriotic color to our home is by creating a pretty vignette on the kitchen table using red, white, and blue dishes and blooms from our yard!
Remember to tuck in a couple of American flags in your decor and arrangements!
Pay Attention To Your Guest Rooms
Our guest rooms are used more in the summer than at any other time of the year, so paying attention to summer details in the guest rooms is a must! Keeping guest rooms company-ready and adding a few summer details makes overnight guests feel welcome and cared for!
Here are a few things to help you get your guest room ready for company in the summer months…
- Lighten up fabrics and bedding
- Use light layers on the bed
- Add a decorative throw at the end of the bed so your guests can use it as a cover if they nap.
- Put a fan in a closet for guests who like the air to circulate
- Add fresh summer flowers next to the bed
- Put a luggage rack in the room – this is so thoughtful, any time of year
Get Sumer Guest Room Ideas that will keep your guests happy and cool.
Use Baskets
I’m a basket lover, so baskets are a part of my decor all year round. For summer, one of my favorite ways to use baskets is to stash things we need, like sunscreen, bug spray, or bathing suits, in them.
I use baskets to corral dishes to take outside when we are dining al fresco and baskets for my summer decorating books and magazines! And I have a basket filled with lotions and other things next to my bed!
For summer, choose lighter-colored baskets and cotton-coiled baskets. Baskets with lids can hold all kinds of stuff hidden in plain sight.
Summer is such a fun, laid-back time. I hope you will use some of these easy summer decor ideas in your home!
Shopping For Summer Accents
FAQs About Summer Decorating
Happy Summer Decorating!
You truly have the best tips Yvonne and I love the way that you create beautiful vignettes! Happy to partner up with you today my friend! xo, Janet
Thanks, Janet!
I love to see all your decorating tips! It makes me want to do something different to our home everyday. In May I saw your spa color quilt and shames with the animal print pillow. I purchased the bedding and my son and dilove gifted me the pillow cover for Mother’s Day. We all really like the look. Thank you so much for the inspiration.
I love summer scents, American flags, summer flowers, bright colors, summer door wreaths and reading of all your practical ideas!
Me too Bev!
I just love your natural elements! I wish I had your windows too! North facing rooms just don’t bring in as much light. Great job!
Great ideas, keep it light and airy.I especially love candles, always have a vanilla candle burning.
I look forward to your Weekly Wednesday Wishlist each week! Very inspirational.
I love your style!. You always give me lots of ideas for my own home. I look forward to the wish list each week.
I always love my patriotic summer home.
Summertime decorating is so fun!
Fabulous inspiration! Flowers … must always have flowers.
I love the pops of vivid color that signifies summer. Your pink flowers are perfect for this season. In fact I even made a wreath using cheap pink flowers and it looks great.
Yvonne,
I enjoy your approach to decorating. I am a big seasonal decorator so I enjoy your ideas.
Love all your helpful ideas, and showing us where to buy things. It’s very nice of you girls to do these giveaways, it sure helps people.
Beautiful ideas.
Love the summer touches you have given the house. Keep showing more ideas. thanks, Debbie
Your posts never fail to have at least one new great idea… year after year. Thank you, and keep writing!!
I ordered three new pillow covers for my bed and I’m going to either put away or giveaway my European shams which just overwhelm the bed. I love the way your summer bed looks and I’m going to give it a try! Thanks, as always, for the visual tip
I hope one day my home will be as light, bright and cohesive as yours!
I can’t wait to incorporate some of these ideas into our home!
Yvonne,
You have a an amazing knack for just about everything!! Your style is beautiful! Thanks for inspiring us
Awww! Thanks, Cheryl!
Such lovely ideas. Thank you.
The Frenchy straw hats are darling.
Wonderful ideas! My favorite was the small porch ideas.
Love to see your amazing seasonal decorating. I love to change a few things out seasonally but on a much smaller scale. My kids like to tease me about it, but that’s okay, too!
Your home is so peaceful, yet always cheerful!
Fabulous ideas, as always. Thanks
Love the Americana decor for summer!
Love this article!
Home Goods and Michael’s I’m on my way. Such fabulous ideas.
I’m drawn to your sight as we are downsizing and moving into a cottage at a local community. Thank you for your insights, ideas and encouragement. Blessings to you!
I love your style! I especially liked this blog for the 15 summer decorating ideas and I have incorporated a few in my decor. I also love your Sunday morning posts.
I decorate my house seasonally and love all of your ideas!
If you live in the south, spring cleaning gets done in the summer when its 100+ degrees outside.
Beautiful ideas for summer!
Great ideas.
I love all your tips. One question I have – when looking through your photos, is I notice in your outside photo, that you use shutters on your windows. Do you have any thoughts on these?. I am considering removing ours.and the site I asked this question. everyone says to take down. Maybe it’s just personal preference, but I think windows might look to plain without.
Every idea is amazing. I love your blog and get so many ideas every day. And I have to laugh…baskets? Yes…way back in the late 70’s baskets were all the rage and it lifts my heart to see their use becoming popular again.
Always inspiring ideas that I can incorporate into condo living.
Thanks!
Thanks so much for ALL your ideas! My home is better because of you!
I’m so happy to get your summer tips
I love neutrals, and then add your pop of color, and I am in heaven!!! Thanks for all the great tips.
I’m going to be gone from my home from the end of August, partly into November. So, I’m wondering about what to do about decor so that I’m not looking at “beachy” stuff when I return home. I’m thinking about switching to my white pottery pieces, skip the pumpkins this year and add smatterings of amber glass and yellow/gold accents, sunflowers, etc. I think that’s a good compromise to transition into the Fall season without it looking too committed either way. A family member will be staying here while I’m gone (she really doesn’t care or understand my decor fetish) and I don’t want to return to something I’d feel I’d have to change for a short period before Thanksgiving.
This is going to happen more frequently. My daughter and her husband who now live 5 miles away are moving 1200 miles away and they are taking the grandkids whom I currently see a few times a week! Fortunately, they chose a house with a finished granny suite in the walkout basement!
Love all the summer decor ideas especially artichokes and hydrangeas combo
Fruits, veggies, flowers….my favorite way to decorate! Bringing a little nature inside is the best. And I love using the diffuser. Great tip.
I loved your idea about tucking in some flags into an arrangement. So nice to add such a nice patriotic touch to your home without going over the top. Thanks for the idea!
Being co-founder of a veterans based historic preservation nonprofit, as well as a great granddaughter of numerous Mayflower early settlers and Rev War brave veterans, I was particularly blessed on seeing your patriotic decorating ideas tips. I’m also a volunteer administrative assistant to another veterans based historic preservation nonprofit, with my co-founder. Seeing this post is also encouraging and seeing some of your simple tips. Loved seeing the patriotic color accent plates as well as adding the smaller flags to flower arrangements.
What a clever touch to put a star fish on twine! I have a beautiful green lidded glass container that would look really good with this addition.
You nailed it! Color, texture, scent, all the wonderful things about summer decorating! Thank you for such a great list all in one place!!!
I love using green to bring the outside in.
Your house is beautiful. You do a wonderful job making it feel like home.
I especially like the idea of putting little bouquets of fresh flowers around the house for summer! I’m hosting a wedding at our farm in the next week and I’ll be having overnight guests. I think it would be so nice to have a pretty basket of goodies and a bouquet of fresh flowers in each bedroom for the guests! Just to add something special for each guest!
I love the way that you create beautiful vignettes!
Yvonne, hello!
I am pleased to learn that you and I share many similar decorating styling tips. I particularly like the addition of artichokes on the table and will add that as a interesting nuance to summer.
Blessings,
Marie Empringham
I love all your tips! I just cut some flowers from my yard today and put them in my entry way! I have some herbs growing in my kitchen window but I think I need some pretty flowers to look at. Love your pretty flowers on your front door too! Really though I need all your dishes 😉 Oh my gosh they are just so beautiful! I need to look around at your blog to see where you store all your dishes and linens. I am running out of space and need to be creative where to put them!
Hugs,
Karin
I love these ideas. Love the colors with the whites and blues.
My favorite thing to do every season is to change up the decor. It feels fresh and gets us in that seasonal vibe.
Your small bouquet idea is so delightful. I immediately gathered up my small containers, went and gathered not only my flowers but added a touch of herbs. Brightened up the corners of my house not only with the colors but the scent. Thank you
Thank you for fresh decorating ideas that are realistic and doable!
Love your taste and especially the part about decorating with flowers!
I love the list for flowers to pick and bring I as cut flowers! Looking to expand my garden and definitely going to try some!
The neutral pallet is great to work with by adding color thru the seasons!
Your summer home is like a beach retreat. Absolutely inviting and refreshing. I enjoy incorporating yellow and lime green accents in our decor for the summer. My faux flowers are a combination of these two colors. These colors liven up my spirit. Thank you for your always helpful suggestions.
I love your decorating style and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for sharing this beautiful decorating ideas with us.
Yvonne, your writing got me so enthused while a luscious egg bake was in the oven that I interrupted reading and freshly-brewed coffee to quickly implement five more of your ideas: Picked fresh lavender bouquet from my Arizona xeriscape yard (several flourishing 3 ft plants). Brought out blue mason jars to hold the blooms. Already had white flat basket on front door holding blue hydrangeas and flag. Switched out pillow covers to complement summery white matelasse coverlet. Fresh placemats, with layered white dishes from Italy. I’m enchanted by the beauty and memories of inherited sterling as my everyday flatware…and with your suggested flowers at the sink, handwashing feels easy. Thanks for the inspiration to get me going so simply, and in a few minutes. Now I’ll read the remaining blog and get into more trouble, ha! Your lovely lifestyle tips are the best and much appreciated.
Wow! You were so productive. I’m so pleased to help
I always love your matelasse bedspreads, but have difficulty finding ones that don’t shrink up terribly when washed & dried. Can you suggest a good source?
Hi Laura, I’ve never had that problem. I’ve found my coverlets at HomeGoods and Pottery Barn.
Love the summer decorating tips! Thank you!
Where did you find the white lanterns with cut outs and handles on your post about decorating with lemons in a large white bowl?
Hi Sheryl, I found those at Pottery Barn over a decade ago. They have been one of StoneGable’s most popular accent decor. Happy Mother’s Day!