Switching on Summer: Easy Styling Ideas to Reinvigorate your Home

This is a beauty from Zara Home

With the summer months approaching, I thought it might be useful to talk about some of my favourite ideas on how to brighten up your home for summer and make it a warm and welcoming environment to have some fun.

Outdoors

This is time of year we start looking at our gardens and deciding to spruce things up for the Summer months. That might be planting a bit more greenery or bigger projects like creating seating areas or updating older ones. These styling ideas should hopefully provide some inspiration of how you can reinvigorate your garden quickly and on a budget, ready for you and your guests to enjoy. 

The Garden Table

This cotton beauty is from H&M and is only £17.99. Plus the pattern is perfectly forgiving if you’re like me and drop everything on it!

If you fancy a change from the usual sandwich-on-a-bench kind of outdoor lunch and want to make it more exciting for the kids or guests, then making your garden table look pretty is the easiest place to start. My auntie always told me that using a nice table cloth on an outside table can instantly elevate a sarnie into a really nice garden lunch. I’ve recently sourced some gorgeous linen table cloths from Facebook Marketplace (the addiction continues) but table cloths are popular again and there are some lovely plain ones out there that are really versatile.

On top of this, I also like to style it up a bit more with a vase full of flowers and foliage in the centre of the table, which is nice because it makes a centrepiece out of the different colours and plants within your garden, and you get to appease the rebellious child within you by picking whatever flowers you want because you grew them! 

If you want to take it a step further, a fresh lick of paint on your garden furniture can never hurt and you can use brighter, more summery colours. I tend to stay neutral and let the garden do the talking on colour but there are so many shades to choose from these days. I recommend Cuprinol furniture paint for this, as it's affordable, dries quickly, and a little of it goes a long way.

Lights and Tech  

Although the summer evenings are long, if you like to spend time in the garden when the sun starts to set then lighting and dinginess can become an issue, you don’t want to be sitting around in complete darkness. I suggest investing in some solar-powered fairy lights to scatter around outdoors on hedges, fences and walls for a brighter feel. Also, these work well in combination with some lower-level tealights to create more of an ambience and soft glow at varying heights. Go for warm white lights to get that evening warm glow.

If you’ve planned to have friends round in the garden but the weather looks to be chilly, don’t cancel. You could invest in an outdoor heater for around £60-70 for the more budget-friendly versions, and although it's a bigger investment, it could be worth it to keep everyone warm in the chilly British air. Just keep an eye on how much fuel the cheaper ones use as they can be costly. A basket of blankets is also my go to in the Summer - i loved being wrapped up outside.

Another simple piece of tech with a big impact is a solar fountain. These are very budget-friendly, and can transform a wide-based birdbath or flower pot into a working water feature that only needs the sun to stay powered. The sound of water adds more to the soundscape of the garden and provides fresh, moving water for any birds or wildlife that feel like stopping for a quick drink. 

Speaking of water, the best way to freshen up garden paths is with a pressure washer. These machines are great fun to play with, and the kids can have fun drawing shapes into the ground before it gets washed away. They’re a great investment and really do make a huge difference to an outside patio or deck.

Planting 

In summer, I want to spend more time enjoying my garden than actually gardening in it, so these planting ideas are simple and quick, and can be used both outdoors and indoors and would make great windowsill plants too.

It has been on my to-do list for a while, but I saw online somewhere about repurposing old watering cans as planters for lavender or herbs. I think this is such a nice idea, and not only does it look gorgeous, but it also reuses and reinvigorates something that might otherwise be forgotten or thrown away completely. There were some old ones in our shed when we moved in and I’m determined to plant them up this year.

On the more practical side, growing herbs, in general, is so useful! There’s something so satisfying about using herbs you've grown in your cooking and when planted indoors they bring a fresh scent to the kitchen. Herb planters are such a nice idea and smell amazing. I find mint, rosemary are the ones I use the most and are the most hardy.

Mirrors

I love this Gothic style mirror from Dunelm for £119

Mirrors are a great tool for blending outdoor and indoor spaces. When positioned outside they can reflect the space to make it seem bigger and brighter, which is good for any dingy corners of the garden which make it appear smaller. They can be attached to a wall or freestanding amongst the foliage for a similar effect. When used indoors, mirrors bring the outside in by reflecting the garden and its bright light. Just be sure not to position it in direct sunlight, you don’t want to start a fire!

Indoors

In the summer, layered bed covers not only keep you cool but also brings a fresher, more natural and luxurious feel to the space. First, go for the lightest thickness of duvet cover that you own, and then layer it with a thin cotton throw and a thicker blanket for warmer nights. It's even better if these sheets are light, natural tones, which you could place on a bed or sofa to give a more summery feeling to any interior, and again tie in the outdoor space with indoors. 

My friend who lives in France once told me that keeping windows open in the morning when the air is fresh and closing them and drawing the curtains when it gets hot, allows the cool morning air to stay inside a house all day. They can be opened back up again once the air has cooled back down in the evening. We can only hope to be blessed with French weather in Sussex but it’s lovely to get the fresh air around your bedroom in the morning.

Sneaky Tricks

In terms of clothes, I would recommend packing winter coats away and hanging up light summer wear such as thin scarves, denim jackets and cardigans instead, as clothing can be a big part of the decorative design of a house without you even realising it. If you’ve got the space to pack things away then do….just probably not wuite yet! Bloody English weather!

Bathroom-wise, although it seems counterintuitive to ‘brightening’ up a space, using darker towels and bathroom mats can be handy in the warmer weather as it hides any stains from dirty feet or fake tan until the next wash. I really like stone coloured towels and they hide a multiple of sins.

So, there you go! A few ideas to help freshen up and reinvigorate your home and outdoor space for summer. If you have any more ideas or want to discuss any of these with me, send me a message over on Instagram or leave a comment below. For more interior design inspiration head over to the rest of my blog posts to read more.