Summer is a great time to update your interiors after a long winter, with some fresh new colour and leafy additions. With the stress of the last two years slowly fading, here are some affordable and easy ideas to give your home a lift for the festive season.
1. Add some natural colour
Whether it’s warm umbers or cooler greens, natural and earthy tones are all the rage right now. The idea is to bring the outdoors indoors, so choose colours that replicate nature and are soft and gentle on the eye. Some designers are embracing nature by adding texture to walls and other surfaces to increase that natural feel or choosing linens and cotton over smoother polyester materials. Bedtonic has some great linen bedding options in a range of beautiful colours.
2. Round it out
Bringing the outdoor inside has also had an impact on the shapes that are in vogue this summer. This season it’s all about arches and curves. Curved furniture and plenty of round cushions and throws break up hard angles and give rooms a comfortable, inviting feel.
You don’t have to go to excess like this designer, but curved kitchen counters, stylish archways and round tables will all make an impact.
3. Find some furniture with a story
Cheap and cheerful is out the window this summer and interior decor is all about craftsmanship and artisanal design. People are looking for quality furniture that’s been crafted with care or antique pieces that were built to last. Heirloom furniture and handcrafted pieces are hot property, so if you’re looking for a new piece of furniture, keep an eye on local makers, garage sales, Facebook marketplace and eBay, alongside traditional furniture outlets.
4. Reshape the space
With so much time stuck indoors together, plenty of people are starting to rethink open plan living. This season it’s all about flexible spaces that can be adjusted to suit the occasion. Internal glass doors and room dividers are two of the clever ways that people are differentiating spaces around the house. Creating a home office or study nook with some built-in cabinetry is another trend that’s set to stay, and will add value to your home, too.
5. Go natural with plants and prints
One of the best ways to bring the outdoors in is with a few house plants, and there is one for every space, from huge fiddle-leaf figs to delicate chain-of-heart plants that look lovely spilling down from a high shelf.
If you are new to houseplants, try the “cast iron plant”, or aspidistra, peace lilies, or spider plants. These are all hardy starter plants that will live happily in our climate. Mount Gambier Garden Centre will happily advise you on suitable plants for your home.
If caring for houseplants is not your thing, an easier option is to choose some prints to bring the garden inside. Cushions, bedlinen and framed pictures featuring bold, leafy prints are a less time-consuming but equally pretty way to add some greenery to your home.
6. Style your video call wall
Zoom meetings have made the space beyond your desk visible to far more people than just your family and friends, and we’ve all had to adjust. While plenty of folks use background generating software, you can also make a stylish video call wall. Floating shelves that can be styled depending on the nature of your Zoom meeting are the perfect way to add some personal flair to your home office.
7. Return of the Seventies
Crack out the old flares and kaftans because the summer of love is back. Ok, maybe not so much in fashion, but in home interiors, the 70s are where it’s at this summer. With its love of earth tones, bold prints and strong sense of freedom, 70s decor sensibilities are a natural fit for post-pandemic times. And yes, even the sunken living room is making a reappearance, although designers are giving it a modern twist.
Let us know in the comments what you’re planning to do to your home this summer! And please do get in touch with Complete Real Estate if you’re looking to buy, sell, rent, or would just like an up-to-date picture of the Mount Gambier market.
