Simple Summer Decorating Home Tour

If you love easy cottage style, plus a casual, affordable approach to home decorating, you are in the right place. Welcome!

It’s still full-blown Summer here at the cottage, you won’t find a trace of Fall decor. And before that changes, I wanted to celebrate and give it a big send off with a late-in-the-season home tour… because Summer isn’t over yet!

Welcome to my Simple Summer Decorating Home Tour

When I shared the new Modern Farmhouse Cart, and you saw it in the kitchen, you probably knew what that meant. Yep… I flipped furniture. Again.

With a small house, I’m always making it work hard for us… and, it keeps things interesting! 

Plus, I found THE perfect captains chairs for the farm table, when I wasn’t even looking for them… at all! I just happened to be in HomeGoods, totally minding my on business… with zero pillows in my cart… when Ouch. They bit me.

Okay, so the didn’t so much bite me, as I saw them in the last area of the store, on my way to the drapery section, with only one thing in my cart! You would have been so proud.

But there they were. And they were THE exact scale for my table and the room. Not too tall or overpowering, fabulous color, washable chair pad covers (they zip off!) and…. under a hundred dollars each.

S O L D. An associate just happened to be walking by and she tagged them for me and took both to the front right away. There were only two and I was not messing around. Or leaving them to go find someone to help me. The store was busy, it was Saturday. And I kid you not, when she walked away three sets of people stopped to look at them. I may have been keeping one eye on them. haha.

Then I happily bounced over the draperies, and found fresh white panels, that were also perfect! Not ‘see-thru sheers’… and a causal weave that is great for my very un-formal home. I’ve been looking for the just right white ones for about a year.

Then… can you see this one coming?

The LEMON PILLOWS HAPPENED.

In my ‘trying really hard not to buy pillows’ defense. I started looking for Lemon pillows in early Spring. With zero luck. I know I can shop online… but I wanted to see them in person for some reason.

I went from having one thing in my cart after about 30 minutes of casual browsing (I’ve been practicing making intentional purchases)… to leaving with two chairs, draperies and two Lemon pillows at the last moment. There were right before the isle of temptations. Someone had obviously placed them as a display on the two chairs in my direct route to checkout for a reason. I certainly didn’t want to disappoint them.

I don’t know if checking out with these things means I failed, or triumphed?

I think I’ll go with triumphed. That feels much better.

We can now seat 6 comfortably at the main table! That is going to come in handy when we have company. Especially with the holidays coming up. I know, I know… but you know it’s true. We are going to blink and be talking turkey!!

Which we we be able to see, since I had a head-slapper of a moment and ordered lights for this room. Now, I don’t have to have lamps all over!! I’ve already got three in the living room… and it just gets crazy trying to balance them all, and make sure they match somewhat, etc…

I have no idea why I didn’t do this earlier!? It was so fast and easy. I installed one on each side the windows that flank the door so we’ve now got nice, balanced lighting in the room.

And that frees-up tables surfaces to double as servers when we need them.

Do I have a formal dining room? No.

Does it mater? Not one bit!

I use what I have and make it work – You can too!

My grandmother’s Princess House pitcher comes out to play on occasion, and mixed just fine with my tea light candle caddy, (tuned flatware holder), and the wood and marble cake stand.

There is a tiny sliver of inlaid Mother Of Pearl that makes this one so pretty. That counts if you don’t have time to bake, and makes those store bought goodies look extra special. lol!

SIMPLE CENTERPIECE

I used a vintage milk glass pedestal to elevate my simple centerpiece.

This look is as easy as one, two, three – and a big favorite of mine!

Vase + Candle + Wreath.

No fancy floral arranging required. With a wreath, you don’t even need fresh flowers. I know they are not always available, an option, or in the budget.

ANOTHER SIMPLE CENTERPIECE

For this look, I used a shabby white wood trough box.

Box + Greenery + Lemons.

This is a nice alternative to a large display, because you can easily see your dining partners and converse without too-tall obstructions on the table.

If you’ve light on greenery or need extra height, you can elevate your Lemons by placing them on mini ball jars, shot glasses, votive holders or whatever you’ve got on hand.

DIY WOOD TROUGH BOX TUTORIAL [click here]

It’s fun to have options. And these are both really easy to duplicate!

I like easy.

As I’m sure you may have noticed after all these years of sharing! I’ve been blogging almost 6 years now. Can you believe that… seems like I just started some days.

Okay, enough about the dining area, let’s peek in the living room.

It’s still Summer in there too.

It’ll take about 2 seconds to get there.

I’m so happy I’m taking the time to share this, even though it’s late in the season. I’ve so enjoyed the luscious Lemons, and the light, airy feel of the house.

I still love my junky $5 stand, and it fits so good here. Not sure what could make me move it?

I know lots of your really liked the blue glass lamp when I had it [here]

See? I promised I hadn’t gotten rid of it. Just relocated.

And I loved the house like that, but I missed my big chair over by the TV… and I really wanted the table to fit 6… so I had to compromise.

I told you it was light and airy.

Yes, that is my sofa. With only two pillows on it!

It’s gonna take a real chill in the air (or a heck of an amazing Pumpkin) to prompt me to decorate for Fall. Might be doing that down at The Little Cottage first, to help me work into it.

Because I am still all about my sea shells.

As I write this, my office window is open, there is a delicious breeze… ans the birds are chirping. Okay, that could be a crow squawking, but two out of three isn’t bad.

I adore living on the Oregon Coast with our lovely mild temperatures.

We pay for it in the Spring with all that rain. But it’s worth it!

The Farmhouse Kitchen Island Cart isn’t in movie-mode any longer. It’s just holding some extras now, and some yummy smelling flowers.

I couldn’t resist this bag – it gets me.

You can find them (and so many quirky cute things) online at Canard Labs.

You can see I’ve got the trough box full of Lemons on the bar behind the island.

Everything is very simply decorated. I let the shiplap add the texture and keep things light. If you’ve got a little spot that some shiplap might work well in your home, this was so easy. And I didn’t use a single nail to do it. Bonus, no filling nail holes.

CLICK HERE FOR THE DIY SHIPLAP TUTORIAL

Our sun room is just that, sunny. The best room in the house. It’s wrapped with 9 huge windows and always gets lots of light.

Since we don’t eat at the bar, we transformed it. It’s changed a bit considering we’ve spent so little updating it and making it work for our family.

We actually covered the old laminate & added shelving – I share all about it [here].

Jim and I have been talking about some changes for this space, and I don’t know if that will happen over the Winter while we are stuck inside, or next Spring – but I’m really excited about it!

Our apothecary cabinet is one of my prized furniture pieces, and part of our plan. So it won’t be going anywhere!

Well, it might move… but I’m not get rid of it. Promise!

It’s so fun to decorate and I usually change it up for the season. This one got a teeny bit skipped over.

I think I’ve kind of settled on this look and I’m not feeling the urge to change it. I love my mason jars front and center, and they really brighten up the space.

In style or out. Don’t care. I love mine.

The beat up lids… the different makers. And all the shades of aqua.

Are you still there? hehe.

I know I got a little ramble-y. I guess I was over-due for a mini tour. What with the BIG project at The Little Cottage, and then doing the bathroom makeover too, it really took up a lot of my DIY/Decorating time & energy.

Next up on the blog, I’ll have a beautiful guest home tour to share with you. And then I’d love to circle back to The Little Cottage and share the window makeovers we did, and get the plantation shutters installed. Oh… and the other 15 projects I need to get completed, blogged and shared with you too. Always more ideas than time over here!

Take care now everyone. xo Shannon

SHOPPING SOURCES:

• HomeGoods: Wicker chairs, white curtains, lemon pillows, cake stand, glass and wicker hurricanes, tealight caddy, table runner, aqua plates (both sets). Euro pillows in white, blue glass lamp, lantern.
• Brass Wall Lamps: here
• Farm Table: local
• Metal Dining Chairs: here
• Area Rug: here
• Plantation Shutters: blinds.com
• Bar Cart: Target clearance
• Floral Rug Runner: here
• Modern Farmhouse Cart: here
• I Work Out/Nap Tote: here
• Paint Colors: Wall – Glidden paint and primer in one, in white (straight from the can), eg shel. Door – Benjamin Moore Wythe Blue in the ben line, eggshell finish. All Trim – Benjamin Moore (I think it’s super spec) in Super White, gloss finish. popo

NOTE: some decor pieces are vintage, thrifted, or we made them — if you have a question about something I didn’t list above, just message me at [email protected]