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This is a collaborative post.
Summer is here! Well, nearly. The sun has begun to poke out from the clouds more and more, as the days continue to lengthen and the promise of warmth inches ever closer. With summer days close at hand, it may be time to think about refreshing your home for the new season – shedding the layers, so to speak, and embracing a palette of summer textures to make your home as bright and airy as it deserves to be.
With this in mind, here are some excellent ways in which you can bring your home out of the doldrums, and into the summer. There are many approaches you can take, but the following represent eminently sustainable ways to shake off the excesses of the winter months.
Declutter
The first step in any home refreshment process is to enact some form of spring cleaning. Clutter can develop very quickly, especially through the colder months where the temptation to hibernate is strong. This decluttering process goes as much for décor as it does for literal clutter; seasonal items like winter candles and pine cones can get packed away, to make room for items and decorations more befitting of the season ahead.
Maximise Light
With the days getting longer and brighter, now is the time to let it all in. You may have winter blackout curtains up to conserve heat throughout the winter; these can come down, in favour of lighter curtains more susceptible to the leakage of light. Linen is an excellent choice for curtain fabric, being light in weight and in colour, adding a rustic, summery vibe to living spaces.
Sleeping spaces should be treated a little differently, though – especially if you are a light sleeper, and intend to keep your blackout curtains installed. Instead, leaning on the warm brightness of natural materials can elevate your room’s overall brightness while keeping it cosy, and judicious placement of wicker table lamps can introduce soft, warm ambient light even in the dark.
A Touch of Paint
Meanwhile, the painting of your home in brighter colours can encourage the reflection of light around it, brightening spaces considerably. Paint re-use shops are becoming a more common site around the country, enabling the sustainable purchasing of paint in a variety of colours to suit your own aesthetic. Classic summer colours include yellows and greens, but bold technicolour patterns can make for a stunning feature wall.
Bring the Outside In
The final piece of the puzzle to utterly transform your home for the summer is foliage. Houseplants are, of course, a year-round commitment, but summertime is the perfect excuse to expand your collection – and the leafier, the better. Larger plants like monstera or palm trees can engulf corners, creating an indoor paradise that reflects the outdoors.
Meanwhile, smaller air plants can be installed in chic hanging pots. This helps in introducing intrigue and verticality to your walls and other spaces. Air plants are in particular a strong choice for bathrooms, and well-suited due to the humidity.