Top 10 Tips to Makeover Your Home for Summer  By Amanda Edney

The Home is central to our well-being and having a retreat or refuge from outside stresses and pressures is important today more than ever. 
The good news is that you don’t have to move house, knock down walls or splash out on a new suite of furniture to create your ideal home…it’s all about editing your possessions, rethinking use of space and making it work for you!  So, instead of getting away from your home this summer – make it somewhere you want to escape to by following our 10 top tips!! 

1. First impressions count

Make sure that when you get home your first impression is a good one! Bring the look of summer to your front door by cleaning up the area. Wash the doors and windows and touch up the paint if needed. If you have a porch you may also have room for pots of colourful flowers and a welcoming seat.

2. De-Clutter Now

Clearing out the clutter can be challenging but allows you to clear a space where you can appreciate those special items left.  Start off by concentrating on clearing all the surfaces: tables, worktops, counters, walls and flooring.  

3.  Get rid of Stuff

Do you need all the furniture you have? Choose furniture you really need – it is better to have few pieces which feel special than filling a room with items that don’t mean much to you.  Sell off unwanted furniture, donate to a charity shop or give to someone else who needs it.  Freecycle.co.uk is a great website which helps unwanted goods ending up in landfills.

4. Re-think your Space

Look at ways you can free up space in a room.  Be open to moving things round and make changes.  Rearranging furniture does not cost anything but can refresh the atmosphere of room. If your furniture is centered in front of a fireplace, think about ways to rearrange the look for summer. Change the focal point away from the mantel to a view of a garden.

5. Get Organised

Any area that is overcrowded or unorganized can drain your energies so try to arrange each room so that there is plenty of space for everything.  Look around your home and garage for items, which could be adapted for storage.  Pine shelving units the children don’t need any more can be painted and used elsewhere.  Chests of drawers can be updated with a lick of paint, new handles, or even covered with wallpaper.  Aged timber can be used for shelves.  Alternatively, look around carboot sales, charity shops or online auction sites for old trunks, baskets or vintage suitcases.

6. Give Furniture a new lease of life

 Rather than buying new items of furniture, make the most of you already have or offer a new lease of life for an item that someone else has discarded.  Basic pieces of furniture can be easily transformed with paint.  The trend for ‘vintage’ furniture makes updating easy – a quick sand; couple of coats of satinwood; followed by sanding along edges for the distressed look is all that is needed. 

7.  Bring the Outside in

Summer living often means moving out to a porch or deck, but even if your home does not have these amenities you can get the look and feel of a porch inside. Introduce a few garden chairs, accessories, and floral fabrics into a family room, for example. You’ll get the feel of the outdoors every time you’re in the room.

8. Lighten up your soft furnishings!

Do you have heavy curtains or a dark-coloured sofa? Summer is the time to change them for lighter looking alternatives.  Remove the curtains and replace them with airy sheers.  Slipcover the sofa or chairs with paler tones or simply add cotton throws in neutral colours. 

9. Rethink the Rugs

Cosy rugs look just right in winter but when the temperature rises it may be time to roll them up and replace them for summer with sisal or cotton rugs in light, cool colours. (Summer is also be a good time to have heavy rugs cleaned or repaired.)

10. Re-Accessorize

Our homes are defined by our possessions – they give our homes their personality – but too many things just make the place look untidy.  Summer is a good time to rework your accessories and makeover your shelves. Clean winter dust off the shelves and begin to replace objects with an eye toward keeping the look light. Feel free to move accessories around and use them to help keep your home fresh and alive. Old glassware works well and catches the light when grouped together e.g. round wine glasses, small shot glasses or crystal goblets.  Move your pictures or photos around.  An assortment of old picture frames will look great if painted all the same colour, highlighting the detail.  And don’t forget mirrors – a great tool for using reflected light to make a room brighter!

No home is without flaws but very often we become consumed with what is wrong and forget to take pleasure in all its positive points.

Avoid thinking a room is complete and you cannot change it.  Rather, think of home as work in progress – space that evolves and grows with time.

©Amanda Edney 2009