Summer Decorating Ideas 2011

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Mood Lighting with Shells

You can use oversize shells to bring a touch of the seashore -- and a bit of romantic atmosphere -- to an evening at home.

Pacific Rim-Inspired Room

A plywood wall panel that incorporates a foldout table and bench turns even the tiny terrace of a hillside house into a garden room.

Cot Conversion

Turn a camp cot into an elegant patio daybed.

Raffia Window Curtain

A series of small, tufted raffia bow ties, stitched with matching thread onto a sheer curtain, instantly raises a window's sunniness quotient.

Sand Centerpiece

Light up a table with this beachy sand-and-shell centerpiece.

Casual-Modern Outdoor Room

Pillowy seats and potted plants create the perfect setting for an outdoor dinner on the deck.

Shell Vase

A wide-mouthed, spiral nautilus shell can double as a pearlescent vase for bedroom bouquets

Nautical Knobs

Incorporate nautical charm into your quarters by affixing these knobs onto drawers or lids of wooden boxes.

Garden-Print Stenciled Tabletop

Hand-painted dainty blossoms, colossal peonies, and greenery entwine to form this pleasing tabletop wreath

Rope-Seat Stools

A plain pair of wooden seats gets a bright new look from simple coils of rope.

Summery Leaf -Shaped Table Runner

Changing table linens is a relatively inexpensive way to rotate color with the seasons. The tones of this runner are suitable for summer.

Bright Ideas for Any Room

Paint, fabric, and paper offer opportunities to sneak rich hues into otherwise neutral spaces without a huge commitment of time or money.

Raffia Leaf Throw Rug

This throw rug's leafy design, made with raffia in three cool-green shades, conjures a vision of palm fronds moving in the breeze.

Sunroom Pillows

Brighten up a sunroom with these pillows printed with three different-sized anthurium leaves.

Block-Print Poppies

Rethink your home decor and get inspired by the bright, sunny colors of summer.

Decorate pillows with our poppy templates for breezy, warm weather decor. Poppies' graphic outlines are a cinch to block-print onto fabric: Brush strokes of textile paint in saturated tones. Start with the stem and leaves to help map out the composition.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Summer Decorating Projects, Crafts, and Party Ideas - Martha Stewart

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Fresh Living Rooms Decorating Ideas 2011 for Summer

Whether your living room is the setting for party time, family time, or both, it deserves to be a showstopping space you love to be in.

Neutral Territory

A room outfitted in neutral gets a splash of spring hues. The small doses are just enough to liven up the space. Hanging the sheer curtains above the window, closer to the ceiling emphasizes the height of the room.

Color Punch

For an intimate gathering space, corral your furniture together away from the walls. Seating arranged in a circle creates a conversation area. The space here is made more inviting with the use of bright yellow and tangerine. Neutral accessories and walls with rich details, like the mantel and chandelier, add a hint of formality .

Seating a La Carte

If your space is too small for a couch, opt for several overstuffed chairs instead. The smaller pieces add comfy seating and take up less space. The chairs form a cozy conversation circle. This room is tied together with a bright shade of tangerine. The walls, pillows, and accessories on the shelves all boast the bright tropical color.

Constantly Changing

If you frequently like to refresh your decor, stick with neutral furniture and basics, like flooring and walls. The steadfast pieces make redecorating a snap and it's easy on the budget. In this living room, red is the color of the moment. Later, these accents can be switched out for another color and a whole new look.

Garden Cottage

Timeworn elements add instant character and charm to a space. An antique trunk serves both as a focal point and a functional piece. The trunk is storage disguised as a coffee table. In smaller rooms, make your furniture work by pulling double duty to conserve space.

Drawn In

To make a spacious room more intimate, arrange your chairs and sofas away from the wall. Include plenty of room for traffic flow in your plan. A central piece, like a coffee table and area rug, will help define the area, eliminating "floating" furniture .

Budget Trompe L'Oeil

Trompe l'oeil, an art term for "trick the eye," certainly applies to this space. The room has a high-end look, but was achieved on a budget. The trick behind the chic look? Furniture was purchase at a discount from warehouse stores and model home sales. Thrift store chairs got a new look with fresh upholstery .

White Out

All-white rooms need a dose of personality. Throw pillows bring in a pop of green, blue, and pink in cottage-inspired patterns. But the addition is small enough as not to disturb the ambience of the crisp, white room. Different textures, like the bowl of shells, starfish, and a sisal rug, add depth to the room .

Earn Your Stripes

Use striped fabrics as DIY inspiration. The stripe motif from the pillows is carried onto the floating shelves above the mantel, the bolster pillow, and other accessories. And the best part? They are projects you can make yourself. Watch our video to learn how to easily apply stripes to your accessories.

Sophisticated Princess

Bring pink out of the nursery and into the living room. Pink, usually thought of as pastel, takes a sophisticated turn in this space. A soft shade of pink coats the walls and strong chocolate brown accents add an edge. Furniture with modern, clean lines also maintains the sophistication. Accessories, like the tiered lamp and oversize wall art, add the final bold touch.

Dramatic Pastels

A palette of pastel hues paints this cozy sitting room. Mint green, sky blue, and lemon yellow are the main colors. Pops of bright orange and cotton candy pink accent the room. In a room with so many colors, introducing white, like on the furniture and French door, adds a visual break.

Go for the Gold

Used selectively, metallics add luxury and glamour to a space, but too much metal can overshadow the rest of the room. Add hints of glitz with metallic-sheen pillows and drapes, or metallic- rimmed accessories and coffee tables. Or keep a majority of the sparkle in one place, like on the gold scrollwork-inspired screen behind the couch .

Arranging Know-How

An oddball room shape can make furniture arranging a challenge. For a narrow space, try placing a sofa against a wall. Flank the left and right sides of the couch with chairs and a love seat. In this cozy space, accessories are kept sleek. Symmetrically placed floor lamps and a glass-top coffee table maintain a clean look.

Pocket-Size Space

Don't overlook the small spaces in your home. Lemon walls and raspberry furniture are vivid touches with a big impact. Neutral colors, antique accents, and crown molding add a posh feel. Combining bold features with more sedate elements can make the most of pint-size spaces.

Easy Formula

When starting to decorate, begin with the basics of comfy seating and tables. If your decor is undecided, keep your basics neutral in color and style. Then, be on the hunt for accessories that reflect you. In this space, red end tables, green throw pillows, and bouquets of flowers start to build a casual garden theme.

Paint the Town Green

Use your favorite color in different shades for a room that screams you. Shades of green color this living room. A muted green on the walls sets a backdrop for a celadon chair and pillows, a sage ottoman, and shamrock vases. Browns and pinks accent the space and rich fabrics, like velvet, add texture and depth.

Urban Comfort

In a city loft, architectural elements usually do the talking. But in this posh loft, the decor is in stride with the pillars and exposed duct work. Bright white furniture shines against charcoal gray walls. The long line of orange artwork emphasizes the length of the room. Pillows and a throw continue the orange theme for a consistent look.

Field of Violets

Violet -- a blend of purple and blue -- in several hues flows throughout this living room. Darker shades, like the piping on the sofa and chair cushions, ground the lighter colors. Touches of white add interest to a monochromatic color scheme.

The It Factor

An ordinary living room is brought to life with a strong color palette and new furniture arrangement. Kelly green and aqua accents give this space a wow-factor. Pair bright colors with strong neutrals for a balance look. An espresso brown sofa, white built-ins and trim, and steel gray accents do the trick. If your living room is spacious, arrange furniture diagonally for a new look.

Let In Some Light

The furniture in this living room is arranged to take full advantage of the floor-to-ceiling windows. Light floods the room, eliminating the need for lamps. Heavy drapes can be drawn to dim the room and recessed lights create mood lighting

Tweaking the Trend

The duo of blue and brown maintains a popular presence in decorating. To suit your taste, find shades of blue and brown that fit your style. If you prefer muted colors, try a creamy cappuccino brown and a dusty French blue. Opt for traditional furniture and introduce accents like pillows and wall art. These less expensive pieces can easily change with decorating trends.

Modern Cottage
Hardwood floors, a cozy fireplace, and a green-and-white color scheme are standard cottage decor features. Shake up the standard by adding your own modern touch. Here, a modern personality is added with the clean, crisp lines of the fireplace, chair, and coffee table. Keep your modern accents within a similar style for a unified look

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Decorating With White 2013 Summer Ideas

When decorating a room, expensive or difficult to change elements are best left neutral. For whites, consider the variety supplied by a creamy wool rug, white linen slipcovers, shiny silk pillows, and a furry throw. Contrast comes in the form of black accents, which can be as powerful as hot pink in an all white room.

Use white to separate and emphasize your forays into colorful decor. In this room, white walls and shapely textured furnishings set a chic neutral stage for vibrant ceramics, glass, and a collectible pink chair. A shelving unit creates a display grid on the white wall that adds dimension in the room and spreads the notes of pink and blue over a larger space.

Slipcovered in crisp white and dressed for dinner, modern chairs add a touch of minimalist formality to this white dining room. The shaded chandelier and simple window shades sum up the classic-modern style of the space. The white palette is enriched with a subtle ivory tone on the walls.

Layers keep a white room from being one-note. Prop framed mirrors against a wall or over a mantel. Look for interesting mirrors at thrift stores or tag sales and paint the frames in shades of cream and white. Slightly overlapped or placed against one another, the large mirrors will practically double the natural light in the room. Add another piece in front of the mirrors, preferably something with a similar tone and an interesting shape, such as this old French clock, to create depth.

Contemporary amenities are dressed in traditional design elements in this timelessly elegant white kitchen. Glass-front cabinets and thick marble counters confer period authenticity, while stainless steel appliances add a modern counterpoint. Oak plank flooring grounds the room and brings warm, natural color to the mostly white space.

White brings cohesion to a large room and its different layers of color and texture. In this bright and breezy living room, wide-plank pinewood floors and finishes emphasize the house's history, while the dark tones contrast with the contemporary white walls and slipcovered seating in an old-world/new-world combination.

Add signature flourish, intrigue, and even texture to an all-white bath. In this unique space, a quartz tile surface is embossed with a subtle wash of lace pattern that dances in the natural light. Augment the luxurious spa feeling with lots of white: towels, floor covering, and shower curtain it's a surefire way to refresh.

This Victorian flat was transformed to give it the ambience of a modern loft. White paint coats the formerly dark wood architectural elements such as the fireplace mantel, allowing the relief carvings to stand out in greater prominence. Using white and black on furnishings allows the modern and Victorian styles to blend seamlessly.

Springy greens in the fresh flowers and the muted sandy tones of timeworn accessories give this living area country charm. Slipcovers can be tossed into the laundry if spills threaten to ruin the pristine scene.

White in this space is interrupted only by an occasional plant or expanse of wood, and seems cool, calm, and collected. Subtle variations of white and cream add interest to this space, while fresh flowers and plants help unite the indoors to the outdoors.

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Easy Decorating Ideas for Summer 2013 from BHG

Bring the colors and feelings of summertime into your home with our best tips and tricks everything from furniture arrangements to the smells of the season.

Think of your home as a summer rental, and you'll see it in a whole new light. Throw open the doors and windows, pull back the curtains, and get rid of pieces that are dark, gloomy, or fussy. Stow away heavy accessories, throws, and unnecessary small decor items until it's time to cozy up for fall.

To add organic appeal, consider planting succulents in a large shell. The tiny plants last for a long time and require little care, making them the perfect addition to a summery tablescape. The natural elements also add texture and character to this chic end table display.

Consider buying accent dishes to add splashes of summertime color and pattern to your next dinner party. Mix bright floral, tropical, or nautical theme dishes with your everyday plates and bowls. To ramp up the summertime look, clear a small table to create an impromptu bar, and arrange bottles and glassware on a pretty serving tray. Fun elements such as stir sticks and paper umbrellas create a look that is perfectly seasonal.

While a fireplace is a great focal point, consider rearranging your furniture away from it during the summer. Rather than huddling around the hearth, shift the focus of the room toward a beautiful window or French doors. Stow away heavy draperies and hang gossamer sheers that flow with the breezes.

Summer is as much a state of mind as it is a season, so transform your spaces to embrace all the benefits it has to offer. String paper lanterns on tree branches around an outdoor patio to allow gatherings to last well into the night hours. Or should the weather turn stormy, cozy up by lamplight on a covered porch. Because pleasant summer days sometimes fall few and far between, you'll want to take full advantage of the time you have to spend outside, rain or shine.

Give a tired chair or side table new life using high-gloss spray paint in a summery hue, such as sky blue or grassy green. The glossy paint creates a fun lacquered look and gives an old piece a fresh and modern edge. Make sure to properly prime the furniture to help the paint adhere to the surface and wear longer.

Brighten dark walls with colorful art pieces. Affordable pieces can be found just about anywhere online or at flea markets and resale shops. A large piece or a collection of smaller pieces also provides the perfect blank wall solution for large, open rooms.

Welcome summer by entertaining outdoors. Low tables, floor pillows, and strands of clear outdoor lights will set a merry mood. Winning combos of bright colors, such as turquoise, red, and white, create a festive atmosphere and will keep everyone in a party mind set.

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