The colors, furniture and accessories you choose will create the atmosphere that soothes your soul. Summer colors are cool, light and airy. Pick your palette from nature using the aquas, greens and blues of the sea, the tans and beiges of the sand and seashells on the beach, the blues from the summer sky and white from the wispy clouds. Rainbows, palm trees, and sunsets provide additional color selections. Your wall colors are the main source of color in your room and create the background for your evolving design, so choose carefully.



You will want your furniture to be comfortable and fun. Choose wicker, rattan or painted wood - white or a color to coordinate or contrast with your wall colors but still sticking to your summer palette. Just about any furniture you have on hand can be adapted to fit into your summer theme. After all, summer cottages were usually furnished with left overs from a family's year round home. Amazing transformations occur with some fabric and a little paint.

You can really have fun with upholstery and pillows. Choose solid colors for your upholstery if that is what you like and then do pillows in tropical or beachy prints like palm trees, exotic florals, flip flops, seashells, or tropical fish. Or, if you are a more daring, adventurous decorator, use the fun, colorful prints for the upholstery. Your pillows might then be solids with trim, or textured solids or maybe solids with an applique, perhaps a single motif from your upholstery fabric.

Keep your window treatments light and airy to let in as much sun as possible. I like tab top or rod pocket sheers that you can pull aside or tie back to let in even more light. Using roller shades can solve any nighttime privacy issues.

Your rugs can also contribute to your summer theme. Choose sisal or lightweight cotton area rugs to match your color scheme. Braided rugs in summery colors are another good option.

Accessorizing is the best part! Choose what makes you feel good. Maybe you already have a collection that can be incorporated into your theme. Seashells, sea glass, beach rocks, and coral are the most obvious examples. Depending on your choices up to now, you might consider tropical fish or miniature palm trees. A wall grouping of sunset pictures or ocean or seaside scenes are definite options.

Just have fun with it, because, in the end, that will add to your enjoyment of the space. My favorite accessory is a six-foot pre lit palm tree that I bought four years ago to use as a Christmas tree. I decorated it with shells that I glittered and hung with gold cording. It was perfect!

I took the decorations off, but I never took the tree down. It makes me feel so good that I leave it up all year long. And, yes, I do decorate it every Christmas. Find your favorite accessory and start creating your own endless summer. As for me, I'm going to find some warm sand I can dig my toes into.