Summerizing the California Home

 Summer is almost here and school will be over! It seems things really ramped up in May and I cannot wait for some downtime to devote to my family and the home. I did order a few things to kick off some of the home decor changes I am going to try during the break. I'm ready to transition to that California beachy cottage vibe. We're going to paint the living room and dining area a white and add natural fiber rugs, seating and nautical stripes for accents. I've had fun pining images to my California Style board on Pinterest. Check out some of the ideas by clicking here or my Pinterest link on this page. Here's a few images from it and below them what I've started here at home.

Country Living

davidmichaelmiller.com

Peter Dunham in Architectural Digest

houzz.com

House Beautiful

It's all about natural wood, whites, stripes, and black accents with a little blue mixed in.



For my home, I found this sign on sale at Pottery Barn and I'm liking the distressed look of it:

I bought this ikat pillow at Pottery Barn too.

I'm most excited about this seagrass rug from Pottery Barn. Loving it. It gives the whole room a fresh  look. I'm going to order one for my dining room too. The quality of this rug is excellent for the price and seagrass is much easier to clean and wear than sisal.

Then, I threw these two together on my family room white couch.

I added these zebra pillows on my living room couch. Can a girl have too much zebra? It just looks so fun and fresh.

I'm thinking of ditching my dining chairs and adding something woven like these below.

I had to add my beach sticks to the umbrella stand again and display my favorite summer books:

The vintage edition of this book above. I scored it at my grandmother's church tag sale. And below, decorator Kathryn Ireland's fun summer book of entertaining, decorating and eating. I also love pool books. They get me in the summer frame of mind displayed for the season.

I like the idea of adding more burlap accessories, bamboo lanterns or hurricane lamps, and trays in brights to punch it all up and add a little color. You can see my living room above could use a little brightening. It's all a bit beige and I think the white walls will help bring that fresh beachy look.

 Love this tray I found at TJ Maxx for more blue

Next up, to add some lightness and to get more curb appeal on my porch, (with very little to work with), I removed an old black and gold address plaque and ordered this round white one. I brought out these white lanterns from the backyard to match my white mailbox and garage door. Then I chucked out these zebra pillows on my bench. Recently I bought these dome boxwoods and herbs and tried to create a French potager look on the front stoop. Still trying to get that moldy look on the pots! The door is a deep blue.

  This isn't decor, but check out my kangaroo plant below. I thought he was a goner about a month ago! This plant brings all the hummingbirds to my window in the morning! A little TLC and he is back...

I bought this little sculpture of a ball for the garden above my pool. Love the happy look - like an errant beach ball.

 

 My buddy Marlo spying birds through the front window and furring the couch up. (Black cats + white furniture = not good.)  Oh well. Love these varmints.

Are you making any changes to your home for summer?

xo

Kim