Summer Decorating Tips To Cool You

Redesigning your home for summer gives you the opportunity to have fun with your home. A few simple changes can make your home feel refreshed as well as refreshing.

Make your home feel fresh and cooler with these interior design ideas:

Welcome to Our Haven

Start with your exterior to instill the image of a cooling retreat. Provide shade to your front door. If you don't have sheltering trees, add umbrellas in heavy pots to shade the entry landing. A wall water fountain near the front door adds cooling sounds to support your sense of hearing. You can make a standing water fountain with a small pump, a container with no drainage, a water plant like the common reed, and pebbles. Deep shade and water sounds invite you to linger outdoors while promising further respite inside.

Cool Down With Lighting

Yes, the color of light influences the way you feel. Use white and blue iridescent accent lights. Change out your yellow-casting light bulbs with cooler daylight-mimicking light bulbs. Look for bulbs that simulate natural daylight, the healthiest light source for the human eye, with reduced eyestrain. Soften your room lighting at twilight with more light sources instead of a few bright lights.

Fans, Fans, and More Fans

Ceiling fans make a great addition to living room, family room, and bathroom makeovers. However, ceiling fans above dining tables cool food too soon. Use an oscillating fan that mimics tropical breezes instead. For a large dining room, try two standing oscillating fans on medium speed. Lower speeds equal less irritating motor noise while giving you cross breezes similar to Mother Nature's cooling breezes. Also, if your outdoor rooms need air circulation, use fans in your garden.

Mix Up Your Furniture

If you live in an area that doesn't get many summer showers, you can have fun by bringing indoor furniture outside. Set up a bed outdoors for lazy afternoon reading or napping. Move a favorite overstuffed chair outside for serious book reading. On the other hand, bring garden furniture and potted plants inside to make your home feel like a tropical vacation.

Summertime, and the Living is Easy

Summer relaxing means less work, right? Give yourself a break from taking care of your knickknacks and normal accessories. Rooms with fewer furnishings give you breathing room. Especially consider storing dark and heavy accessories. Take a hint from the Victorians who covered their dark landscape paintings with sheer fabrics. Exchange your darker paintings with white wood-framed mirrors during the summertime.

Lighten up your colors, your accessories, and decorate your home with less. Enjoy your summer!

Copyright © 2005 Jeanette J. Fisher

Jeanette Fisher, author of Joy to the Home Journal and interior design and real estate books, has researched the effects of environment on emotions for over 15 years. Besides flipping houses, Jeanette teaches college courses on Design Psychology and professional real estate investing seminars. For free Design Psychology reports, visit http://designpsych.com/


Interior Design vs. Decorating | eHow.com
Interior Design vs. Decorating. Interior design and interior decorating are two separate professions that often overlap. Both are concerned with creating rooms that are ...

Home Decorating Photos, Interior Design Photos, Home Decorating ...
The largest collection of interior design and decorating ideas online, including kitchens and bathrooms. Over 30,000 professional photos of homes and apartments; plus articles ...

Elyounes | Interior Design | Decoration | Furniture | Facebook
Elyounes | Interior Design | Decoration | Furniture - Home Design – Modern Interior Design – Interior Decorating Ideas – Furniture – Architecture | Facebook

LAM Lighting hosts free interior design workshop this Saturday, Jan. 14, at its Goshen showroom
Goshen LAM Lighting & Design will host a free Interior design workshop at its Goshen showroom on Saturday, Jan. 14, from 11 a.m. to noon.

Rubeling's Recchia Judges National School Boards Association Design Awards - Citybizlist (press release)


Rubeling's Recchia Judges National School Boards Association Design Awards
Citybizlist (press release)
BALTIMORE, MD - David P. Recchia, AIA, Vice President and Partner at Towson-based Rubeling & Associates - one of the region's leading architecture and interior design firms - recently served as a judge for the 2012 National School Boards Association ...

Interior Design & Decorating - Elle Decoration | LinkedIn
Join LinkedIn and see how you are connected to Interior Design & Decorating - Elle Decoration. It's free.Get access to insightful information about your network at thousands of ...

Terrys Fabrics Customers Take Decorating Tips from Interior Design Blog
CHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM-- - The home is a place for family to meet, relax and enjoy each other's company. Important to a welcoming and friendly atmosphere is interior design which is why Terrys Fabrics ...

Contact us: Looking for local interior designers
Are you a Charlotte-area interior designer? Home invites you to join our team of volunteer home-decorating experts.

Vintage Enamelware Takes Us Back

Enamelware is a trip down memory lane. White jugs with... Read More

Starting Your Own Redecorating Business: The First Key Steps

Are you a compulsive furniture rearranger? Do you make distinctive... Read More

The Benefits of Hanging Wine Racks

Hanging wine racks help to neatly store wine in tight... Read More

Do You Really Want The Ceiling Fan Above The Bed?

I love the decorative look of a ceiling fan as... Read More

A Guide to Bathroom Remodeling

There is a reason why many Hollywood actors keep their... Read More

Long-Strip and Engineered Hardwood Floors

Longstrip hardwood floors are wide and long, and each plank... Read More

An Introduction to Shutters

Window shutters can serve many purposes. In areas of the... Read More

Why Posters are Great Gifts

Posters make great gifts. They are large but easy to... Read More

Make Your Homes Style Unique With Mix and Match Decor

You see it all the time in retail discount stores:... Read More

Decorate Yourself Happy: How to Decorate For Everyday Pleasure/Joy

Because psychologists relate true happiness to joyous occurrences happening frequently,... Read More

The Benefits of Massage Recliner Chairs

Massage recliner chairs are different than traditional home recliners. These... Read More

The Benefits of Gourmet Picnic Baskets

Instead of carrying dinnerware, silverware, beverage containers, and so on,... Read More

Buying Down Alternative Comforters

When the frigid winds of winter arrive, many people turn... Read More

A Look at Fruit Gift Baskets

The original, the granddaddy of all of today's items bought... Read More

How to Create a Decorative Garden Window

If you have a sunny window in a room where... Read More

The Benefits of Wood Blinds

In interior design, the blinds found on windows and doors... Read More

Designing Your Kid?s Room is Child?s Play!

Would your child's room benefit from some fresh design ideas... Read More

Finding a Color Scheme - Decorating with What you Have

If you feel helpless when it comes to picking and... Read More

Japanese Sword: A Great Piece for Any Home

A Japanese Sword is a wonderful decoration to add to... Read More

Mission Style Lighting - Its Timeless Beauty Continues

If you ask most people to tell you about Mission... Read More

Preserved Flower Candles

Putting flowers in your candle will add a unique look,... Read More

Home Decorating For Smaller Spaces

"Big Things Come In Small Packages" We're all familiar with... Read More

Cookers

If you are buying a free-standing cooker, oven or hob... Read More

Faux Wood Mini Blinds

Though wood blinds and shutters are the most popular window... Read More

A Vanity Bench Adds a Romantic and Old World Feel to Your Bedroom Decor

One of the easiest ways to add a romantic or... Read More