Hello friends! Welcome to my first ever Summer Home Tour! I am absolutely thrilled to have you join me on this Summer Home Tour blog hop with several of my talented friends. If you are new here, or if you are joining me from Merichelle at We're the Joneses, I'm so happy you are here. If you are a regular, I'm glad you are back here to join in on the fun!
Summer is always a season of fun - filled with long days, a warm breeze, frozen drinks and meals out on the porch. It's the season where I adopt a Sunshine State of Mind! This year, my goal was to to pare things down and style my home simply with casual elegance. A part of me is still recovering from the One Room Challenge (you can catch the master bedroom makeover HERE) and so simple and bright was the name of my decor game!
We'll start off with the outside of my home - so go ahead, grab a cold drink and join me as I take you through my summer home tour.
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Before I welcome you inside, I'd like to show off my humble yet welcoming front porch. As of right now, I am patiently waiting for my hydrangeas and crape myrtles to bloom (any day now!), but I am not patient enough to go without flowers on my front porch. This year, I decided to mix things up with a few lilies, dahlias, australian impatiens, ageratum and french lavender. This isn't the usual collection of flowers you see in planters, but I loved how the colors looked together.
For the quintessential summer front porch look I clustered together several white pots of different heights and to create balance I arranged them to flank either side of my front door. I just love how the bright colors pop against the all white door!
I was on the look out for planters early this year and had my heart set on a low bowl planter. I think they look so darling paired with taller planters. I searched high and low for one, but wasn't able to find one in the shape that I liked, or one in my budget. On a trip to Home Goods, I came across a salad bowl that was the perfect shape! It didn't have draining holes but I decided to give it chance any way! I placed some rocks at the bottom on the bowl and some loosely packed potting soil. I planted a few dahlias and ageratum and so far so good! I try not to overwater to prevent them from getting soggy. I'll report back and let you know if this on-the-whim idea works!
Ahh Golden Hour! I don't know what I love better, summer sunrise or sunset - both are beautiful! Earlier this year, my husband and I planted a weeping willow in the front yard and she's grown already! Well that may be an exaggeration - she's still a baby, but I just love this view of her beautiful weeping branches.
The very last thing I added to my front porch was this DIY wreath. You may remember it from my Spring Home Tour (you can see it HERE) - it was sitting pretty above my fireplace. I decided to move it to the front door to add a pop of color and to match the blooming lilies and australian impatiens.
Alright, let's head on inside ...
Off to the left of our entryway is our study, which I made over for the One Room Challenge Fall 2018 edition. It was my first ever "renovation", and I am pretty pleased with the modern clean lines in this space. For a pop of color, I placed several pink and white gladioli stems in a tall vase. This is one of the few pops of color you will see on this tour.
This simple arrangement sits in front of the travel gallery wall which I talk about more in detail in this post HERE. I love the way the green, pink, white and blues (from the framed photos) all look together.
I kept the study fairly neutral. Just a few palm stems and a large floral stem in an elegant lantern was all this space needed. In my last post (you can find that HERE) I talked about using things that aren't vases to easily style your home - and using lanterns is one of the easiest! For a finishing touch, I draped a cozy linen throw over one of the desk chairs and called it a day.
As you exit the study and enter the foyer, you will be officially entering neutral decor territory. The pink and white arrangement you just saw in the study is the only vibrant nod in my entire home. The vibe in the rest of the home is much more minimalist to keep things fresh and calming.
I had to make a statement in my foyer and this came so easy with this peony and vine arrangement from Afloral. Their florals are incredible quality and look like the real thing! I promise, your guests could never tell!
Next, let's head into my great room! Again, the palette in here is really clean and neutral. For a bit of contrast, I decided that these large euro swan shams would be the perfect decor statement. These stunning throw pillows are from a cute Etsy shop called The Pillow Cover Store. They have an amazing collection of gorgeous throw pillows at excellent prices!
Let's be real - no Summer Home Tour is ever complete without peonies - am I right? To keep things neutral, I added fresh camomile and peony arrangements to my ottoman and side table. I set these arrangements on top of white books to give them some height and scattered a few mercury glass votives in a scalloped tray. In an instant a beautiful summer vignette was created!
For a breath of fresh air, I brought out my gingko stems from storage (my trusted ol' basement). My trusted DIY olive tree held its place in the corner of my great room and I still love it!
This space just wasn't complete without a wreath above the fireplace (are you recognizing a theme here?). I DIY'd this olive branch and floral wreath for under $10 (total summer score!).
There are two things I love about peonies: their fragrance, and watching them go from tight buds to full blooms in one full day! These huge white blooms look stunning with the tiny yellow camomile flowers and fresh greens. I just loved this floral combination so much that I had to put another floral arrangement on my kitchen island. It made all the difference when looking into the kitchen from my great room.
You may not know this, but my great room is two stories high and I always enjoy the view from up above. Have a look!
Let's have a peek into the dining room, shall we?
In keeping with the theme of casual elegance, I wanted a no fuss centerpiece. I opted for a few garlands of eucalyptus, ranunculus, cabbage roses and yellow vine, threw in a few mercury glass votives and gold rimmed high ball tumblers. I didn't bother with plates, napkins or cutlery (less is truly more in this case!). This was by far the easiest tablesetting I have ever created and I must say I am so pleased!
I just love how the various garlands and stems intertwine with each other to create a floral cascade. The way the floral garland swoops off of the dining table reminds me of a beautiful outdoor summer wedding.
The cabbage roses really steal the show at the head of the table here. Their soft peachy glow works so well with the green, yellow, white and gold tones.
I wanted to extend the greenery on the dining table to the open shelving in my bar area. I kept things simple, by styling these shelves with white crockery, and a gold beaded cake plate. I added a gold lantern for a touch of class and a few simple boxwood cuttings from the yard. The boxwood shrubs needed a good trim anyways, so all of this greenery cost me nothing!
In our open concept home, the dining area is right next to our kitchen. I've said this many times, but the real workhorse in our home is the kitchen. And in these lazy summer days, the kitchen sink is always filled with flowers from the yard or the grocery store!
A sink full of flowers always brings the biggest smile to my face. In fact, as I write this blog post, I am smelling these fresh peonies and camomile and I'm in complete summer bliss!
I'm certain you have seen these wall planters before. I love to change out the greenery each season for a fresh new look. For the summer months, I decided to fill them with boxwood cuttings (again, free decor!). These planters are adjacent to our dining table and I often style a bar cart near them. I kept things consistent with a few green stems, simple white plates and gold cutlery.
There is one last space that I would like to show you, and that is our guest room located off of our foyer on the first floor. I kept things airy and bright by simply refreshing my throw pillows and adding some fresh flowers to liven up the room.
The blush fawn print pillows are my absolute favorite and work so beautifully in this room.
Thank you all so much for stopping in and visiting me on my Summer Home Tour! I had a lot of fun putting this together and there are more fun ideas and projects on the way, so be sure to subscribe to my site be the first to know! If you noticed something on today's tour that you are curious about, or if you want to know more I would love to hear from you! Leave me a comment below or email me. Feel free to share this tour on Pinterest by pinning any of the images in this post or come say hello on Instagram @___simplicite___.
Next up on the Sunshine State of Mind Summer Home Tour is Heather from Setting for Four. Her home is absolutely stunning, and you'll be so glad you visited her! To visit all of the stunning homes on the Sunshine State of Mind Summer Home Tour, click on the links below!
