Summer Home Tour 2021: Seasonal Simplicity Series
Welcome! I am happy to invite you in for a little peak around our home this summer. It’s gotten hot and sticky over the last few days here in Alabama. After what I felt like was the most lovely spring weather, summer has crept in and is likely to be here for a while.
I am thrilled to be joining 23 other home decor bloggers to share simple summer touches around our homes. Each season we open our doors and hope you feel inspired when you hop on over the next home. If you are arriving here from Danielle’s lovely home at Finding Silver Pennies, come on in. But first I need to thank our host, Krista from The Happy Housie for bringing us all together for this series.
The Dining Room
After the foyer the next space you enter is the dining area. It is actually part of a large vaulted open room with our living room.
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From Apt2b: Kimbrough dresser from Apt2B, Veles Table lamps in Andesine, Tiffany Mirror
Like this spring, I foraged for tall branches for the dining room table. I love the height real tree branches offer instead of faux stems which tend not to be over a certain height and feel small here.
We gather here for our evening meal and I just push the vase down to one side of the table while we eat. It’s regularly just three of us here daily. I don’t like decorating our home in a way that is fussy or hard to maintain. It will be interesting to see how long these branches last. The spring branches looked great for several weeks.
The Living Room
Honestly, there were only minimal changes in here since this spring. The main focus of restyling the room for summer focused on the mantel.
I shuffled a few things around on the coffee table and brought in more blue and white.
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The pillows I have on the sofa were custom made for the room during the One Room Challenge last spring, so I don’t swap them out until I’m in the mood for a darker, moodier palette in the fall.
I have always been found of the look of a fern in the fireplace for the summer. I finally have a home where I just might be able to keep it alive in there. I tucked in some of my larger blue and white porcelain pieces next to it on the marble of the hearth.
Like I said in our Mantel hop last week, my approach to this season’s mantel definitely fell decidedly in the maximalist design style. Even though I love collections of all kinds I try to show a bit of restraint in my decorating, but I’m kind of loving this right now.
Summer in the Kitchen
While I the design press are trying to tell us people are not enjoying open spaces like they once did before the pandemic, I still really love the way our home is designed.
The kitchen is tucked of to the side, but still open enough to feel connected.
To me summer means wild flowers, fresh cut blooms from the garden and summer fruits like my favorite, Chilton County peaches.
Our summer tour this year fell just a week too early for my White Wedding Hydrangeas. The bushes are covered in buds, but only a few are just starting to blossom.
The arrangement you see here are a combination of sunflowers from my local grocery store, wild flowers from the field near my house and Queen Anne’s lace from the hillside leading to the lake behind our house. I wanted it to feel as organic and as collected, just as it was.
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Before you go, let me just set the record straight. My house does not at all look what you see here in these images. If you were to actually show up at my doorstep, this is not what you would see, except maybe the kitchen. I can take a mess everywhere else but the kitchen needs to be neat and tidy or my stress level rises.
We are deep in the throws of the One Room Challenge, where we are making over our main bedroom in 8 weeks. So, over the last two weeks, I have cleaned and straightened each area to photograph and then moved all the furniture and miscellaneous stuff that has been displaced from our bedroom around the house.
If you want to hear more about what I’m up to with this makeover, be sure to subscribe to the blog for weekly updates here and follow me on Instagram and Facebook. I share the real-life look of renovation and DIY there!
Thank you for stopping in today for this neat and tidy version of my summer-styled home. Next stop is Nina Hendrick’s lovely colonial home.
Sharing with me today…
Tuesday
Cassie Bustamante // Finding Silver Pennies // Deeply Southern Home
Nina Hendrick // Maison de Cinq // Clean & Scentsible
And sharing the rest of this week…
Monday
The Happy Housie // Inspiration for Moms // She Gave it a Go
Home Made Lovely // A Pop of Pretty // Life is a Party
Wednesday
A Pretty Life // My Sweet Savannah // Fynes Designs
House by Hoff // Lemon Thistle // Dans le Lakehouse
Thursday
Life is Better at Home // Rambling Renovators // Hallstrom Home
Craftberry Bush // JoAnna Anastasia // Willow Street Interiors
I always love seeing that kitchen- it’s such a show stopped! Between the pendants and the brick walls and, of course, the peaches! I am ready to come sit at your island and have some peaches with vanilla ice cream, k?
Your home is amazing, Leslie. So full of character – much of which you have added, I know. It’s so charming! Thanks for sharing your tour and being part of this series:)
Beautiful home tour as always! I love that dining room table especially! Good luck with the ORC – can’t wait to see your finished result! Happy Summer!
Gosh, I always love touring your home. I love how you mix things but also love the scale of your rooms. Those branches look stunning on your dining table and I love your living room – the paneling, that fireplace, and all the blue and white. Please share your hydrangea blooms once they come out. I’m not familiar with that type and good luck on the one room challenge! So exciting!
Hi Leslie………. Your home was amazing with a fabulous interior design. It was a great thing that how you decorated the Living room, dining room and kitchen. We are so excited about your creative designs for home interior.
Your home is gorgeous Leslie! I especially love love love your kitchen…that brick wall is stunning! Good luck with the ORC!
What a stunning home! Where did you get the rug in your living room? I love how simple the pattern is and it looks very cozy. I have to get the rug in my living room deep cleaned by a rug cleaner every several months because it gets so dirty with my kids and pets. I’m considering just replacing the rug, and I would love to get the one you have!
Your home is beautiful! I LOVE that brick wall in your kitchen – gorgeous!