Now that your house is spring-cleaned, your closets de-cluttered, and your accessories brightened up, you should be feeling refreshed and energized about your home décor. But now it’s time to freshen it up once again. Adding that summer flair doesn’t have to require a lot of work or financial investment. You have already changed out those soft window treatments to a lively, bolder fabric and replaced that down-filled comforter on your bed with a coverlet in matelasse. Make just a few more quick, easy changes to your accessories and “Voila” – you and your home are ready for summer!

Keep out those clear, crystal vases and cylinders you placed around the house recently, but change out the spring filler with sand, shells, and tropical fruits. A simple centerpiece can be created by filling a tray with sand and arranging a few shells within it. You can also add in a few pillar candles. Remember that when adding shells and candles, three is the magic number – always use an odd number of shells and/or candles. Lemons and limes are also perfect summer fillers for decorative bowls, trays, and baskets. For an instant splash of color and interest, place a glass pitcher with a bowl of these summery fruits on a tray where you previously had hot tea and cocoa utensils for the cooler months.

Now is the time to remove those eucalyptus boughs you had incorporated into your environment. Take them down and store them away until winter. For summer, think “tropical.” Replace those browning green plants with fresh, bright tropical florals. Some popular favorites are orchids, heliconias, birds of paradise, protea, hibiscus, and calla lilies. Create your own tropical arrangement using fresh flowers. The key is to start with floral foam that has been soaked and completely saturated in water. This will help keep them fresh and serve to hold the flowers in place as you arrange them.

For the year’s hotter months, bring as much white inside as possible, giving your home a cool, refreshing feel. Those white lampshades you replaced with bolder, colored ones can now be returned to their bases. Reusing the white shade that came with the lamp is an easy way to brighten up any room. To freshen up your window treatments, change out their satin ribbons for a more nautical look. Use nautical roping and tie different style sailor knots for your tiebacks, while adding large shells or silk tropical florals as trim.

In the bedroom, making a simple cover for your throw pillows offers a quick and easy décor transformation. Find fabrics with tropical florals and colors – think “Caribbean island” – such as turquoise blue, apple green, watermelon pink, or lemon yellow. Replace those spring tulips on your bedside table with calla lilies or hibiscus. If you have a large green plant in your bedroom (or in another room of your home, for that matter), add bright colorful butterflies or birds to its stems. Your local craft store will offer various sized birds and butterflies in many different colors that clip right onto the branches.

The table top is probably the easiest thing to change out in your home. Simply keep the Caribbean island color scheme going and use placemats, napkins, and chair cushions in the same bright turquoise, apple green, lemon yellow, and watermelon pink shades you incorporated elsewhere. Use a bright white place setting, and bring the same nautical roping from your window treatments to the dinner table by using it to make napkin rings. You can even use the roping as a trim for the placemats by hot gluing it to the edges.

Don’t forget about your walls. Switch out your existing pictures for those fabulous photographs you snapped on your beach vacation. Frame images of tropical florals taken from your favorite gardening magazines to set on a side table. If you decided to take the plunge I mentioned in my last article and add color to your walls by painting a horizontal border around the room, just follow the same steps as before and repaint that strip in a brighter blue, tropical pink, or bolder yellow. Remember, all you need is a laser level to get the straight lines and some painter’s tape to mark off the border. Just make sure you are still using a shade that compliments and coordinates with the base wall color. Here’s another opportunity to incorporate that nautical roping – continue the nautical theme by trimming the border with the roping. You can tack it using small trim nails or decorative furniture nail heads. If you have an idea or inspiration, go with it … start on a shorter section of wall to test it out first.

Slip sheers and laces into your décor. Purchase small amounts of both from your local fabric store. Sew simple hems to finish them off and drape them throughout your home wherever you need that extra touch. Drape them over armchairs, ottomans, and side tables, or as throws casually placed over the end of the bed. Create your own placemats and table runners on the dining table out of these refreshing materials.

“Summerize” your home with a quick and simple restyle, repaint, revival, redo, and renewal of your accessories for the season. And once you’ve created your own tropical oasis or summertime retreat, be sure to take some time to enjoy it. Spend these lazy days of summer on your back porch sipping lemonade and reading a good book. Your décor’s lighter, cooler, fresher appeal will surely help you to relax and cool down from summer’s long, hot days.

Stay tuned for my final article of this series when we change our décor from summer to fall and prepare our homes for the holidays.

Rachael Williams is an interior designer and owner of Rachael Williams Design, LLC. She can be reached at 919-291-1758 or visit www.RachaelWilliamsDesign.com.