Summer Style

All work and no play makes Jill a dull girl, or something to that effect!

So I took a play day and organized my summer decorating scheme. This involves much hunting, gathering, arranging, scratching of the head, and happy noises. I am getting much better at it as I've revised things numerous times. I am learning that things don't just work out because you desperately want them to work out. So reality is setting aside the very best thing and settling for the second best which in the end makes everything jell and BE the very best.

Summer, to me, is an old fashioned cottage, flowers, tea parties and 'the living is easy'. I am particular about having a theme and a flow for continuity. Pastels speak of summer.

I have a LOT of 30's fabrics so I thought they could be a summer theme. They are mostly quarter yard pieces, which I dispersed into different combos and I hope they fade a bit to fulfill my need for pastels. Cottage isn't about matchy/matchy but I do have some serious gaps so I'm also going to place an order for a few that I need to round out the plan. I'm surprised how much aqua crept into the rooms. I do like it way better than blue. I guess it is really robin egg blue.

The veranda is the first stage of welcome. It is also under construction so hopefully I can also tweak my paint choices which are mostly greens. I am ordering a lot of the colours I need for this room as it needs more than pastels. It gets a lot of light and sees a LOT of traffic. I am really wishing I had fiesta ware but I don't. I have 30's fabric.

The front door, whose colour is puzzling me,(hey, maybe aqua, teal?) is our main entrance into the hallway. This room needs to reflect us, welcome visitors, and transition at least 4 doorways.

The front dining room, just off the front hall is probably the most formal room in the house. The cranberry edged rug says "pinks, please".

The sitting room is our quiet space and I like it subtle.

The kitchen was to be painted mellow yellow but that south window heats up the room so it'll be whites, and creams with yellow accents. The striped fabric comes from 2 cotton duvet covers with the old square pillow cases and typifies summer for me. It has pink, blue, orange, yellow and the green is kinda aqua. I'll make curtains.

The bathroom is seafoam and I've had a 30's shower curtain cut for over a year. But with all the pink in the front room I'm thinking I need to make some changes from pink and yellow. Can blue and green be seen?

The master bedroom fabric package was bought a few years ago and I am so ready to make it.

My guest room has a lot of my parent's stuff so I want a bit of a 50's feel.

The Sunshine Study is golds and is shared by the grandfather's stuff and the grand kiddies. I had lots of the bright reds. The nostalgic Dick and Jane fabric is just about perfect for the look I want.

My playroom needs to be a neutral backdrop for all the 30's fabric I'll be working with to make this a completed plan!

I used the fabrics I had set aside for the upstairs hall in the kitchen. It often seems that the very last step stalls my planning process which means that I fall back to an old habit of starting all over. Not this time! I have a small piece of this fabric and I do like it. It goes so well with the hall rug from which I pulled the room colours that open off it. I just need a wall hanging and this will be the theme fabric.

So there it is. I have it recorded. I'm feeling it is generally a good flow. I can tweak as I go. I now have direction for my summer inspiration. If I feel the overwhelming urge to start something new I definitely have lots of choices and the fabric is grouped and labeled.

But first I think a little tea party is in order!