Bright Summer Color: How to Bring the Garden Inside

Summer is here, and nothing transforms a home faster than a bold, vibrant color scheme. Swapping out a few key pieces – think pillows, throws, florals, and artwork – can shift the entire feel of a room from quiet and neutral to bright and full of life. This year, I’m adding bright summer color to our living spaces, taking my cues straight from the garden.

Our flowers have been brighter and more profuse than in years past – thank you, spring rain! – and I’ve decided to bring those same vibrant hues inside. There’s something that just feels right about letting the colors blooming in your backyard show up in your living room, too.

Whether you lean toward soft neutrals with bright accents or go all in on saturated summer color, today’s post is full of ideas to help you make it happen. And if you want a simple framework for pulling it all together, I’ve put together a Summer Color Refresh Checklist in my ETSY shop – it makes the whole process so much easier.

I hope these colorful home ideas inspire and encourage you to bring summer color into your home.

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Bright Summer Decor in the Living Room

I’m starting our summer decorating in the living room. Our living room is our main space and is open to the kitchen and our seating area. We walk through it multiple times a day. It’s the area that I always want to look its best.

Our new Ballard Design bookcases were delivered a few days ago, but we haven’t set them up yet. We emptied everything from the old bookcase. All my books and decorative items are on the dining room table.

So the dining room is out of commission for now.

Once I decided on my summer color palette, I started searching for decorative accessories that fit my vision. I started with the sofa area.

Summer Color on the Sofa

Colorful throw pillows are always a plus. I fell in love with these bright floral zippered pillows. The fabric is a nice cotton, and the colorful design looks like a watercolor painting. Another plus is that the design is on both sides. I ordered the 18″ size.

Then I found these solid bright hot pink pillows with white trim to coordinate.

To bring in more summer color to coordinate with the pillows, I pulled three summer shawls from my closet. The bright pink shawl and lime green shawl, mixed with the stripe multi-colored scarf provide a tropical color palette and pattern. These shawls are very similar to mine.

Does this area shout summer?

The solid pink pillows came in a set of two. I ordered two sets and used the second pair on our swivel chairs.

I added a pink vase, which I’ve had for many years, to the side table. Here is a pink vase that would be pretty in any setting.

Color on the Coffee Table

The coffee table is such a strong focal point in a living room that it deserves a vignette that makes a strong statement.

A couple of weeks ago, I saw a beautiful, bright pink bowl in a cabbage design at the antique mall. I came so close to buying it, but at $110, it was more than I wanted to spend. (Ironically, the booth owner is one of my neighbors, and I didn’t feel comfortable asking if she would take less, so I passed.) I wish I had taken a picture of it.

Then, the next week, on a trip to a local thrift store, I saw this glass bowl. Could I make it into a similar bowl?

I went on a spray painting marathon last week. (More on that in a minute.) The bowl was transformed into a bright pink accessory.

A bowl needs something to go in it. I found eleven craft balls in my craft stash. Let’s paint them!

TIP: The balls that I found in my craft stash were styrofoam, which can have a rough or smooth surface. I recommend using the smooth-surface ones I linked above.

This was the result for the coffee table.

I placed the hot pink bowl and three pink books in a white-and-gold-trimmed DIY tray.

I moved my small pink vase to the tray and added another green thrift-store vase with a modern shape and an aqua ice cream cup with a floating candle.

TIP: Try to use the rule of 3s for vignettes. This vignette actually has 4 elements: the bowl of colored balls, the pink book stack with a blue candle, the pink vase, and a green vase.

On the other side of the coffee table, I used a green vase from my thrift store jackpot filled with faux zinnias. I set the vase on three colorful books to add height.

This is my happy place this summer.

This bright summer color palette makes me feel like I’m on a tropical island.

Color on the Mantel

Let’s finish the summer living room with the other main focal point in the room, our mantel.

I recently shared how I transformed plain glass vases from the thrift store to color-saturated vases. (This picture was taken before I had to use the dining room table to hold the all the contents of our old bookcase.)

Here is the finished mantel with a collection of DIY-painted vases and a few colored vases from the thrift store. I mixed the colors of bright blues, lush greens, pale and hot pinks, lemon yellows, and aqua.

Can you tell which ones are painted and which ones are colored glass?

I’ll tell you at the end of this post.

To finish the mantel, I added colorful faux zinnias to each vase. That was the finishing touch. The vases and flowers pick up the colors of our painting. A great pairing, right?

Our large colorful canvas artwork above the mantel was really the inspiration for the colors of the bright colored vases.

I also added a pale blue hydrangea and pale yellow roses from Trader Joe’s to another blue-painted container for an end table. It goes perfectly with our blue lamps.

Summer in the Kitchen

Because our kitchen and living room are one large room, I also added a burst of summer color to our island. I used another of my favorite summer flowers, sunflowers.

I have two obsessions lately: Trader Joe’s flowers and chinoiserie. I know they have nothing to do with each other!

I added them to this pretty chinoiserie cache pot (antique mall purchase). It has a hole in it, so I placed a small glass vase inside.

I set the cache pot on a white tray with my favorite Lemon and Basil scented summer soap and lotion from Michel Design Works.

Summer Flowers in the Entry

When I go to Trader Joe’s for flowers, I have certain flowers in mind. I always come home with more flowers than I intend to buy.

On my trip to Trader Joe’s, I was looking for sunflowers, zinnias, and gerbera daisies. This combination of flowers is the best of nature-inspired colors.

Here is what I came home with.

TIP: Always ask Trader Joe’s for buckets to bring home your flowers.

The entry needed a touch of summer.

I added a new woven basket. I filled it with a DIY glass vase decorated with pressed flowers from last year. Then I stuffed newspaper around the vase.

Of course, I topped the paper with Super Moss, my “can’t-do-without” finishing touch.

All the flowers are from Trader Joe’s, except the white petunias that I cut from our backyard.

I filled in with two small chinoiserie jars.

I gathered two of my blue chinoiserie planters and filled them with more flowers, including white snapdragons (I think), yellow sunflowers, and yellow gerberas. The pink hydrangeas came from our backyard.

By using the woven basket, I began mixing neutrals and brights. This move provides contrast, texture, and warmth to your home.

See the pink zinnia? It’s faux, left over from the ones I used on the living room mantel.

There’s a faux pink zinnia in this jar, too.

TIP: Don’t hesitate to mix fresh and faux flowers when you need to fill in or don’t have fresh flowers in the colors and size you need.

That’s how to add color to your home for summer. I love all the colors from the colorful painted vases, bowls, balls, and flowers. It is a very simple way to decorate your home for summer.

I didn’t have to purchase any new accessories, unless you count flowers.

Here’s the Summer Color Refresh Checklist to help you add summer color to your home.

Before I forget, here are more ideas for summer decorating you will love. It’s always fun to see what the hottest paint color trends are.

I hope that you loved my mini-summer home tour. If you did, please PIN it to your summer home decor boards. Check out these Pinterest Boards:

• Summer Home Decor Ideas
• Home Decor Colors
• Home Decor
• Paint Projects.

Which vases were colored glass? The blue, green and pale yellow pitcher. I painted the other ones. Did you guess right?

Have fun as you explore this digital magazine of summer home decor ideas.