Summer Touches Around The House

This summer is flying by for me.  For the first time in several years, I haven't found myself wishing for it to be over by July 5th.  :)  We've had some of our normal hot weather this year, but we've had some very nice, milder weather too.

When we were raising our son, I never gave much thought to changing things up in the house throughout the different seasons.  Even if I had thought about it, I didn't really have the time or resources to make a lot of decor changes.  Christmas seemed to be the only time I made a real effort to make the house look different.  Now I'm not one to follow the trends, but I do enjoy a fresh, new look for the different seasons.  Switching things up throughout the year allows us to display (and enjoy) our various treasures and usually doesn't require buying a lot of new stuff or calling in a professional decorator.  ;)

You've probably seen some of these things in my previous posts, but if you haven't, I hope you enjoy.  I brought some of my David Winter and Lilliput Lane cottages back upstairs from the basement room.  I missed seeing them and felt like putting them in the den for the summer.

Those of you who prefer neutral tones to color are probably closing your eyes in pain right now.  :)  The colors are actually not as bright as they appear in these pictures; I just had to do some editing to keep them from looking dark and dreary since the sun wasn't cooperating today.

These bookshelves will look different come fall, Christmas, and winter.  It helps keep things interesting for me. 

Here in the kitchen, I've changed these shelves out several times since Tim built and installed them for us two summers ago.  This is definitely my favorite look so far, and I'll be keeping it this way for a long time (except at Christmas).  ;)

If you've been following my blog over the summer, you know I've done some patriotic decor around the house this year.  These are some pieces of Staffordshire "Liberty Blue" ironstone, featuring famous, historic American scenes.  I'll tell you more about that in another post, too.

I had to use the flash on my camera for this picture, which I really hate to do, but the image was dark, dark without it.  The patriotic banner will hang from our mantel through Labor Day.  Most of you have seen it before.  My summer mantel is almost exactly like last summer except that I added a book about Blackbeard and the North Carolina coast and the two grapevine orbs on each side.  I normally have these in a big basket on the hearth, but everything had to come off the hearth because of our little wild man.  :)

A few more shots from the den...

...and the living room.

In the summer, I like to put out my rabbits,

my birds,

seashells,

and American flags.  

 These little touches just make it feel more like summer around our home.  It has actually felt almost like fall here this week, which is nice, but I'm trying not to rush the seasons.  What makes your home look and feel like summer?

I want to thank you all for your kind thoughts and good wishes for my family.  My dad is still in the hospital -- it will be a month tomorrow.  However, he is improving and we are thankful for that.  Wishing you all a terrific weekend!

Denise