It feels like real summer is finally here, even if the UK weather is somewhat lacking. The school summer holidays are stretched out before me, emails are increasingly met with out-of-office auto-replies, and the roads are noticeably quiet. 

It’s a lovely time to refresh and brighten up your home. Today I’m sharing some tips on how to bring summer into your home, including seasonal styling ideas and sustainable summer decor. I also talk about how to holiday at home. Have you tried it?! It can be surprisingly fun and relaxing!

Summer styling ideas

• Declutter…. You all knew this was coming! During summer, it feels sort of ‘right’  to have a clean, clear and airy feeling throughout your home and remove some clutter that might be stagnating in that space. Try to do 5 minutes a day. If you need help with decluttering, my five-week Summer Refresh is currently enrolling until this Friday! It’s a 20 minutes a day decluttering programme that takes you through your whole home decluttering, clearing and styling as you go.

• Clean and clear the windows to let as much light through them as possible.

• A note about sustainable decor: as with any seasonal decor changes, I don’t want to promote the idea of buying new things each season. Instead, I encourage you to use what you already have by shopping your home.

• Swap heavy, dark colours for lighter and brighter ones. If you have lighter summer bed linen or curtains, it’s time to get them out. I put my sheepskins, my thicker, darker cushion covers, and darker-coloured bed linen away for the summer. The Romantic in me loves breezy curtains billowing at the windows in summer. (paired with a hidden black-out roller blind of course, I'm not a monster. In reality, I need a dark cave to sleep in)

• It’s your plants’ time to shine! During summer, remember to feed your plants, water them more regularly, dust them, repot them, take them down to your shower and give them a thorough wash. Just let them really shine wherever you put them. Instead of having flowers on my kitchen table, I've actually got a potted plant there at the moment, just because it looks so lush and it's grown so well.

• Bring flowers and branches into your home. Leafy branches look really lovely when they're brought in from outdoors, and these could be from your garden, from the market or the supermarket. For another natural summery touch, you could also bring shells, driftwood and coral in and dot those on flat surfaces in your home, which I’ll replace with big pinecones in Autumn. 

• Get your summer bed set up nailed! I adore my bed and I’m very exacting about how I dress it! (Yes, definite princess and the pea vibes) I’m a big fan of using natural materials as much as possible. My summer bed comprises of a really great mattress and I really like having linen sheets all year round too. Depending on the temperature, I’ll give myself the option of having a normal duvet with a cover, or just using a duvet cover without a duvet in it as a sheet. This means I get to enjoy the colours and patterns of my duvet covers year-round. My absolute favourite summer dose of self-care is to use bed sheets that have been washed in the morning, and then dried on the line during the day.

• Summer scents. In my diffuser at the moment, I am burning rose geranium, lavender, and lemon with a touch of cedar to ground it. I really like flowery scents in my candles at this time of year, and feel really drawn to very different scents in the winter. Do the scents you like change as the seasons do?

• Use woven materials. I think anything woven really sings in the summer, and woven placemats look especially great for any hosting that you may be doing in the summer.

• And speaking of hosting, here are a few more tips to bring some summer into your home styling if you are hosting any seasonal dinners! Deckchair stripes look really great during the summer months. Even if you’re just using an old stripy duvet cover as a tablecloth, it’s a timeless look. Lots of fresh flowers are of course great, as are bowls of summer fruit on tables. 

  Finally, the key to any kind of seasonal styling is about bringing the outdoors in, whatever that looks like! It can be things that you’ve picked up on a walk or things that you buy from a supermarket, but it’s all about honouring what’s happening outdoors in your home.

Holidaying at home

Have you ever tried a holiday at home?! Hear me out here… I’m not talking about a staycation where you might visit a nearby town or village, for example. I’m also not talking about spending a bank holiday at home… I’m talking about intentionally holidaying inside your home!

With some planning, it is possible to create a gorgeous, relaxing holiday at home and save loads of money and carbon in the process. If your budget is tight and you can’t afford a holiday, or if you can but want something in addition, read on.

In peak season, there’s something that feels quite smug about avoiding traffic jams, crappy hotels, cramped budget airlines, and the inevitable haemorrhaging of money. Holidaying at home is also a masterclass in embracing small pleasures and honing our ability to feel joy in the everyday.

This is one of my favourite things to do; because we’ve got kids, don’t get paid holiday and we have an unpredictable schedule, so holidaying at home really works well for us. We try to take a few extra days of holiday throughout the year to create three-day holidays at home for us as a family.

Because we already know our local area, there's less pressure to explore, so we mostly stay home, reading, watching, sleeping, and listening to music. It feels a lot more restorative than an adventurous holiday, although obviously there is a place for both. If we do venture out, we’ll use different modes of transport and visit nearby tourist spots.

However, the key to your holiday at home being a success is all in the planning, so here are some tips to get ready!

• Firmly switch off from work. This one is so important! Treat it like an actual holiday, put an out-of-office email reply on and get into the holiday mindset. Cancel appointments and consider switching off from social media, especially if that is part of your job.

• Loosely plan the days. Enjoy any local scenic spots or fun attractions that you have, but be flexible.  

• Clean and tidy, and do the laundry in advance. You could even use any holiday money you might have saved by hiring a cleaner. Try and discard and donate things as you go. The worst thing about a holiday at home is that you’ll still need to do some basic daily chores. Spread them out between you, and try to at least avoid laundry!

• Think like a hotel! So do things like put fresh bedding on, clear your bedside tables, and buy some flowers for your home. 

• Plan your favourite food. One of the best things about a holiday is the food! So make some of your favourite food in advance and stock it in the freezer or plan some of your favourite takeaways. Get the whole family involved in this bit too. What are everyone’s favourite meals? What would you usually say no to usually because you don’t have time? For example, one thing my kids absolutely love is when we do a chocolate fondue! If you’re feeling fancy and you’ve got the budget, you could even hire a chef to come to your home.

• Line up some great books, films and board games. Save anything that you think everyone will really enjoy until your holiday at home. 

During the holiday…

• Strictly avoid work! This can be really hard if you’re freelance or self-employed, but be as boundaried as possible.

• Take a relaxed attitude to pretty much everything! So for example, sleep, food, routine, clothes, and chores. This applies for both kids and adults!

• Nourish your body. Have extra sleep, have long baths, take time to paint your nails, do a face mask! Again, if you’re feeling fancy, you could book a massage therapist to come to your home. 

• Make use of outside space if you have it, so camping outside, eating outside, picnics, making dens. 

• Don’t be tempted to do house jobs and DIY during this time. I have really made this mistake before! Just spend the time relaxing instead of trying to catch up on chores. 

• If you do go out, consider taking public transport for a bit of a change and to add to that sense of adventure. I don't usually take the bus so I love doing that and sitting at the front on the top deck!  Approach your town or village or city like a tourist, so look up TripAdvisor reviews. There's probably a lot more stuff on your doorstep than you realise.

• Treat yourselves like you would treat visitors to your home. Lay the table with napkins, candles and use your fanciest crockery and glasses. Consider planning a fancy dress-up dinner. 

Even though as a family, we do usually have other holidays as well, there’s something really lovely and relaxing about staying home for a holiday. Especially if you’ve got young children - they’ll nap and sleep more reliably at home than in an unfamiliar environment. 

I hope you feel inspired to make some small tweaks and changes to your home to really embrace and enjoy summer! And if you use any of my tips, let me know, I’d love to hear about it!