How is it that we’re into August already? Didn’t it seem like summer just started? Before I start changing things around the home for fall, I’d like to share photos from the summer home tour I did as part Shelstring Blog’s “Summer Home Tour Series.”
By the way, if you’re a regular reader of Beauteeful Living, you’ll recognize a number of these photos from previous posts. One of my photos below actually made it to Huffington Post‘s website! O-M-G 🙂
FRONT YARD
Our house is a split-level. What you will notice most about our front yard are the pavers in our driveway, front steps, and pathway leading to our backyard. We did a complete makeover of our front and back yards 2 summers ago. Replacing the old concrete driveway and patio with pavers made a huge difference!
FOYER
Since we have a small foyer, I try to keep the decorating at a minimum in this area. This bench seating set-up works for us for the summer. However, before fall starts, I’d like to replace this bench with a slender shoe cabinet. We keep our shoes off in our home. Shouldn’t everyone? 🙂
FAMILY ROOM FIREPLACE
The only fireplace we have in our home is situated in our family room. Currently this room serves as a playroom for our 2 daughters. Once our youngest turns 8, we plan on converting this room back to a family room. Right now, we use our basement as our TV/media room.
For summer, I decorated our fireplace mantel with hydrangeas from our garden and added a “Love Summer” banner.
LIVING ROOM
One of my favorite things about our living room is the large bay window in the center of the room. Not only does it let in lots of natural lighting, it’s also the favorite place where my 2 dogs love to hang as they stalk the mailman, UPS delivery person, and other dogs. 🙂
We love the couch in this photo which we bought when we first moved into our home 10 years ago. Miraculously, with 2 dogs and 2 kids in our home, this sofa is still in great condition. I often change pillows and throws on this couch to go with the season’s color scheme.
Another favorite item in our living room is this geometric rug. I get tired of things easily but 3 years in, I still love how this rug looks in our living room.
KITCHEN
Our kitchen was renovated 8 years ago. You can read all about it in this post. Opening up the walls in our kitchen was the best thing we did since it created an “open-concept” living space.
Here’s a view of our kitchen from our dining room:
DINING ROOM
For summer, I decorated our dining room with coral and turquoise colors. You can read more about it here. The coral and white striped curtains are my favorite home decor purchase this summer!
I used flowers from our garden for this centerpiece:
Here’s a view of our dining room from our living room:
BATHROOM
As you may notice, I have a thing for the color coral. It’s one of my favorite colors. It just screams summer to me. And, boy, do I love summer!
Bright and cheery colors like coral and teal make me happy.
Let’s now head outside to our backyard.
WOOD DECK
The sliding doors in our dining room lead to our wood deck. To maximize shade, last summer we installed a pergola over our outdoor dining set. Dining outdoors has been a much more pleasant experience during these hot summer days and evenings.
EXCITING NEWS: This photo was featured on Huffington Post‘s website (link here)!
POOL DECK
When we purchased our home, our above-ground pool area was one of the biggest eyesores. Read more about it here. Ever since we installed a new pool deck and replaced the old concrete patio with pavers, this outdoor area has become a tranquil space for our family to relax during the summer. Since I love the tropics, I tried decorating our outdoor space with a tropical theme.
Here’s a view of the back of our house from our pool. Love how our palm plants give a tropical feel to our backyard. They are seriously the next best thing to palm trees! 🙂
My summer home tour concludes here. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little tour around the interior and exterior of my home. One of the most rewarding aspects of home ownership has been the freedom to make updates based on our own personal preference. Coming up with a design plan for our home has been a fun and enjoyable learning experience!
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Do you change up your home’s decor for summer? If you have feedback on my summer home tour, I’d love to hear it. Xoxo, Tee.
Your home is gorgeous! I love how open and airy it feels! Great job using bright colors and still keeping a good flow 🙂
Beautiful home – I love all the summery touches you have added. Congrats on the Huffington Post feature.
Thanks, Cathy!
Beautiful home! I love all the bright colors and patterns… I’m in love with coral right now too, so thumbs up! Congrats on the feature in Huffington Post!!!
Thanks so much, Erin!
Your house looks great! I love the table runner on your table and your bathroom is beautiful! I love looking at home tours so I was excited to see yours!
I appreciate the kind words of encouragement, Ruthie! Thanks for stopping by.
Love your home!!! So pretty.. Great job on the HuffPost👍
Thanks so much, Kelli! xo
I love all your curtains! And your back deck and pool look so beautiful and relaxing!
Thank you!
okay I’m ready to come visit, your home looks like paradise 🙂 great job with the decor (as always), pictures, oh and on nabbing a spot on HuffPost!!! You go girlfriend!
Aww, thanks so much Kara! You need to stop over one day. xo
Congrats on being featured!!! So excited and well deserved. Your home is beautiful. All the colors are great! Still love those curtains in dining room. The backyard and deck is so cozy.
Thanks so much for your sweet feedback, Sara!
Congrats on your photo making on the Huffington Post website!!! That is so exicting!!!
Thanks so much, Dianne! It was a nice surprise :).
Hi, Tee! I love your summer home tour and all the beautiful summer colors you used in your home! Enjoy the rest of your summer!
Thanks so much, Lauren! Hope you enjoy the rest of your summer too 🙂
Beautiful home tour! Love the fresh flowers – one of the joys of summer.
Thanks so much!