Indoor Living

We are not, as I have already mentioned, fortunate enough to enjoy the benefits of guaranteed sunshine throughout the summer months of June, July and August, as our Summers are something of a weather lottery.

Although, I think gambling on plenty of wet weather would be a pretty safe bet! Our transient weather conditions can reap havoc with outdoor activities.

How often have you just got the barbeque lit and the embers glowing hot, ready to commit the obligatory sausage and burger ‘cremation’, when the heavens open, without warning and everyone has to head for cover, leaving you with no choice but to cook the sausage and burgers under the grill yet again!? – unless you’re the type that likes cooking outside under a large umbrella of course?

And how often has your well prepared pic-nic been rolled up in the blanket and bundled in to the back of the car with little regard for the planning and thought that went in to it, leaving you thinking that you might as well have gone to McDonald’s drive through!? – at least you wouldn’t have got wet?

So... if you are planning any ‘get-togethers’ this summer, throw open the windows to let the fresh air in (easily closed again if it pours down) and bring the summer indoors!

...just never knows where to start with your decor, then choose a summer theme. Nautical, seaside, woodland, flowers, fruit, leaves....whatever your preference, it will give you a focus to decorate round, dictate to some degree your colour scheme and make your transformation easier.

Use the following guide to make a plan of what can be changed. Decide what you can move out or move around. Think what can be covered, painted or refreshed. Make a shopping list and get the things you need in preparation for your makeover, e.g. fabrics, cushions, lamps, plants, paint, accessories etc.

Fabrics to help you get the look – cool, crisp and sharp, mix checks, stripes and plains

Fabrics to help you get the look – lively reds and warm honey yellows
 

Remove any dark items that are absorbing light in the room. Dark, velvet cushions, woolly winter throws, occasional furniture such as tub chairs or ottomans or dark coloured and heavy weight curtains. Don’t discard them, you can bring them back again when the season changes and we feel the need to surround ourselves with warm and cosy comforts again.

...and easiest way of transforming a room, but with most impact. It won't take long to put a fresh coat of cheerful, summery paint on the walls of a drab room. Alternatively, if you don’t want to paint the whole room, choose a feature wall which can be changed back again for the Autumn/Winter season – a great time and money saving idea which offers flexibility and versatility. Either way, choose a fresh colour scheme. Lemon and sunshine yellows, apple and lime greens, or cornflower and sky blues for example. See our Summer Colour Guide for more inspiration.

...to the greenhouse (they might just recover there), or throw out dusty artificial ones and bring in fresh new ones that are about to flower and herald the arrival of summer.

Or, if like me, you ‘don’t do’ houseplants (try as I might, I just can’t keep them), bring in some fresh flowers and refresh every week, for an uplifting injection of colour and fragrance. Flowers are always a nice touch for your bedrooms or guestrooms, used with cheerful, flowered, cotton, bed linen they give a welcome look and add instant summery freshness, particularly if used with white.

If your bed linen is plain white, inject some colour with a runner at the foot of the bed and co-ordinate it with some contrasting and complementary cushions to match the colour of your fresh flowers.

See our summer range of bedding and runners for the right look at the right price.

As the season changes, replace the flowers with candles or a stunning feature vase, change flowery, cotton, bedding for warm spice colours in more luxurious fabrics, swap the summer colours for autumn/winter colours on your runners and cushions and you’ve transformed the room to a cosy, warm retreat ready for the cold weather again, with no effort and little expense.

...for the summer season, as nothing brightens and freshens a room quite like white. Try some floaty, voiles or lightweight curtains to diffuse or maximise the bright summer sunlight. Add colourful prints or paintings with broad white frames against coloured walls, add white (painted if necessary), pieces of furniture such as chairs, tables, dressers and bookcases.

These are all great ways of punctuating dark coloured rooms, or rooms with a limited source of light, without repainting the room, as white reflects light in any shape or form and represents purity and newness.

See our range of lightweight curtains and sheers to help you achieve this look and the section on white in our Summer Colour Guide.

Use textures and materials that reflect the ‘lighter’ season.

Replace heavy upholstered pieces where possible with wicker, rush, wood, light wrought iron or painted white garden furniture and dress with colourful cushions.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to transform the look of a room for any season is to change your window dressings. It can have as much, if not more impact as repainting but with less effort.

Also, as much as we long for hot sunny days, we all need to take cover in the shade occasionally. Not only do we need to cool and prtect ourselves, but we need to perfect valuable fabrics and furnishings as well.

As a young child, it used to amuse me that my dear old Nan had two sets of curtains. One for summer, one for winter. Until I developed my love of fabrics and interiors, I used to think that this was an old fashioned concept, adopted only by ‘old people’ who were set in their ways (sorry Nan). But the notion actually makes perfect sense. Not only does it create the perfect opportunity to change colour and pattern (great from a designers point of view), but also texture and weight (great from a practical point of view).

Lighter weight, cheerful fabrics are ideal for the lighter, brighter days of the summer, whilst heavier fabrics add warmth and comfort for the short, cold days of the winter. More importantly, the change is instant! It doesn’t have to be expensive either. If you are re-vamping a room or undergoing a complete makeover, then you may want to take care choosing your fabric and invest in some quality made to order curtains. On the other hand, if you want to make the seasonal change we’ve just discussed, an affordable pair of summery ready mades will fit the bill (literally) perfectly and can be changed back again at the end of the season. Take a look at the vast range Terry’s has to offer and get ‘transforming’ today.

As much as we long for hot sunny days, we all need to take cover in the shade occasionally. Therefore, we need to be able to control the level of strong, hot sunshine that streams through our windows. Not only to cool and protect ourselves, but to protect valuable fabrics and furnishings as well. For practicality, versatility, privacy and control-able protection that looks good, you can’t beat Blinds!

Usually fitted inside the recess, they can be used in conjunction with curtains, without the need to disturb or change existing drapes. They work well with voiles and sheers as they provide the perfect balance of privacy behind transparency. Less obtrusive than curtains, with discreet fittings and no need for hold backs or poles, blinds are ideal for small windows or recesses.

There is little or no dressing required when fitting blinds, so they are very user-friendly. Easy to fit and even easier to use, made to order blinds come ready to fit. Most types of ready-made blinds can now be customised to size by the consumer for a perfect fit that looks tailor made as well. Consider what level of light filtering/protection you need, to help you decide what style to go for, then take a look at the extensive range of made to order and ready-made blinds available from Terry’s.

keep the ‘light-ness’ of summer going into the evening. One of the things I love most about being abroad is the ambient evenings. The day extends beyond sundown because the air is still warm and heavy and it’s pleasant to be outside. At home, even if we have a scorching hot day, we tend to suffer from plummeting temperatures in the evening, that only accommodate sitting out in the ‘twilight’ if you’ve got half a dozen patio heaters and a chimnea going!

The warm evening air of foreign countries begs you to stay outside and life is styled around that. The laid back, chilled part of the day begins as day turns in to night and friends and families gather to socialise and take their time over good food and wine. Cosy sea front restaurants and cafe bars come to life as the daylight fades and the scene is set for candle lit dinner tables. Flames flicker in the sea breeze, reflecting a rosey glow through glasses of red wine, fairy light studded trees line the pavements and dim lamps give a warm glow to this wonderful ambient atmosphere. It’s the part of my holiday I miss the most,.......so why not re-create it at home?

Be seasonal with your accessories. If you’ve got an open fireplace for example, why not fill it with an impressive palm or fern, tastefully arrange some interesting pieces of driftwood or twisted, gnarled, sculptural wood in it to bring some of the outdoor elements in, or place a large glass vase filled with glass balls or pebbles there, whilst the fireplace isn’t being used? Be a bit quirky and make a fire screen by painting some aged wooden shutters or use a piece of painted wrought iron work.

For quick and easy changes that you can make in less than an hour (do it while the kids are at school or in bed), add a touch of ‘wimsey’ with artifacts collected from your favourite resort or some holiday souvenirs – a model lighthouse or yacht maybe, a collection of large shells or an interesting piece of coral (naturally sustained of course), garden ornaments, seasoned rope, stone ware, architectural artifacts, a porthole mirror, or an interesting collection of pebbles and boulders.

An inexpensive, but eye catching way, of adding summer colour to your interiors is to use wall art or canvases. You can purchase them ready done or have a go at making your own. Use simple wooden frames and cover with taught fabric stapled round to the back, or use old picture frames or tired canvasses and re-cover with bold, fresh, fabric to create stunning pieces of wall art. It’s a great way of adding a volume of colour or pattern, that’s easily reversible.

Use one large canvas for maximum impact, or use two, three or four in a row using a mixture of matching or contrasting fabrics in patterns and plains. Choose large prints, bold florals, or striking stripes. The canvases can be re-covered for the winter season in warmer colours or replaced with prints or mirrors.

Mirrors are a great way of adding light and space. If you don’t particularly want to re-decorate, or change your colour scheme, but want to brighten a room, a mirror can be the ideal way of doing so.

Try replacing a large picture or collection of prints with a mirror. Make it a decent sized one and try and place it where it will reflect light from the window to best effect. This will give the illusion of a much bigger, wider space as well as maximising light, almost as though you’ve added another window. The reflection from mirrored glass furniture will also add to this effect of additional space and light.