Why should you refresh your home for Summer?

You might think adapting your interior to each season is a bit over the top, or just another reason home brands found to sell you more stuff. However, there is a real reason as to why you should adjust your interior to the current season.

NB: All the brands we recommend are family owned businesses and/or have an ethical sustainable approach

1. The hot weather requires a Home refresh for summer

Firstly, there is a down-to-earth, practical reason to adapt your interior decor and furnishings to the current season. Being cosied up under a heavy blanket on your sofa is probably not what you're thinking of when it’s 30°c outside.  It is just a fact: with hot weather comes lighter textiles and a different way of life. Here are some easy tips on what you can do to adapt you interior to the summer weather.

A. Swap for lighter blankets

I know it does sound obvious. With the summer nights a heavy tog duvet becomes a bit too warm, especially with the more frequent heatwaves and as UK homes usually have no air con (and let's hope it stays like this! I mean, no air con, not more heatwaves...). You can then either swap it for a low-tog duvet (1 - 4.5 tog), or a recycled merino wool or lambswool blanket. Wool is a versatile natural material that helps release excess heat and moisture in warmer weather and retain warmth when the cold days return. The good thing is that you can then use your wool blanket the rest of the year as well, on your sofa for example, when the heavy tog duvet is back on your bed. On your sofa, you could also go for a linen throw for a very relaxed summery look and feel.

For recycled merino wool and lambswool blankets, try TBCo, Gather or Atlantic Blankets.

Atlantic blankets are made in Cornwall by a family-run business that puts quality craftsmanship and the protection of the environment at its core.

B-Favour breathable organic bedding

In your bedroom, for your summer bed linen, favour lightweight organic fabrics for their breathability and sustainability. The following materials will work just fine and are eco-friendly:

• European Flax® linen. This label guarantees premium, traceable linen cultivated in the so-called Flex Belt, spanning between Normandy in France, Belgium and the Netherlands, where the highest quality linen in the world is grown. Flax linen is thermo-regulating and becomes softer with every wash, without losing its strength. Hypoallergenic and anti-bacterial, it absorbs moisture rapidly. For European Flax linen bedding, try Secret Linen Store, Rise and Fall, Bedthreads or Scooms.

  
  

• Organic cotton percale: Naturally lightweight and breathable fibre. cotton percale feels cooler than other bedding. Choose it 100% organic, with high-quality long-staple yarns (usually Egyptian but not only) and with a 400 thread count and you will have the perfect balance of softness, crispness, breathability and durability for a cool summer night. Try Scooms.

  
  

• Organic bamboo viscose. Bamboo fibres are really smooth to the touch, naturally thermo-regulating and strong, staying soft wash after wash. They are also super eco-friendly as bamboo grows rapidly and requires no pesticides, minimal water, and very little land. For bamboo bedding try Panda London.

  
  

• TENCEL™ Lyocell. Made from sustainably grown wood pulp (like eucalyptus) in a closed-loop system that recycles water and solvents, Lyocell is naturally soft to the touch and absorbs moisture efficiently. Biodegradable, its fibres are strong and long-lasting.  Try Leisurely

Just make sure any of the bedding you choose have the Oeko-Tex 100® Class 1 certification to guarantee no harmful chemicals were used in their production.

French-flax Linen bed sheets give an effortless instant summer feel to your room. Picture ©Bedthreads

C-Bring out your outdoor furnishings

With summer, you’re not the only one who can finally enjoy the garden. So does your outdoor furniture and more specifically the cushions and throws that you had nicely kept away in the shed waiting for better days. Now that your garden lounge set is finally of real use again, you need to make it inviting so you actually WANT to spend time in it! Go full-on with beautiful (eco-friendly of course!) outdoor cushions and throws! Weaver Green has a nice selection and uses yarn made from 100% recycled plastic bottles.

Who knew plastic bottles could be so comfortable? photo ©Weaver Green

Summer requires adjusting to warmer temperatures, but rearranging your interior for hot, sunny days also brings psychological benefits.

2. The psychological benefits of a summer makeover for your interior

I think everyone would agree that we feel happier in the summer. We are looking forward to this season pretty much all year, as we associate it with holidays, rest, sun, sea and more generally enjoying life! It’s a scientific fact: increased exposure to sunlight helps produce serotonin and vitamin D, both recognised for helping to alleviate anxiety, low mood and sleep disruptions. A warmer weather also makes you want to exercise and get outside more. As a result, we spend naturally more time in (green) nature, which is proven to reduce cortisol and improve brain function in general.

I don't know if you're like me but sometimes I just FEEL the need to rearrange furniture in my house. We are in constant evolution and our space actually needs to reflect where we're at at that specific time in our life and support us in our growth. I definitely could witness that when I got my own flat after my divorce. The truth is, there are real psychological benefits in rearranging your interior for the summer season.

A- Change is good for the brain

Making changes in your space can simply boost your mood. Neuroscience has shown that adding new elements to your much familiar interior creates novelty, which activates the brain systems linked to curiosity and motivation, triggering the release of dopamine. Even the process is already gratifying. Psychiatrist Carrie Barron, co-author of The Creativity Cure: How to Build Happiness With Your Own Two Hands comments that just the fact of deciding which items to change or to keep in the space helps you "identify what you really love, want, or need" (at least at that moment. Remember? we are constantly evolving...). Rearranging your interior breaks monotony and acts as a cognitive reset. It's like a clean slate to start something new while still having the reassuring familiarity of well-beloved items around you. When you make adjustments, even small ones, it also sends a message to the brain that you are in control of your territory and not passive. It also gives you the opportunity of decluttering and tidying up which will bring a sense of calm.

B- Accents of bright colours put you in the right energy. 

Colours have a language, and like any languages it can vary depending on where you are on the globe. In our Western world, colours associated with summer are usually light or vibrant blues (like sky blue or ultramarine), greens, bright yellow and orange, because in colour psychology, they are all associated with feelings we can connect to summertime. Light blues are associated with calm and serenity, while vibrant blues like ultramarine, cobalt, electric blue remind us of the Majorelle garden in Morocco and therefore embody exoticism. Greens are obviously associated with health and Nature, while yellows and oranges evoke the joy and energy we feel when sunny days are here.

Without changing your whole interior, adding accents of Summer Colours in accessories like throws and cushions, fresh flower bouquets, artwork or even your tableware can definitely help lift up your mood. To be unique, you could select fabrics and have your cushions made, rather than buying them off-the-shelf. Bethie Tricks, textile designer based in Bristol, have joyful colours and patterns to choose from.

Just make sure that the colours you’ll pick go along with your current furniture for a harmonious look. Example: if you have a dark blue sofa, why not introduce some orange cushions which is the colour opposite on the colour wheel?) . If you don’t want a high contrast, you could opt for a turquoise blue instead, which is the adjacent colour on the wheel and will still add a pop of colour.

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  bright uplifting plates from Eleanor Bowmer

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  Orange cushion on a dark blue sofa can help bright up the mood

C- Natural materials make you feel like you're on holiday.

If you have some storage space, you could go a little deeper in your summer makeover and swap your winter accent chair for a cane one for example. Natural materials like cane, rattan, bamboo, seagrass, willow have this power of instantly making you feel on holiday as we naturally link them to tropical climates where a slower pace is the norm. Their woven pattern, being visually less heavy than solid furniture, can add a breezy calming feel, helped by their soft natural tones. Incorporating these organic materials into your home unconsciously invites you to set yourself on restorative mode. When you invite natural materials and textures like these in, it is also proven to lower your cortisol levels, by satisfying our Human fundamental need of connection with Nature.

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  Bamboo chair from Charles Orchard

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  Bermude armchair from the Rattan Company

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  Accent chair from Tikamoon

A rattan chair can instantly give a relaxed summer feel to a room. Design and photo by ©Danielle & Arlette

D- (Tropical) Indoor plants help you disconnect... and reconnect with Nature

For a deeper connection with Nature, you can be even more literal when you invite the outside into your interior: bring plants and flowers in! You might already have some indoor plants but, coming from the Caribbean, I find these particular species to say Tropical like no other: the Strelitzia Nicolai, also known as Bird of Paradise (I don’t need to explain why!), Boston Fern, Alocasia Cucullata (Elephant Ears) and Keltia and Areca palms, and as a flower the Anthurium will always remind me of Guadeloupe. Visit your local independent plant shops to help you decide (for example Sprouts of Bristol in Bristol and Botanica Studio in Bath)

E- Do not neglect the power of scents

Scents are directly connected to the brain's limbic system and have that power of instantly triggering vivid emotions. We often associate a smell (and a taste) with an image, sometimes even a souvenir. Proust in “Remembrance of Things Past” (A la Recherche du Temps Perdu in French) was writing how the smell and taste of a simple madeleine brought back deep memories of him spending time with his aunt Leonie when he was a child. This is why scents should absolutely not be forgotten when you design a space: they are part of the full experience. If you have ever visited a White Company shop you certainly know what I’m talking about! It smells so good and their scents are really recognisable. I remember strolling by in Chelsea the other day and before even noticing the shop, I could smell what I can swear was their Seychelles scent and I thought to myself “oh, there’s a White Company shop around here!”. As a complete opposite experience, I would not set foot inside a Penhaligon shop because the smell makes me sick even just walking past. Anyway..

All this to tell you that certain scents can help contribute to a relaxing, summer atmosphere for your interior. Ylang-ylang, vanilla, lavender, chamomile, musk, bergamot, for example, reduce stress, tension, and lower cortisol levels.

As far as I'm concerned, for summer fragrances I will always either choose scents that evoke the beach (with notes of Tiare flower or coconut for example_ definitely try Durance en Provence!), freshly washed linen dried in the open air (usually with notes of lavender, lily, musk…), or freshly cut grass (try LK Apothecary, they’re based in Somerset!)

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  Durance en Provence Monoï Flower means inviting the seaside in your interior

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  Fresh Cut Grass reed diffuser from LK Apothecary handmade in Somerset

As you can see, offer your home a refresh for summer has much more benefits than one can think.

If you would love to make some adjustments in your home, but you're still not quite sure how to achieve a result you would be happy with and would need a little help from a friend, Danielle & Arlette offers an Interior Personal Shopping Service. Contact me by email (pascale@danielleandarlette.co.uk ) or through the contact form and I’d be happy to help!