Today is an amazing day, and do you know why? Because more than 50 percent of my home is clean. Take a moment to let that soak in. With 2 busy kids and 3 dogs, and so much work lately going on in our yard rather than in the house, it’s a rarity these days to have any room clean. Also today, I am sharing those clean spaces with you as part of the Summer Eclectic Home Tour put together by the ever stylish and envelope-pushing Jess of Domicile 37. She gathered a group of talented and diverse bloggers all sharing their unique summer spaces, and I am honored to be a part of it.
Most friends enter through the kitchen door, but I thought we’d go all out for the occasion and come on in through the front door. This time of year, we have mature peonies all in bloom in our front yard, and my heart already aches for their short season to come to an end. I clip and enjoy them in several rooms of the house before the season’s over. In our small entry, Emmy and I arranged a little bouquet to place on our live edge shelf. (You can also read about my sharpie sheep wall here, if you’d like).
Standing from the entry one can turn right into the dining room, straight down the hallway or up the stairs, or turn left to enter the living room. Let’s head right and check out the dining room.
This space is honestly where our dogs spend much of their time, so it’s often filthy a little dirty. Because they’re in here so much, I don’t go overboard with decor… more things out means more likelihood of things breaking!
To bring in a summer feel without going crazy, I added a Mexican sarape to the bench. My mother found it for me at a market in California, and I love the bold colors- well, bold for me, being a bold shade of blue.
This room is honestly always in permanent summer mode, as the gallery wall features seascapes and nautical paintings that remind me of summer beach trips.
(And that little spot of white you see above… that would be nail polish. Thank you, Emmy!)
On the center of the table, I placed a terra cotta wine cooler that a friend thrifted and hand painted for my birthday last year. Of course, I tried to fill it with water at first and that didn’t work out so well (that’s why you see it’s darker on the bottom half in the above photos- oops!), so inside of it I stuck a summer staple, a red solo cup, and filled that with water and then added my branches. The greenery is just from some overgrown weed trees on our property. Whatever works, right?
On our sideboard, I keep out vintage green glass floats that bring in the green and also make it feel summer. But again, I do like to keep them out most other times as well. And of course, Emmy and I have been working on this vintage dollhouse so for now it stays here as well.
In the corner of our dining room sits an antique blue cabinet that was found as is. We store our glassware and liquor in it. I’ve had the boho peace sign hanging I made there since Christmas. I love it so much right there that I haven’t moved it. On top of the cabinet I added a painting my friend Kelly gave me when she visited as well as a pair of Anthro candlesticks I bought on clearance years ago. I filled them with ombre effect candles I made at the Yankee Candle flagship store this past Fall.
The dining room and kitchen open to one another with our large industrial island serving as a division of space.
Because of this openness, the colors flow from one space into the other, and I’ve used the same white wall color to unify.
And of course, we added a bouquet of peonies to bring in some color, other than blue, and fresh flowers make everything better. I love keeping flowers from the garden in our house all summer long. Next year we hope to add a cutting garden.
In the kitchen I made just a few simple summer changes since our previous Spring tour. I had already added plants to the open shelving at that moment, but I’ve since brought more plant life in as well as some summery art.
That minty green file cabinet was a purchase 3 years ago when we were just renovating our kitchen, and I still love the character it adds. A couple of weeks ago, Emmy and I were shopping at Chartreuse & Co when she spotted a vintage style “ice cream” sign and begged me for it. (We love our ice cream in this house!). I am a sucker, so naturally we brought it home. It points towards the refrigerator and freezer, where of course, our ice cream is located.
On the open shelving, I added a beautiful hand painted watercolor I won on an instagram giveaway from Mika Harmony. I was able to select the background I wanted and choose my own hand lettered phrase, so naturally I chose blues and greens, and I had her paint “Ice Cream Fixes Everything.” It adds a nice pop of brighter color to the shelves.
The open shelving in the kitchen provides us with tons of storage and also an opportunity for some seasonal decorating.
This space is the one of the most used and lived in spaces of our home and I am so glad that I made choices in colors that suit me and my family. It’s also the first space most people see as they enter through that door off to the side… see?
And since the dogs do spend much time in the dining room and kitchen, they are thrilled to have a cool tile floor on hot summer days.
A new addition to this space has come into being because of my frequent trips to the farmer’s market. I have become plant-obsessed and am actually doing a great job most of my plants are still alive. I found a bunch of terra cotta pots at a yard sale a couple years back, and I’ve filled them and lined my window sill. I plan to wrap them around on the other sill as well, but I’m gonna need more plants first. 😉 Emmy created that little planter with hens & chicks and Spanish moss at a birthday party last week and it was the perfect addition.
I love pots that have been naturally weathered over time, and I’ve mixed in a gold leaf flower pot as well.
Before we had out of the kitchen, Snowball wants to make her appearance as well. She needs a grooming, but we sure do love her going all free style on us. And not to fear, our old man Jake is still with us, but he’s been napping on his bed in the corner of the dining room this entire time. 
While the kitchen is the most rustic space we have, largely due to its use and function, our living room is one of the more formal spaces, but it still has a very relaxed feel to it. I am not one for formal and love my home to be welcoming and cozy to all. In this space, I’ve combined modern and vintage touches, as well as comfortable textures to create this feel.
I laugh that our living room has “his and hers” sofas because I love my vintage blue babe, and Chris loves his West Elm modern gray boy. While we often sit on opposing couches with a child snuggled with each of us for family night, there are often times that I can be found curling up with Chris on the man couch. Funnily enough, he stays off of mine though.
For the summer, I’ve gone all indigo with the pillows on the man couch.
And on my own sofa I’ve kept the same pillows, but added a Mexican blanket.
Here’s a better view so you can see the blanket… blue, naturally
This space looks slightly empty-ish at the moment because I’ve moved most of our houseplants outside for the season, so that they can flourish. I did keep a few in here so it wouldn’t be lacking in life!
I recently styled the mantle with some cacti I found at Silk & Burlap, but for the summer I added a couple vases which are currently filled with white peonies from our garden.
On the left is a crocheted vase my parents gave me for Christmas.
And on the right I used the vase I showed you yesterday for Thrift Score Thursday.
I just love the details on this vase, and of course the peonies can’t be beat, and they make our house smell utterly divine!
So now I just have one more room I want to share with you, and that’s our master bedroom. I recently showed you its latest update with our new ceiling fan that has made a world of difference.
Since then, I really haven’t changed much, but I did add a little vase of peonies to my own nightstand.
And I also removed my glass head’s winter hat, as I was sure she was getting overheated in there. Over heated glass can explode, and I don’t need that in my room!
I love that you can spy the bouquet in the mirror’s reflection.
That’s all I have to share today as the other 50 percent of my house was just a hair shy of photo-ready status. A hair, piles of strewn laundry, and wads of dug fur shy.
Next week I will be back to share my porch with you as well, which happens to be my favorite summer hangout so I hope you will come back and check it out.
Now make sure you visit today’s tours as well as all of the fabulousness from the rest of the week. Here are some of the sneak peeks from today (myself,A Designer at Home, Suburban Bitches, and
Casa Watkins Living ) and you can catch the entire list from the week below.
Monday
Tuesday
Ciburbanity
The Striped House
Style Mutt Home
This is Our Bliss
Wednesday
Copper Dot Interiors
{Home-ology} Modern Vintage
Up to Date Interiors
Bigger Than the Three of Us
Thursday
Rain on a Tin Roof
Pretty Practical Home
58 Water Street
Domicile 37
Friday
Primitive & Proper
A Designer at Home
Suburban Bitches
Casa Watkins Living
Have a great weekend!
