Summer Living Room Decor

Can you even believe that it's September already?!?  On one hand it seems like the summer has just flown by, but on the other hand it feels like it will take forever before the cooler temperatures will return around here.  We usually get the beginnings of fall temps in early October here in north Florida and I am seriously looking forward to it!  

I've been itching to start on my fall decor already, but I decided I should do a quick post about how my living room has looked for the summer months first...you know, now that summer is basically over.  :)

Here's a not so great cell phone picture to show you it in bigger perspective.  I love adding lots of red and blues for a patriotic feel, but this year I also just wanted more color in general.  Bright and cheery and happy.

I didn't bother with any sort of display on the coffee table, just a simple tray holding magazines.  My kids clear the top of this multiple times a day to build Legos, color/draw, or to eat lunch so I kept it really simple.

Of course, my picket fence flag took its place of honor again.  I've had that almost my entire marriage and still love it to pieces!  I threw the rest of the shelf decor together very quickly one afternoon before some company came over and that's how it stayed all summer.

A metal baking tray with a star shaped design continued the patriotic feel, and a license plate, vintage flour sack towel, and a sweet pitcher all brought touches of red and blue.

Even the wooden cheese box has red and blue and on it.  I love using the old picture of my husband's dad in his little league uniform.  Nothing says summer like baseball does.

To the side of the couch I replaced the plainer wooden crates with this colorful stack of old soda crates as an end table.  I found the navy blue lamp at a yard sale for 75¢.  A little bit of faux ivy sits on top of an old pulley as well.  Did you notice my curtain in the background?  I messed up a shower curtain order and instead of throwing it away I hung it up here in the living room to use as a window curtain for the time being.

On the other side of the couch, I replaced the black lamp with this more colorful one.  (You can read about its makeover {here}.)  I moved a potted plant over here and added a simple basket of croquet balls for even more color.  In the background you can see my antique penny square quilt displayed over my wooden ladder.

Our bedroom throw pillows came out to the couch as well as some thrifted blue pillows for a mix-n-match look.

Over on the loveseat I draped a small blue floral throw blanket and added the adorable throw pillow I got from my friend over at Peek Pillow Originals.

Isn't it just the cutest?!?  I liked how the "star" theme of it once again fit in with the patriotic feel I had going on.  If you haven't been over to Etsy to check out her pillows you must take a minute and stop over there!  She's got the cutest designs and has even come out with some amazing fall designs as well. And....if you ask very sweetly she's even willing to do custom designs.  So be sure to check out her shop.

The only thing I changed on the other side of the room was too add this wool plaid blanket with the perfect color scheme that I found at a yard sale for $2, as well as a little throw pillow.  For the pillow cover I simply wrapped a piece of fabric around it and safety pinned it closed.  Ta-da!  An instant "new" pillow.  :)  (You can also see that I took the shelf out of part of the entertainment center to make room for our scrapbooks/photo albums to be on display and within easy reach.)

I just loved this combination of patterns!

So, you can see I kept things really simple for the summer and didn't stress over having everything "blog-worthy" and perfect.  Just a few touches to freshen things up for the summer months.

Now that these pictures are shared I can move on to warm and cozy fall decor!

* P.S. - In baby news, I'm a little over 5 months along now and baby is healthy and active.  I had an ultrasound done, but baby didn't cooperate and we still don't know the gender.  I have another one coming up in a couple of weeks and we're hoping to find out then.  I guess one of these days soon I'll need to get started on making space for this new little one's crib.  :)