Fresh, pretty summer bedroom ideas for the new season
As summer brings its light nights and warm temperatures to our shores once more, we start to think about how we might tweak our interiors to reflect the new season. The bedroom is a great place to start, because it's a place we particularly need to feel cool and fresh as we wind down for the evening or wake up in the morning. Few of us can afford to give our houses a full overhaul for each season (much as we'd like to), but there are a few easy and affordable adjustments we might to bring a little seasonal style to our summer bedrooms.
Change your textiles
The obvious place to start is with a bedding overhaul. Linen bedding is made from the quintessential summer material, easy and relaxed in its aesthetic and cool and fresh to the touch. It can also be surprisingly affordable, and we love the range of pastel colours it tends to come in.
With a wide range of ready made curtains out there, changing your curtains for summer may not be as big a project as you think. There are quite a few affordable options out there in cottons, linens and voiles, which will look so pretty fluttering in a warm breeze.
Nothing says summer like flowers, and a few lightly printed floral patterns can instantly lift a room and transport it away from winter cosiness to summer freshness. A light summer quilt or blanket can change the entire look of your bed, which does after all take up plenty of space in a room, or a few cushions can add charm to plain white bedding. If florals aren't quite your thing, try gingham, which has an irresistibly airy feel.
If you're looking to invest a little more time and effort, we love the idea of a light canopy or bed hangings, constructed around a four-poster bed. Light metal or wooden frames can be bought relatively easily, and draping them in linen or sheer fabrics can create a magical, enveloping atmosphere.
Summery colours
If you're overhauling your bedding or indeed if you happen to be repainting your bedroom at this time of year, there are plenty of colours that provide a sense of summer. A simple white bedroom can take on a Mediterranean feel (think the whitewashed walls of the Greek islands), so don't reject white paint for being too boring; on the other hand pastel hues of pale blue, lilac and sage green feel particularly of the moment.
There are a few classic colour combinations that we cannot resist for summer. Red and white, especially in the form of a stripe, has unmistakeable associations with beach umbrellas and sun loungers, and has the capacity to bring a bit of the beach indoors (though not in the annoying, sand in your handbag sort of way). Blue and white is another unfailingly seaside-y combination, recalling the jaunty aesthetics of boats bobbing in a harbour. Add a touch of yellow in there to suggest sunshine, and summer will never be far away.
Natural materials
Begone, heavy, synthetic materials! Now is the season to think about the natural world and all its attendant beauties. There are certain materials that we always associate with holidays and sunshine, and rattan is first in line. It's almost impossible to avoid rattan these days, but we have no objection to that. A side chair in the tropical material could be a charming addition to your summer bedroom, or even something smaller like a tray or mirror.
And of course don't forget about the ubiquitous natural fibres of jute, sisal and seagrass, which we love for carpets and rugs at any time of year. They're perennially stylish and have the extra virtue of being very affordable, meaning you could easily swap in a jute rug over a woollen one when warmer weather approaches. It's also very easy to find and fit lampshades made from the same materials, which lend a pleasingly Caribbean vibe to any room.
Art, accessories and flowers
Switching out some artworks can be an easy way to transform the look of a room, and affordable prints are not exactly hard to come by. We love, for example, the covetable travel prints created by Guy Georget in the 1950s and 60s, which conjure up the landscapes of Greece, the south of France and California in bold, striking colours.
A little scene-setting can make all the difference in an interior. Remove all the old half-burned scented candles of winter and make way for some fresh fragrances, perhaps in the form of an essential oil diffuser. Make sure the bedside table is supplied with a cooling carafe of water and a decorative glass, and inject some style notes that are reminiscent of summer holidays.
Anything that reminds you of travel should have its place in your summer bedroom. A plate in southern Italian splatterware, perhaps? A scallop trompe l'oeil platter for serving early evening nibbles during apéro hour? We love Lucinda Chambers' idea of decorating her holiday house with straw hats hanging on the walls, each one found in a different market.
Now might be the time to brighten up the room with new plants and flowers. There's no doubt houseplants are having a serious cultural moment, so make the most of it with a charming little money plant or a trailing stem of devil's ivy. Flowers are an indispensable means of brightening up your bedroom at any time of year, so invest in a cheerful new vase and bring in the best of the season's roses.
Cooling apparatus
Once the style of your room is under control, it's time to get a bit more technical. There is a wealth of bedding out there designed specifically to keep your temperature under control: take a look through our guide to cooling pillows, and consider interesting innovations like bamboo sheets, which are naturally cooling.
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And of course, let's not forget about fans, which should have a permanent place on a side table for the duration of the summer. Yes, they can be a bit of an eyesore, but there are a few stylish options out there if they're going to be in a prominent position.
Dean Hearne1/15India Holmes upholstered the headboard in the bedroom of her London house in Beata Heuman's ‘Palm Drop’ fabric, adding matching cushions. Also adding to the summery, more tropical aesthetic is the rattan-faced vanity, which is the perfect example of a of traditional antique given an aestival-themed update.
Tom Griffiths2/15In the main bedroom of this Georgian flat in Bristol, a light, airy feel is created by walls in ‘Pink Ground’ by Farrow & Ball and plenty of natural materials, including a woven lampshade and a rush-seat bobbin chair.
Robyn Lea3/15This bedroom in Camilla Guinness' house in Tuscany is a prime example of summer bedroom decoration: light colours, flowy, comfortable bedding and open windows and spaces to promote good air circulation. We love the jute rug and the floral linen covering for the bedside table, which add softness and texture to the room – necessary in summer.
Simon Watson4/15It is no secret that Tuscan summers are hot. In one of the ten bedrooms in a mother and daughter's house, a 16th-century conversion of a former convent, white linens and light colours help to create a cooling effect, with subtle decorative detailing which does not overwhelm the space.
Simon Brown5/15In the main bedroom of a Tudor house in Kent, a sofa in Penny Morrison’s ‘Gobi’ linen in neutral, with cushions in antique French linen, sits at the foot of the bed, giving the bedroom a calming and cooling atmosphere.
Francesco Lagnese6/15The Italian-born, New-York-based architect Pietro Cicognani worked with architect Peter Marino and Genevieve Faure to create this magical home in the Hamptons for the heiress Katharine Rayner. A bedroom on the second floor has blue-painted wicker beds, a checkerboard-painted floor, and an array of predominantly red floral-print fabrics.
Paul Massey7/15Pale walls, whitewashed floors, plenty of stripes and a four-poster bed hung with drapery add up to a breath of fresh air in this eighteenth-century house in Bath. The walls are painted in Paint & Paper Library’s ‘Slate III’ and the floor is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Slipper Satin’. A delicate metal four-poster bed is hung with antique mangle-cloth drapes, with cushions covered in vintage Swedish ticking and antique flags, all from Howe. The two striped rugs are Turkish, circa 1950. A French tôle peinte helmet wall light is above the twentieth-century Indian teak folding table, which probably came from an old civic building. A mid-century brass-framed oval Swedish mirror hangs by the window.
Elsa Young8/15White walls, textured bed linen, and an antique wall hanging to add patina - this bedroom in an Ibizan house by Joanna Plant is the perfect Mediterranean summer space. A discontinued four-poster by Chelsea Textiles stands on a vintage rug from Joshua Lumley. Lamps from Magus Antiques, with shades made from saris, pick up on the colours of the antique Indian hanging. The cotton bedcover is from Oka.
Paul Massey9/15In Fiona Golfar's Cornwall house, pretty florals, including a headboard in a vintage Colefax and Fowler fabric, an Indian quilt and botanical prints from her husband's aunts bring nostalgic charm to a spare room.
Alex James10/15This bedroom has a pretty blue and white palette, which instantly conjures a sense of holiday freshness, with an Indian cotton bedspread and plates above the chimneypiece from Fez. Situated between Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains, the holiday home of Colefax & Fowler's Trudi Ballard, is decorated in a combination of English country-house style and traditional Moroccan elements. The site of the house is perfect: down a dirt track or two and into an olive grove, where the house seems almost part of the landscape. At the end of a gravel path is a studded wooden door leading to a shaded walk and then a cool, airy hall through french windows.
Owen Gale11/15A calm natural palette makes the main bedroom of Angus and Charlotte Buchanan's London house a soothing space. Pink and white stripes on the valance and headboard (in Buchanan Studio's Studio Stripe in rose), are both cheerful and tranquil, and the couple has created an easy hanging canopy draped in white linen. A vintage sofa re-upholstered in a cream boucle from Yarn Collective stands in the window.
Simon Brown12/15Pale pink and white linen make a winning combination in the bedroom of Kerri Lipsitz's London house. The walls are painted in Farrow & Ball's ‘Smoked Trout’. The simple curtains are in Romo's ‘Alana’ fabric in alabaster.
Anne Nyblaeus13/15Blue and white stripes with a pop of yellow pattern? It couldn't get much more summery than this bedroom at designer Cathy Nordström’s sommarstuga or summer cabin in Sweden. An antique American quilt covers the bed, while the cushions are Cathy Nordström and the rug is one of the Indian cotton dhurries Cathy had made for this room. Side tables in rattan and bamboo complete the holiday feel.
Paul Massey14/15Over the past 20 years, British Vogue’s well-travelled former fashion director Lucinda Chambers has filled her house near Toulouse with an eclectic mix of colourful flea-market finds. The bedroom is full of fresh, summery touches, including the red and white curtains simply knotted at the window, and the generous basket chair to the left. Cushions made by Lucinda’s mother from vintage fabrics complement an Indian kantha bedcover, adding plenty of pattern and texture.
Tim Beddow15/15After visiting her friend Kathryn Ireland in France's Tarn region, Anne Halsey bought a farmhouse there and enlisted the help of the decorator to create a relaxed retreat perfect for entertaining. This twin guest bedroom is perfect for the region's hot summer temperatures, with gauzy canopies hanging from the ceiling amidst a colour scheme of pale pink and white.
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