Summer brings the chance to go outside and celebrate the sun. But why stop at the garden? Bring the outdoors in with seasonal inspiration for your living room and let the sunlight shine, even if it’s slightly less than glorious outside! Here are five ways to brighten up your living room during the warmer weather.

1. Paint your walls white

Freshening up old paintwork or tired wallpaper gives your room a new lease of life and white is just the colour to inspire a fresh summer feeling in your lounge. Offering the ambiance of light breezy linen, white comes in a variety of hues, allowing you to maximize the feeling of space you have available and get rid of darker, wintrier tones.

2. Wicker chairs aren’t just for the garden

Bring outdoor style furniture inside and create a garden in your home with indoor wicker chairs. Comfortable and stylish, wicker furniture is a lighter alternative to hefty couches, offering a cooler feeling to indoor life when the temperatures start to soar. Wicker chairs provide the opportunity to choose from a spectrum of cushion colours, from bright block colours to pretty country patterns, so you can pick the furniture that best fits your palette. You can also match chairs with wicker side tables to create a completely garden-style room. This theme works best in spaces with lots of light, so rooms with large windows or conservatories are ideal.

3. Use your windows wisely

A perfect summer room needs lots of light, so ensure you are making the most of your windows. If you are lucky enough to have a bay window, create a sitting space by furnishing it with comfortable chairs, which are the ideal location for a spot of summer reading. Dressing your windows lightly also creates an environment that allows the light the flow, so do away with heavy curtains and dark drapes, replacing them instead with light gauzy panels that drift with the soft summer breeze.

4. Strategically place houseplants and flowers

A startlingly simple way to bring a little piece of summer home is to place vases and potted plants in your living room. If you are seeking to create a lush, green tropical feel, evergreen houseplants are the ideal solution and they go well with clean whites and bright holiday colours alike. For a British summer in the country look, choose sprays of wildflowers to add a rural splash of colour to any living area. Place flowers on mantelpieces, coffee tables and window ledges alike and team up with quaint summer bunting for a garden party feel.

5. Nautical themes

There is nothing like summer to make people flock to the seaside for lazy days by the shore. Why not bring a little piece of the coast into your home, with whitewashed furnishings and driftwood style items? Match whites with pale seaside blue and green and don’t be afraid to experiment with wooden cladding on featured parts of a wall.

There are a range of ways you can bring summer into your living room and your life, so start planning your ideal home today.