Summer Coming: Get Your Summer Sizzle On with 35+ Backyard Ideas with a Tropical Twist

PHOTO: CARSON DOWNING

This season, use our best summer decorating ideas to channel the laid-back attitude of summertime. With inspiration for breezy color schemes, fresh seasonal accents, and outdoor living upgrades, these summer decorating ideas will give your space a bright and sunny makeover.

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Indoor-Outdoor Decorating Ideas

JAMES NATHAN SCHRODER

One of the best ways to decorate for summer is to connect your indoor and outdoor spaces. Mix patio seating and light fixtures with an indoor area rug in a covered sunroom, or add string lights above a farmhouse table on your porch to create a cozy dining space. Bringing the outdoors inside creates a soothing, relaxed atmosphere synonymous with summer.

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Paint Your Front Door

STACY ZARIN GOLDBERG

Consider painting your front door for a simple summer decorating upgrade. Whether you go for a bold shade of yellow or a soft pastel pink, creating a contrast between your door and your home’s exterior creates a showstopping style statement. Pair your colorful door with a few planters and you are ready for summer guests.

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Update Your Backyard for Entertaining

MARTY BALDWIN

Whether you are planning a large backyard barbeque or cocktails with a few friends, an outdoor bar is a must. Look for an inexpensive cabinet at a flea market or secondhand store to decorate for summer on a budget and store party supplies when not in use. Hang light fixtures for nighttime visibility and bring in a pop of color—bright oranges, yellows, and reds are ideal—to set the summer aura.

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Add Summer Colors

CARSON DOWNING

If you are looking for an easy summer decorating idea, bring in a small pop of color. Whether you add a few pastel pillows or opt for a bold area rug, you can easily create cohesion with neutral furnishings to tie it all together. Add a few plants and you’ll have an indoor-outdoor oasis, perfect for curling up with a good book or summertime sips.

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Go Nautical

RAY KACHATORIAN

Some of the best summer decorating ideas come from the seashore. Find subtle nautical decor to make your home feel more like a beach house. Navy blue and white stripes should do the trick, or pick up a boat-shaped relic from the flea market.

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Set a Colorful Table

BRIE WILLIAMS

Consider buying accent dishes and a vibrant tablecloth to add splashes of summertime color and pattern to your next dinner party. Mix bright floral, tropical, or nautical-theme dishes with your everyday plates and bowls. To ramp up your summer decorations, clear a small table to create an impromptu bar, and arrange bottles and glassware on a pretty serving tray. Fun elements such as stir sticks and paper umbrellas create a look that is perfectly seasonal.

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Let in Light

JAY WILDE

If you are in need of summer decorating ideas, change the way you think about your space. Picture your home as a summer rental, and you’ll see it in a new light. Throw open the doors and windows, pull back the curtains, and get rid of pieces that are dark, gloomy, or fussy. Stow away heavy accessories, throws, and unnecessary small decor items until it’s time to cozy up for fall.

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Create a Photo Gallery

HELEN NORMAN

Preserve your vacation photos by printing, framing, and arranging them in a gallery wall. This summer decorating trick will save you money on art and give you a great talking point at parties. Plus, the memories will cure your wanderlust as you start planning your next summer vacation.

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Coastal-Inspired Accents

NICHOLAS GOURGUECHON

Another way to decorate for summer is to focus on beachy elements or art pieces. Pair a nautical painting with blue bedding, or maintain a neutral color scheme with a few coastal accessories to create contrast. Swap heavy pillows and blankets for lighter fabrics, like linen and cotton, to quickly make your guest bedroom feel like a seaside resort.

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Outdoor Summer Decorating Ideas

KING AU

Some of the easiest summer decorating ideas involve your outdoor spaces. If you’re big into entertaining outdoors, low tables, floor pillows, and strands of clear outdoor lights will set a merry mood. Winning combos of bright colors, such as turquoise, red, and white, create a festive atmosphere and will keep everyone in a party mindset.

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Front Porch Decorating Ideas

GREG SCHEIDEMANN

With warm weather and a few extra hours of sunlight, the summer months are perfect for dining on your front porch or having a picnic in your yard. Outdoor summer decorations can be as simple as a few extra planters on the porch or additional seating areas to accommodate more guests. Eating outdoors will help you and your family take advantage of everything summer has to offer.

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Bring In Bold Contrast

DAVID LAND

While lighter shades definitely connotate the feel of warmer weather, you can easily decorate for summer by creating contrast in your living spaces. Focus on neutral hues for your walls and furniture, but opt for a darker area rug or curtains to ground the look without completely washing everything out. Add pastel pillows and lightweight throw blankets to add a cheery finishing touch.

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Add Succulents and Greenery

CAMERON SADEGHPOUR

Summer decorating is all about the greenery. To add organic appeal to your DIY summer room decor, consider planting succulents in a large shell. The tiny plants last for a long time and require little care, making them the perfect addition to a summery tablescape. The natural elements also add texture and character to this chic end-table display.

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Living Room Decor Ideas

KIM CORNELISON

While a fireplace is a great focal point, consider rearranging your furniture away from it during the summer. Rather than huddling around the hearth, shift the focus of the room toward a beautiful window or French doors. Store heavy draperies and hang gossamer sheers that flow with the breezes.

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Patio Decorating Ideas

KIM CORNELISON

Summer is as much a state of mind as it is a season, so transform your outdoor spaces with lights, flexible seating, and ample room for gathering. String paper lanterns on tree branches around an outdoor patio to help you entertain well into the night hours. Or, should the weather turn stormy, cozy up by lamplight on a covered porch.

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Incorporate Summery Scents

SARAH DORIO

For a simpler summer decorating idea, think about the smell of your space. To create a summer aesthetic in your home, switch out scents as the seasons change. While gingerbread and evergreen are great smells for the winter months, shift to ocean breeze or cucumber-melon in the summer. Plus, candles can stand in for quick, inexpensive summer decorations for coffee tables and shelves.

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Update Old Furniture

STEVEN MCDONALD

Give a tired chair or side table new life using high-gloss spray paint in a summery hue, such as sky blue or grassy green. The glossy paint creates a fun lacquered look and gives an old piece a fresh and modern edge. Make sure to properly prime the furniture to help the paint adhere to the surface and wear longer.

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Less Is More

DANA GALLAGHER

Summer is all about light, bright, and airy spaces. Consider painting walls a calmer hue and going for a minimalist approach with simple furniture and decor. Finish the breezy look with a few strands of string lights to brighten the space at night.

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Create a Statement Wall

DAVID LAND

While summer is known for lighter colors and hues, you can easily brighten dark walls with colorful art. Affordable pieces can be found just about anywhere online or at flea markets and resale shops. A large piece or a collection of smaller pieces also provides the perfect blank-wall solution for large, open rooms and can lend to other summer decorating ideas as you match (or contrast) with other elements of the bed, pillows, or rug(s).

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Decorate Your Bedroom for Summer

HELEN NORMAN

Bright botanical prints (on bedding or pillows, for example) instantly lift a room’s mood—and yours. To let the motif truly shine, keep the wall color neutral and other accessories to a minimum. Seasonal duvet covers are a great way to save money while making a statement when decorating for summer.

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Decorate with Summer Flowers

ED GOHLICH

Interject bright, summery colors in your home with freshly picked flowers. To make the biggest impact, stick to arrangements featuring warm colors—such as bold oranges, radiant yellows, or vibrant pinks—and save rich reds and deep purples for other seasons.

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Create Casual Dining Areas

DAVID LAND

Summer weather offers ample opportunities for dining—both fancy or less formal. Even if you are hosting something on the casual side, you can find unexpected uses for formal serving pieces. A silver tray can hold pretty glassware, a pitcher can be filled with a delicious summery cocktail, and a champagne bucket makes a great container for an herb plant. Summer party decorations have never looked so good.

Looking for outdoor summer decorating ideas? Here are some simple ways to add color and summer style to your outdoor spaces.

Just between us?

Have you ever noticed when I write that there’s a whole lot of “we” going on around here? As in “we” painted the porch and “we” painted a copper roof and “we” added new landscaping and “we” completely redid the back patio and “we” added new house numbers.

In complete and honest transparency? “We” is divided up into two GIANT responsibilities.

There’s the“we” part that does the actual work.

And the “we” part that thinks up all the projects and supervises.

When it comes to decorating? The roles kind of reverse.

There’s the “we” part that does the decorating.

And the other “we”? They get to sit under an umbrella with the sun setting in the background and relax with lemonade and a snack.

As well they should.

They’ve had a hard week of work.

There are three entrances to our home.

This is one of them.

It’s the one that we use the most, but it’s the least cutest one of all.

At least it was the least cutest.

Until we took a simple concrete porch and transformed it on a dime with a little bit of paint.

You can see the entire DIY here.

PORCH DECORATING IDEA 2: PAINT BRICK

Are you noticing a theme here?

Instead of replacing stuff?

We (there I go again) just paint it.

Wait until you see the before and after of this brick porch.

Just a little paint made SUCH A DIFFERENCE.

You can see the entire DIY here.

PORCH DECORATING IDEA 3: ADD A BENCH

I know this seems super simple.

But trust me—if you have a kind of random area on your porch that you don’t know what to do with it?

Add a bench.

You can add cushions and pillows for a little bit of color.

And it’s the perfect place to store packages and other items you need to take out or bring in.

PORCH DECORATING IDEA 4: ADD PLANTERS

I have planters all over the place, including these planters by the back door.

They’re filled with hydrangeas that bring in color to the back porch.

Planters come in tons of different sizes and shapes, but I like planters with a little bit of height like these.

PORCH DECORATING IDEA 5: ADD LANTERNS

This is one of my favorite things to add to a porch after planters and rugs.

They just add a little character and texture to the porch.

And they are so easy to tuck in amongst the flowers.

One quick tip from one of my favorite readers, Kris: “We get heavy winds in my area so I added lead fishing sinkers to the bottom of them and they have yet to blow over.”