Sweet Summertime!

Layla over at theletteredcottage.net (one of my absolute favorite blogs:) hosted a link party yesterday so that we can all swap ideas for how to decorate our homes for summer. So this morning I quick got my act together and started snapping pictures around my living room of my summer decor.

Since I am still so new to this "blogging" thing...I thought it would be a perfect time to get my feet wet in linking up with other blogs:)

 Some of my favorite things to decorate with are old soda trays like this one, which I found at a yard sale for about $5 a few summers back. I love the look of them so much that I have 3 or 4 more scattered around the house that I could not resist buying from other flea markets/yard sales over the years.

For summer I wanted something laid back and beachy, so I filled some jar with a little sand and tealights and mixed them with some pillar candles. My faux foliage is from Ikea, which is one of my favorite places for little faux plants because they truly do look pretty real. 

Since the weather has been so beautiful lately, we have not spent many evenings indoors, so I have yet to light the candles. Which means at least for now my little faux guy is safe nestled in between them all:)

Here is another little project I worked on sometime this winter in anticipation of warmer weather and the opportunity to sit outside with a cold glass of lemonade and play tic-tac-toe.

It was super easy to make...I just snagged a little piece of slate from my mom's backyard (It wasn't being used for anything;) as well as some little stones from her garden walkway. Then I simply painted on the X's, O's and stripes with some old stencil paint I had on hand...and voilà! Tic-tac-toe!

Since I don't have a fireplace with a mantle, but I do have an entertainment center, I decorate it seasonally as though it is my mantle:))

 

The best part about this whole spread is that the little woven balls have twinkle lights inside, so at night I can just push a button and the whole "mantle" lights up! 

I found them at the Christmas Tree Shops in December for around $6 a strand and have used them to decorate for every season since:)

Here in Pennsylvania, we have had a very rainy spring, so my rainboots became a permanent fixture by my front door for a few months. Since they were doing a good job of propping open the front door to let the sunshine in on the non-rainy days, I decided to just make them a part of my decor:)

What do you think?

So there you have it, my summer decor ideas in a nutshell! Check out theletteredcottage.net for more ideas on how to decorate for summer!

P.S. Sorry for the over-exposure on some of these shots, I have been using my phone to take these pics, because it is better than my camera,but I still haven't mastered the different settings:)