Simple Summer Living Room Decor Ideas (2024)

Give a fresh and updated look to your living room with these simple summer living room decor ideas. Budget-friendly and easy ideas for any home that don’t take long, but will give a fresh new look for the summer.

This blog post is a part of the “Spring into Summer” home tour hosted by Kristi at The French Creek Farmhouse! Be sure to read to the end and check out all the inspiration that my blogging friends are sharing!

SPRING INTO SUMMER

Decorating for the holidays is on most everyone’s to-do list. But we can also easily give our homes a fresh look for the seasons too. This may include bringing in rustic tones for the fall. And moody colors for the winter. Of course, when spring comes along, we naturally gravitate towards fresh colors. But what about summer?

If you’re like most people, outdoor projects and activities tend to get the most attention when the warmer weather begins. And that is how it should be. But what if we could love the inside of our home {when we’re in there!} through the summer months too?

This can easily be accomplished with some simple summer living room decor ideas that will easily transition your home from spring to summer. The idea behind simplicity is to keep your summer decor low-maintenance. That way, you can focus on all the summer projects and plans!

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MANTEL DECORATING

A fireplace mantel is the most obvious spot to make a few changes for the seasons. For this summer mantel decor, I decided to create some functional beauty. A few of my pothos plants had grown quite “leggy” and needed to be trimmed. By placing these cut pieces in water, they can now grow roots and eventually be transplanted into dirt.

〈EASY DIY FIREPLACE MANTEL〉 〈LIVING ROOM MAKEOVER〉

This is precisely the meaning of functional beauty: create something beautiful that also has an element of functionality. By using propagating pothos stems in my mantel decor, we can enjoy the fresh look of live stems, but in a few months, these can be planted and enjoyed in other spots in our home. {Or given to friends!}

I recently…as in two weeks ago…painted our stone fireplace and the wall above it this fun pop of earthy-green. {Click HERE for all the details!} To help give the propagating stems height and some interest in front of the green, I used vintage books stacked under and around the glass bottles.

These books also helped bring an element of muted colors: creams, browns, blues, and greens. The two pops of white come from vintage ceramic jars.

VIDEO TOUR

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SUMMER COFFEE TABLE DECOR

Now that we {finally} have a coffee table, it was fun to add actual decor to it. {If you missed that recent FREE makeover, click HERE!} To tie it in with the the mantel, I added a white flower pot, vintage glass jars, and a wood dish on a silver tray.

To bring in an element that is unmistakably summer, I filled the dish with shells and beach stones. These are all from our various family beach vacations throughout the years and it was fun to use them in an unexpected way: as decor!

SEASONAL WALL DECOR

Tucked behind our couch are blanket hooks. And yes, I still have 2 hanging up here because the evenings can get a little cool around here. But I decided to change out the artwork I had displayed there. By using a book full of painting prints, I could easily bring in an element of summer with a few water scenes.

On the other side of our fireplace, I changed out the single frame from the winter scene {don’t judge me in how long I kept that painting up…but you can click HERE to see the easy DIY makeover of the wood frame}.

This floral print is the perfect pop of cheerful summer colors! It has bits of blue and green that pull in the other summer colors in this living room. And it also ties in the mauve pillow covers on the sofa. By being across the room, it helps to draw the eye over and tie in the various elements of this simple summer living room.

LIBRARY ARTWORK

Speaking of wall decor…let’s pop around the corner and see what is hanging in our library. This print was also in one of my yard sale book finds from a few years ago. {Can you tell that I grab any budget-friendly art print book at yard sales?} Back to the print…I adore this painting. Maybe it’s the warm muted tones, the simplicity of life many years ago, or the fact that they are wearing wooden shoes that instantly made my heart go pitter-patter.

〈LIBRARY MAKEOVER〉

It also looks great in this gold frame, which was a thrift store purchase and given a new look with two coats of spray paint. Adding it to the top of our game cabinet, next to the vintage wall sconce has me taking a detour once in a while for a quick peek. Oh and do you see the pothos plant? This was the one that got a major clipping and contributed to the summer mantel decor.

HOUSEPLANTS IN THE LIBRARY

I do have to say that I use the word “library” loosely. This is one of those: it will eventually be a library, so let’s get used to calling it that. In our home’s floor plan, it is a bumped out space from our living room. It is surrounded by windows on three sides and this black wall and these two spaces on either side of it are the only wall space in the room. {If you missed the makeover, click HERE!}

The plan is to DIY custom bookshelves for this black wall. Right now, we have a small round table that is used for games and homeschool, but the goal is to add a long table right in the middle instead.

In the meantime, I am working with what I have and to add some fresh touches of summer greenery in here, I gathered three plants from around our home. The white pots give it a cohesive look even though the plants are all different.

COZY SUMMER PIANO AREA

On the opposite side of our living room from our full-sized couch is our loveseat/piano area. This space was recently given a complete makeover and it was so much fun to add a few simple summer elements to it.

To tie in this space from the one across from it, I added the same blue throw pillow over here. {This was my only purchase for this entire summer living room tour!}

And of course, a few houseplants had to be added. Turns out that my Thanksgiving cactus bloomed just in time for summer decorating! {If you want ideas on how to add budget-friendly houseplant pots, I shared my secret source HERE!}

To keep the seashell theme going, there are two jars on this side of the living room. The first is right here on the end table.

And the other one is perched on top of our piano, next to a large pot of (non-blooming) Thanksgiving cactus.

Also, the color on this piano is meant for this time of the year. It took me a while to get the courage to paint it and I haven’t looked back since. {This is your permission to paint your piano too! I’ve got my before and after HERE.}

SIMPLE SUMMER LIVING DECOR IDEAS

The transition from spring into summer in your living room can be as easy as changing pillow covers, adding fresh greens, and maybe a jar of seashells. By keeping it simple, there will be enough decor added to your home to enjoy during the moments you are indoors. But the low-maintenance aspect means you are free to enjoy whatever the summer months have in store for you!

I am excited to be sharing this summer living room tour as part of a blog hop! There is so much inspiration from all the bloggers, so be sure to check them out!

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I’m thrilled to be joining in today as 29 talented bloggers bring you the best of all things home! Please continue along this inspiring Spring Into Summer tour, and visit the other participants in each of the following categories.