August is the height of summer when laissez-faire French style dining is at its best. Hot days heavy with heat, humidity, and sun glare call for easy lunches with no cooking, no heating up the kitchen. 

Lazy days with no set schedules call for laissez-faire (let things take their own course) two-hour lunches. Not the power lunches of driven businessmen, but relaxed lunches sitting around the table with friends and family. 

Summer Living Room Blue Decor

With one major new blue purchase and a little rearranging of existing furniture, the living room has a fresh look for summer. The color scheme is still pale blue, but the room feels brighter, more airy, and more cohesive than before. 

Fresh flowers are a guaranteed way of making any space feel brighter during any season of the year. New lavender plants in an old rustic blue box are perfect for my favorite French Country style in July since this is when fields of lavender plants bloom in France. 

Allowing the large box to fill the coffee table, with only one French antique fence finial as an accent, keeps the flowers centerstage and the room clutter free. If you missed the last blog post all about the lavender plants in the blue box, see a link at the end. 

Fading Pink Hydrangeas | Reminders of Mother's Love

The first pink hydrangea blooms of summer are fading, but there are more blooms to come on these Nantucket Blue® hydrangeas. Seeing the profusion of hydrangea blooms reminds me of my mother's love for hydrangeas and of her love for me. 

Nantucket Blue®, a new hydrangea variety on my shady open deck and porch last year, blooms on new growth as well as on old growth. There is the promise of new buds to sprout as summer continues. 

Styled for Summer | Glass Topped Vintage Table

A glass-topped vintage table on the back porch is styled for summer with a wooden plate rack, blue floral dishes, antique glassware, and potted ivy plants. 

The table has very few changes from one season to the next, but a good spring cleaning and a little rearranging makes every thing fresh again. 

Take a closer look at the vintage table on the back porch for ideas how to use a small table in your outdoor summer spaces. 

How to Get Your Porch and Deck Ready for Summer

Six tips will help you get your porch or deck ready to enjoy all summer long. 

Cecilia of My Thrift Store Addiction invited me to share what has been going on at my house this spring as part of a Spring Nesting Mini Blog Hop. Spring nesting is still taking place at my home this year, maybe even more so since we are sheltering-in-place. 

Spring Nesting Mini Blog Hop

A special welcome to readers coming from Kathleen at Our Hopeful Home. If you have not read her Copycat Lemon and Eucalyptus Candle, be sure you hop over for a great idea to give your home fresh scents for spring. Our Hopeful Home is a relatively new blog to me, but Kathleen grabbed my attention with her recent living room refresh done in French Farmhouse Style! 


You will find the entire list of nine creative spring posts with links at the end. 

French Country Everyday Table Setting

Everyday table settings on an antique French Country breakfast table include white dishes, scroll flatware, and a small blue floral pot with a lobelia bedding plant. 

Nothing fancy for everyday, but still beautiful in its simplicity. 

Summer Fades Into Fall

capture the last memories of summer 

Fall arrives September 23 in the northern hemisphere this year, but once school starts back from summer vacation and Labor Day weekend occurs, summer begins to fade into fall regardless of the date or temperature. 

Looking for ideas of how to capture the lingering summer before it slips totally into fall or for ways to introduce fall decor gently?  

Amber at Follow the Yellow Brick Home is hosting Transitioning from Summer to Fall Blog Hop, and I am joining her with over 20 bloggers sharing ideas for bringing a little fall into your home during these last few days of summer. 

If you are already reading through all the great posts, and you are coming from Cindy at County Road 407, welcome! Cindy's posts are always packed with great ideas served up with wit and humor. Love her and her style! She not only lifts your mood, she also lifts your spirits with her gracious support of others. A side benefit for me is she lives in the same area of Texas as I do, and we get to visit when the area bloggers get together. 

For readers who receive my latest posts in your email in-box, click on the title of the post at the top of your email to continue reading the whole post. 

Whimsical Summer Lavender Tablesetting

{Disclosure: If you purchase items from Botanic Bleu, I receive compensation for your purchase. See my Disclosure and Privacy Policy for more information.} 

A whimsical summer table setting filled with lavender sprigs and smiling sheep wearing crowns of summer wildflowers reminds us of the magic summer brings. No better way to celebrate summer than to set a table that also brings a smile to our faces.  

Summer is a magical time when rigid schedules disappear and lists of merrymaking fun take their places. August days signal the end of summer is coming for school vacation and rigid schedules loom on the horizon, but there are still many days left until summer ends with the official arrival of Fall on September 23. 

French Country Early Summer Table Setting

{Disclosure: If you purchase items from Botanic Bleu Square Market, I receive compensation for your purchase. See my Disclosure and Privacy Policy for more information.} 

An early summer table setting with beautiful French Country white enamel scroll flatware and pink peonies is one of my favorite table settings this year.   

Finding beautiful French country style white enamel flatware was quite by happenstance. Sometimes you can find the perfect pieces to complement existing china without intentionally searching for them. 

Summer Courtyard Blue Hydrangeas

Blue hydrangeas were one of my mother's favorite flowers and from loving her summer gardens filled with blue hydrangeas, they  became one of my favorite flowers, too. When I found Nantucket Blue® hydrangeas on sale over Memorial Day weekend, I bought several plants for both my semi-shady front entry courtyard and my back porch. 

The entry to our home is a smallest-of-small courtyards, somewhat hidden from the country road, and a challenge for garden plants. 

Create An Inviting Summer Porch

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Summer is a time for living a little slower pace with family, friends, and neighbors. What better place to enjoy easy-living summer days  and nights than on an inviting porch. 

Thanks to Amber at Follow the Yellow Brick Home, you can see a collection of ideas from 20 bloggers at Spring into Summer! | Porches, Patios, and Outdoor Spaces Blog Hop for how each of us created outdoor spaces to enjoy this summer.  

If you are coming from Carol at Art and Sand, aren't her house and garden inspiring for summer ideas? I always feel happy when looking at Carol's blog anytime of the year. 

At the end of the post you can find links to see all of the ways 20 outdoor spaces from coast to coast are ready for summer. Wherever you live or whatever your style, you are sure to find some ideas for your summer outdoor spaces. 

Welcome to my summer porch.

Summer Porch ... brings to mind a place to relax, to share a meal, and to solve the world's problems with good friends or with your children out of school for summer vacation. See nine (9) ways I created an inviting summer porch for those long, lazy summer days to come. 

Pine Chest Vignette Tips | Spring and Summer

S P R I N G   &   S U M M E R 

PART 1 OF A 2-PART SERIES 

As the seasons change, so does the vignette on the pine chest at the end of my stone fireplace. A few things stay the same year round. The lily print, the small lamp, and a varying stack of books anchor the chest's arrangements as seasons come and go. 

As you look through the photos of how the pine chest vignettes changed during spring and summer of years past, watch the book stack go up and down in number and in change of titles. Notice also the changes in the base of the lamp. 

One of the ways I find ideas for new arrangements is by studying Instagram, Pinterest, and other blogs. Invariably something catches my eye and sparks a vision for the top of my pine chest. And, if the photographer/writer shares bits of her design process, I take note for ways to improve my own. Thank you, StoneGable,Home is Where the Boat Is, My French Country Home, . . . 

Then I dissect my mental notes for patterns, techniques, and principles. 

Just like attending interior design classes, but in my nightgown curled up in bed.  

You may find some of my insight for creating vignettes helpful to you in creating your own vignettes.  

. . . like a PRO. . . StoneGable, Home Is Where the Boat Is, My French Country Home . . .  

Late Summer Patriotic Porch Ideas

The beginning of August is not really late summer, but now is the time to think about your late summer patriotic porch ideas. 

Labor Day is a perfect time to decorate with patriotic items. By getting your ideas together now, you can decorate before Labor Day so you can enjoy the way your porch looks for several days, not just for the three-day weekend. 

PIN ⤴ to your patriotic board so you can find these ideas again. 

Ready to see ideas of how to give your porch a patriotic look? 

Summer French Country Living Room

Summer in Texas is always HOT, and some summers hotter than others. The past few summers have been mild and spoiled us with temperatures that did not sizzle for prolonged stretches. 

But this summer's extreme heat is making up for those mild summer days and is playing a role in how my living room looks this summer. 

To help keep my French Country living room cooler during triple digit temperature days, we close the curtains. 

This summer has already broken highest temperature records on some days in July, and it looks like we are headed to break more records in days to come. 

Black French Country Clock Summer Time

A BIG  BLACK  FRENCH  COUNTRY  CLOCK 

MARKS  SUMMER  TIME 

Summer solstice arrived with its greatest number of sunlight hours per day. Summer . . .  we looked forward to you, anticipated your arrival with great happiness. A season of joy cultivated in childhood as school dismissed for summer vacation each year. 

Looking forward to summer is so ingrained in us, we continue to feel the joy each summer even though we do not have a long summer break from our jobs. 

  

Time seems to move more slowly in summer at our house. Is it a mind trick caused by more hours of daylight? 

French Country Summer Swing Loft

Welcome to the swing loft all decked out for summer with French Country decor. Almost everything new to the swing loft was in other rooms in my house, except for the new French Country white garden urn. And a new little lampshade.  

This spring has been a very good season for finding new French Country items to mix with my existing decor.

Indoor Swing Loft Tour BEFORE French Country Changes

When you live in an area with hot, hot summers you can still enjoy sitting in a swing sipping iced tea. Just create a space indoors to set up as an indoor porch ... like our loft that looks out large windows to treetops. 

Garden Shed Summer View Part Two

{Disclosure: This post contains photos of items that are for sale in the Botanic Bleu shop on Square.} 

Garden Shed Summer View

Interior - Part 2 

Linens, Paper, Pottery 

Summer officially ends today, September 22, and with it, the end of summer decor in the garden shed. As I look around the little chateau de jardin d'été  (summer garden castle), I realize the contents fall mostly into three categories. Linens, paper, and pottery, things I love, are casually scattered around the garden shed amongst companion items.  

Everything, it seems, has a story. Big, small, but a story. 

L I N E N S 

Garden Shed Summer View Part One

{Disclosure: This post contains photos of items that are for sale in the Botanic Bleu shop on Square.} 

Garden Shed Summer View

Interior - Part 1 

Design 

Before summer slips away on September 22, take a look at how the French-inspired garden shed looked inside this summer. Usually the only time you get to see inside the garden shed is around Christmas when it is filled to the rafters with French Country Christmas inspiration for shoppers. 

Once the winter holidays are over each year, the garden shed takes on a relaxed atmosphere. There are always a few Christmas-y things hanging out in the shed all year since this is the best place to store them, but the space has more of a garden house feel than a Christmas shop feel. 

Magnolia Summer Fun on Display

Summer is coming... 

And with it comes fun in the sun or rain. This week we went to Magnolia Market in Waco to celebrate a friend's upcoming birthday and saw fabulous Magnolia displays brimming with ideas of how to have summer fun.