December 22, 2005

These home and garden decor ideas can provide maximum comfort for you and your family during each season while ensuring your house always has a current feel.

Summer Home and Garden Décor
Summer brings hot and lazy days, perfect for al fresco entertaining. Get your home and garden décor ready for your summertime guests with some of these tips.

* Summertime speaks for itself, so minimize your home and garden décor. Remove clutter and thin the number of knick-knacks you have on display in your home. Leave those bits of beach or nautical memorabilia on display, though.

* Replace heavy fabrics with fluffy and billowing alternatives for draperies, throws and pillows. Use gauzes, seersuckers, chiffons and other sheers to let light into your home. Put away velvets, velours and wools until the leaves begin to fall. Replace thick rugs with cotton and raffia ones.

* Clean up your patio and patio furniture so it is neat and tidy and ready for your updated summer garden décor. Then, add tea lights or pillar candles in terra cotta pots filled with sand and place them on tables, shelves and planters. Hanging lanterns and color bowls make the yard ready for entertaining.

* Take advantage of the beautiful blossoms in the summer by filling your house with blooms from the cutting garden.

Fall Home and Garden Décor
* Fall brings to mind cozy evenings in front of the hearth as the wind picks up and temperatures drop. Prepare your home décor for autumn with little touches that will make your house a home. Make sure your heavy-duty mats are by the doors and the coat racks and umbrella stands are in place.

* Harvest is the perfect theme for both home and garden décor in the fall. Bring out your baskets and fill them with an abundance of pumpkins, gourds and beautiful leaves. Place them inside and out for maximum effect.

* Replace some of the pastel accents from summer with the rich earth and jewel tones of fall. If your summer home décor had aqua and peach throw pillows on your neutral furniture, think about supplanting them with deep reds, browns and golds.

Winter Home and Garden Décor
* Chilly weather can be balanced by the warmth of the holidays in your wintertime home and garden décor. Bring out the snuggly throws for each sofa and the floor pillows for in front of the hearth.

* Make your kitchen welcoming to everyone coming in from the snow. Fill a clear countertop container with readymade hot chocolate mix and another with miniature marshmallows. Burn spice-scented candles on the days you aren't baking to recreate that wonderful aroma.

* For your garden décor, use twinkling white fairy lights in all your trees for a magical effect. It may be too cold to sit outside, but the lights reflecting on the snow will give you a wonderful view.

Spring Home and Garden Décor
* The season of rebirth means it is time to shed the old and spruce up the house. Do your spring cleaning and use this time to motivate yourself to get rid of those items you never use. Some things to keep and display? Cheery botanical prints, antique jugs, ornate mirrors and floral tea sets.

* Spend time on your garden – the best garden décor can be the plants you grow. Make your garden rows a bit snazzier with copper or ceramic plant markers. Get your herbs and early vegetables started inside your house.

* Fill the fireplace with bowls of tulips or daffodils to welcome color into your hearth. Put color into the rest of your home decor by placing Easter egg toned bowls and vases along buffets, tables and shelves.