Your Summer Reset: Create a Space That Energizes, Not Overwhelms
The sun’s shining, the weather’s nice, and your calendar is quickly getting booked. When you’re home, you want your space to feel refreshing, not stressful. If you’re wondering how to refresh your home for summer, here are some quick and easy summer decluttering tips that will help you achieve a full summer home reset and transform your home into a place that energizes, rather than overwhelms.
Tip #1: Add sensory energizing elements. Incorporate invigorating citrus scents with essential oil diffusers or room sprays. Up your indoor plant game by bringing in leafy pothos or monsteras, which thrive in bright, indirect lighting, or bring in fresh seasonal flowers for the kitchen table. Add cool-tone art to your space, which will awaken your senses and help your creativity flow. Having indoor plants in your space will help you feel calm and safe. Because humans evolved in nature, unbroken biophilic patterns, like leaves, tell us that our surroundings are safe and free of predators. Additionally, adding plants to your space is an easy summer home reset - it will bring summer indoors and help your space feel alive!
Tip #2: A clean space supports a calm mind. Declutter visual chaos by simplifying decor and surfaces. Organize shelf and desk spaces, and use your best judgement to analyze desk or bookshelf decor that might only be serving to make your space more cluttered. If you find yourself unwilling to get rid of items that don’t serve a practical purpose due to emotional ties to the item, it can be helpful to keep in mind that your relationship with the gifter doesn’t exist in the item itself, and that the gifter would have likely wanted the item to bring you happiness, not stress. Be honest with yourself about what items are actually bringing you joy vs. which ones you are keeping because you feel like you should. Thoughtful and intentional decor choice is a great first step if you’re wondering how to refresh your home for summer.
Tip #3: Make your space work for you. Consider the visual of a “desire path” - or, a path that’s formed by people taking shortcuts between preestablished paths. Desire paths are the paths we want, not the paths we have. In your own home, consider “paving” existing desire paths.
For example, if you find yourself leaving keys or jewelry out on the same surfaces constantly, consider adding a ceramic dish to catch these items and create a place for them to land, instead of trying to force yourself to conform to organizational systems you’ve set up for yourself that don’t work practically. If you kick your shoes off in the same place by the door each day, add a shoe rack to that space. If you throw your dirty laundry in the same corner of the bathroom each evening, add a hamper to that space. This will help contain items that would otherwise be scattered around your home, and you’ll feel like you’ve done a big summer home reset when really, the solution was simple and easy. Thoughtful adjustments like these also count as summer decluttering tips in disguise - they’re rooted in self-awareness rather than rigid systems.
Tip #4: Let the light in! Maximize natural light by switching to lighter window treatments. Switch out dark or heavy curtains to lighter, airy ones. Use light paint colors on window trim or on any walls that light coming through the window hits. Make it a part of your morning ritual when you wake up to lift the blinds and start your day with the sunlight. Even small adjustments can make your space feel brighter, bigger, and more alive.
Tip #5: Swap heavy materials. An extension of Tip #4, this goes beyond curtain materials to other materials in your space. During the summer season, replace dark, heavy textures with airy fabrics and breathable materials. In addition to replacing curtain materials, this could mean finding different covers for accent pillows, replacing sheets or bedspreads, or replacing throw blankets on couches. You could even look at switching out towels in kitchens and bathrooms, for a full-house transformation.
Don’t be afraid to start small. Even applying a single one of these room reset tips can shift your energy. Any one of these suggestions when implemented on their own can help your space feel new and refreshed, and might help you breathe easier and relax more fully.