This post contains affiliate links. See disclosure.

---

Keeping your home feeling fresh and updated year-round can be expensive and time consuming. Over the years, I've found several simple and affordable ways to update our home decor each season. In this post, I'll share seven quick and easy home decor ideas for the Spring and Summer.

Our Summer-ready couch, freshened up with mud cloth pillows from one of my favourite online pillow shops, Thilsandlils.

I love this time of year.

In Toronto, it's that narrow window of time during which it's just warm enough to turn off the heat, and not so hot that you need to start the AC. (Unfortunately, this seems to last all of two weeks here)!

Our windows are open during the day to let in the fresh air and the sounds of birds chirping and children playing in the street.

But, there's another reason I love this change of season so much: I get to change up my home decor!

Along with Spring cleaning and purging my closet, part of my Springtime ritual is updating our home for the warmer weather.

Here are some quick and easy Spring and Summer home decor ideas:

1. Pillows & Throws

One of the simplest and most economical ways to update your decor each season is to switch out your throw blankets and pillows (or just the pillow covers). As if I need any further justification for my pillow addiction...I honestly could have written a post solely on this topic!

For Spring and Summer, think lighter colours and fabrics.

Lightweight materials like linen and cactus silk give off a warm weather vibe. But, consider hanging on to some heavier textiles, such as velvet and sheepskin, to maintain texture and coziness.

Our couch: when transitioning from Winter to Spring, I switched out the dark navy, velvet pillow, wool cable knit pillow, and dark faux fur throw for a mud cloth pillow, a cream-coloured fringe pillow, and a light grey throw.

Here are some pillows I think are perfect for that Spring/Summer vibe:

Thilsandlils Mud Cloth Grey Triangles Pillow. This pillow's currently sitting on my couch! Thilsandlils is a Canadian throw pillow shop full of beautiful mud cloth pillows.

I've had my eye on this vibrant Shibori Indigo Blue Mud Cloth Pillow Cover from MackenzieBryantCo. That bright blue and playful pattern just scream 'Summer!'

This beautiful vintage cactus silk pillow is on her way to me from LovelyMessShop, another Canadian Etsy shop full of unique pillows.(Will update this post when she arrives on the couch!).

2. Baskets

Baskets are the often under-appreciated workhorse of home decor. I like to incorporate them year-round to add texture and, more importantly, storage, which is at a premium when you have kids!

An unassuming wicker basket sits humbly in our living room.

Our baskets typically house magazines and a select few of my

son's toys and books permitted in the living room. See this post for more on my system of containing and organizing kids' stuff. I also have a whole post on how to make your living room look like you don't have kids, if you're interested in more clever toy storage ideas for the living room!

When transitioning into the warm weather months, I like to swap out chunky, large-weave baskets for lighter ones, made of wicker or seagrass.

A-tisket, A-tasket...I'm obsessed with baskets! Our Conway basket (West Elm) gets swapped out with this seagrass belly basket (Amazon) in the Spring.

If you don't feel like switching the basket, you can change its contents to suit the season, instead. In the winter, we keep throw blankets in a basket; when it's warmer, we put away the throws, freeing up the basket for other uses.

For instance, a large belly basket makes a great home for a potted plant, and gives off a warm weather, boho vibe.

This belly basket makes the perfect home for our spider plant. (The print is from Minted.com).

Here are some baskets perfect for the Spring and Summer:

Qliwa Belly Basket. This is the basket in our living room. (It's currently only $11 on Amazon)!

Household Essentials Wicker Storage Bin.

3. Artwork

Spring is the perfect time to put some light, bright colours up on the walls. Think of swapping out some darker prints for lighter coloured or summer-themed prints.

Of course, owning a different set of artwork for each season is not realistic for most of us! One of my favourite money-saving hacks from my post on how to build a gallery wall on a budget is to frame pages from art books.

Some of my favourite gallery wall sources for summer prints include:

Beaches by Gray Malin (Amazon). This coffee table book has some incredible aerial shots of various beaches and coastlines around the world.

Peter Doig is one of my favourite artists. His beautiful landscapes range from dark and moody to lighthearted pinks and pastels. I've framed at least a dozen pages from this book over the years.

The second print on the top shelf and the third print on the bottom shelf are both taken from the Peter Doig book. (The other 'prints' are cut from a design magazine and Anthropologie shopping bags. For more on ideas for artwork on a budget, check out this post!)

Other summery prints I'm currently feeling from Minted.com (my other go-to for affordable art):