Set for summer

By Martha Uniacke Breen
Toronto interior designer, blogger and TV design expert Michelle Mawby believes Canadian summers are too short not to make the most of them while you can. She has a host of suggestions for blurring the boundary between indoors and out now that the weather is warm.
Bringing the Indoors Out
Outdoor entertaining has moved beyond melamine plates and plastic glasses to become as elegant as dining indoors. Ditch the patio furniture and buy an elegant dining room table (new or tag sale; it’s up to you), and weatherproof it with a coat of transparent epoxy or marine paint. (Ms. Mawby protects her “repurposed” Chippendale-style table with a sturdy cover, and leaves it out all winter.) You can buy quite elegant outdoor serving pieces and linens to set your table, but there’s no reason you can’t use good (or even everyday) china, crystal and napkins for meals in the garden — after all, the Victorians did.
Great lighting helps to create an inviting setting for summer evenings. Install accent lights in trees, and place solar or electric-powered lights along the garden path for a soft glow. For the table, use hurricane lamps or attractive votive candleholders; one company, Kichler, makes outdoor LED table lamps that are as attractive as anything you’d use inside. Or hang classic paper lanterns — Pier One sells plastic ones with built-in LEDs that look like the real thing, but are much less fragile.
Strings of LED lights aren’t just for Christmas. You can get all kinds of novelty (or elegant) shapes, ranging from dragonflies to chili peppers, that provide a nostalgic, summery glow. Or just use regular Christmas-style strings of white or cream lights, festooned along the fence or in your shrubs; or if you have enough, wrap them around the trunks of your garden trees, like restaurants do.

For seating, director’s chairs can be dressed up at relatively low cost by replacing the standard canvas seats and backs with sturdy, summer-patterned outdoor fabrics. There are amazing outdoor fabrics nowadays from high-end houses like Robert Allen, Lee Jofa and Schumacher. (Ms. Mawby is so enamoured of one pattern, by fashion designer Trina Turk, she’s bought it in several colourways and is thinking of using it indoors as well.) Along with florals, awning stripes and other summer staples, opulent alternatives such as paisleys and medallions add a contemporary, elegant look.
Renew tired outdoor furniture with a new coat of paint and new (or reupholstered) cushions. Metal furniture can be painted or sprayed with rust paint in a choice of bright colours; wicker furniture can be spray-painted, or painted with a brush. Other types of wood furniture, such as teak, can be cleaned and rejuvenated with tung oil.
If you are blessed with a back porch, give it a cabana feeling with curtains on three sides, hung on rods attached under the eaves of the porch; have them made to measure by a drapery company, buy ready-mades from a home store, or sew them up yourself out of heavy cotton or linen.
Bringing the Outdoors In
Just as outdoor living is becoming more elegant, make the most of summer living by bringing the outdoor feeling inside. Summer is a time to lighten and brighten, Ms. Mawby says, so look for every way you can to make your rooms look clear, clean and uncluttered.
That might mean starting by going through your home and “editing” accessories and bric-a-brac. “Too much is too much,” she laughs. For example, instead of a piano covered with framed photographs, remove all but one or two, or replace them with a vase of fresh flowers (protect the surface of the piano with an artfully draped shawl or length of summer fabric, if you like). Replace heavy accessories with displays of natural objects such as seashells, coral, pinecones or a beautiful piece of driftwood.
Put away heavy rugs and replace with light, summer-weight ones, or leave your floors bare, if they are beautiful. If you have a combination of heavy draperies and sheers on your windows, take down the outer draperies and leave the sheers in place to let in the sun. Replace woolen pillows and throws with lightweight cotton ones in light or bright colours.
“Scent is a great way to stimulate the senses and add atmosphere,” she says. “I have a lampe-Berger in every room (an air purifier invented in Paris in the 1900s that uses a simple chemical process to scent and clean the air); it’s a lovely old-fashioned remedy that still works.” Alternatively, fill your rooms with fresh-cut flowers or scented candles.
Consider moving your artwork around; you’ll find that even a painting you’ve owned and loved for years takes on a surprising new look when you hang it in a different setting. Simply rearranging your furniture to take advantage of morning sun or afternoon breezes can have the same effect.
Finally, it’s a great time to spruce up the front of your house. Change the arrangements in your urns or planters to summery flowers such as petunias (modern varieties will keep blooming profusely until frost), bright geraniums or thick, healthy-looking ferns. Buy a few hanging planters from the garden or grocery store, to provide a welcome burst of colour, and sometimes fragrance, for visitors. Consider painting your front door a fresh new colour as well; that’s one of those home-improvement jobs that, for about one long summer’s afternoon worth of effort, make a huge difference to the look of your home.