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Keep your new home fresh during the hot summer months

July 11, 2011

It’s not too late to get your home ready to celebrate the lazy, fun days of summer.  HouseBeautiful.com recently released a top 10 list of easy fixes so you can enjoy the season.

1. Store Your Firewood Artfully. Out of season, stack your leftover wood — artfully — in your fireplace.
2. Switch up Your Coffee Table. Replace your 10-ton coffee table with two ceramic Chinese garden seats — or a big ottoman with room for everything and your feet, too.
3. Create a Decorative Outdoor Space. Hang a mirror in your outdoor room.
4. Use a Different Kind of Vase. Arrange your flowers in anything but a vase: Go through your pantry and find a pitcher, a tureen, a mug or a teacup.
5. Bring the Outdoors In. Bring your favorite piece of outdoor furniture indoors.
6. Mix and Match Towels. Instead of buying complete matched sets of towels (something's always missing at the store), buy different shades of one color and mix it up.
7. Dress up Your Closet. Wallpaper the inside of your bedroom closet.
8. Spray Paint an Old Chandelier. Find a tired old bargain brass chandelier at a thrift shop or antique shop. Spray paint it white or a color—if you have the courage.
9. Split up Matching Lamps. Split up the pair of lamps on either side of your sofa. Buy a floor lamp for your sofa and use the pair in different corners of your room.

Arrange Bouquets on a Budget. Pull apart a big inexpensive mixed bouquet from the supermarket. Group similar flowers and put them in small vases. You'll have some for every room