Joanna Gaines Shares Her 9 Top Tips For Welcoming Summer Vibes Into Your Home

Interior design expert and HGTV star Joanna Gaines is a pro at capturing a simple feeling in home designs. Specifically, she's known for her signature blend of modern and vintage elements and for emphasizing the nostalgia of it all. And when you want to give off the vibrant, adventurous vibe of summer with your interior design, you can learn a thing or two from Joanna's different approaches to encapsulating summer vibes into your home. For one, she takes inspiration from the outdoors. "Nature is our greatest teacher with design because it does it so perfectly," she explains in an interview with Homes and Gardens. Per Joanna's tips, a summer-inspired space can be created using natural textures and earthy palettes.

A summer mood board invites warmth, vibrant hues, perennial flower arrangements, and beachy themes. Specific interiors, like the summer camp aesthetic and farmhouse styles, with their use of rustic, lived-in details and natural materials, execute the feel of summer perfectly. According to Joanna, you can also incorporate natural elements, lightweight layers, and fresh seasonal scents are among some of the ways you can welcome summer into your home.

When you think of summer hues, you may think of vibrant yellows, lush greens, and playful oranges. While these sun-warmed hues can give your home a refreshing feel, you can also incorporate earthy tones to capture the richness of summer. In a showcase of the launch of her summer collection, Joanna incorporates sage green seating, sandy tables, and wicker lighting for a look that is understated and timeless. She also uses flowers and wall art with hints of pinks and yellows to add a sense of fun and youthfulness to the sophisticated details.

Nothing says summer quite like the stunning palette of flowers in full bloom. Joanna suggests that we're naturally drawn to organic silhouettes, and adding stunning floral arrangements with seasonal dahlias and cosmos can be a natural way of emphasizing the summer vibe. You can take this step even further with botanical patterned wallpaper to complement summery, earthy hues. A small-scale floral design can layer nicely with beige or olive green seating and cabinetry, for example.

Like a warm summer breeze, Joanna incorporates light layers to create function and summer vibes. When used cohesively in different spaces, light fabrics can tie all spaces together within a home. According to her, you can incorporate items like breathable cotton sheets, light-colored linens, or a tasseled throw to the different areas in your home for a light, fluttery, summer vibe. 

Summer has a way of transporting us to worry-free days of campfires, cannon balls into the pool, and fire pit storytelling. According to Joanna, these carefree vibes can be amplified using decorative details reminiscent of the good 'ol days in a space, mixing the old and the new to create an element of fun and adventure, even in a sophisticated space. For example, her summer line uses jovial designs, including a scallop yellow napkin set and a floral printed pillow.

When it comes to encapsulating a summer vibe, scent is essential. Smells can prompt an emotional connection within a space as they fire off the memory sector in our brains, and enhance the overall essence. Candles and essential oils, according to Joanna, can be a great way to capture a familiar summer feeling. Choose scents like citrus, delicate peony, and fruity notes to tie in your summer-soaked space.

Much of Joanna's source of inspiration comes from nature. And with most of summertime ideally being spent under the warm sun, it makes sense that she would add natural materials to reproduce that summer touch inside a home. Textures like wood, woven baskets, and stoneware are some of the décor pieces that Joanna has used to incorporate elements from the natural world for a summery aesthetic.

For Joanna, capturing the summer aesthetic is about nostalgia and adventure. Integrating summer motifs into your décor can tie both of these themes together. For example, she embraces the playfulness of the season with season-appropriate patterns like gingham bedding evocative of picnics in the park, delicate eyelet linens that adorn chic sundresses, and strawberry-covered décor to create a "carefree yet curated" summerscape.

Joanna is known for incorporating vintage elements into her designs, and that also applies when curating a summer-inspired home. That's because nostalgia is a major theme of summer, according to her. She uses elements like furniture made from charming reclaimed wood for a rustic feel, adding scalloped-shape ledge shelves and charming brass silhouettes that resonate with the dog days of summer.

Joanna is known for her use of soft lighting to create a cozy and inviting ambiance in different spaces. By layering accent lighting that can double as decor, like a charming sconce you'd see lighting up summer camp cabins or charming floor lamps, along with natural ambient lighting, you can bring the warmth and carefree vibes of summer.