DIY Your Way to Designer Summer Decor

Want to spruce up your living space to reflect the summer season? These DIY decor tips based on top designer trends will help to bring your home to the next level. Below you’ll see the designer trends immediately followed by their DIY counterparts. Try your hand at them and comment below on your experience!

The Trend: Vintage-Inspired Florals

Along with midcentury furniture and style comes another throwback to the 1960s: Vintage-inspired floral patterns. We’ve spotted “flower power” patterns in window treatments, bedspreads, throw pillows and more. Design by Kathryn Ivey.

The DIY: Bright Painted Plates

Create your own version of the vibrant, vintage-inspired floral patterns by transforming a plain white plate with ceramic paint and a few simple techniques.

The Trend: Watercolor Florals

Another trend that’s here to stay? Soft, painterly, watercolor-inspired florals, like these featured in the rug, window treatments and pillow in this moody living room. Image courtesy Blue Bell Gray

The DIY: Custom Watercolor Notecards

Recreate the watercolor motifs you see in design magazines on an all-purpose note card you can use for summer parties or any-occasion correspondence. Or, paint a larger floral design to hang on the wall.

The Trend: Free-Form Watercolors

Another iteration of the watercolor trend is a flowing, free-form version with lots of drips and organic shapes, as seen here in this living room vignette created by Design Development.

The DIY: Marker-Dyed Pillow Covers

Two ingredients — permanent markers and alcohol — are all you need to transform a plain white pillowcase into a designer-inspired addition to your summer sofa. Get the how-to instructions to make this pillow now.

The Trend: Marble-Inspired Patterns

The term “marbling” refers to a variegated design on paper or fabric that mimics the swirled pattern that’s beloved in the stone. From paper products to housewares to faux marbled boxes and trays, this pattern is hot in home decor accessories.

The DIY: Nail Polish-Marbled Candles

This simple technique using water and nail polish will transform basic candleholders into marbled showpieces for your summer table.

The DIY: Marbled Pillow Covers

Embrace the traditional marbling process by customizing fabric with the acrylic paint colors of your choice and turning the marbled design into pillow covers. Once you gather all the materials, you can complete this DIY in a day.