A living room can look heavy by late May, even when nothing about the furniture has changed. We asked three interior designers what they swap first when summer arrives, and the same five items kept coming up.
Meet the Experts
Industry professionals and design specialists who contributed expertise and insight to this article.
Joy Allen
Joy Allen is the design manager at Next Stage Design + Build and a CCIDC-certified designer with a portfolio of NARI, National Remodeler, and Houzz award-winning projects.
Sophie Earlson
Sophie Earlson is a design consultant and interior designer at Boutique Rugs.
Olivia Bagby
Olivia Bagby is a marketing associate at C.G. Hunter Design in Bellevue, Washington.
Heavy Knit Throws and Velvet Cushions
This is the swap all three designers named first, and it’s the one with the biggest visual payoff. Chunky throws and velvet covers absorb light and add visual weight, both of which work against a summer room.
“Heavy knit throws and velvet cushion covers get folded away, and in their place we bring out linen, cotton canvas, and light woven textures that breathe,” explains Allen.
Bagby takes the same approach in her client work. “We like to pack away heavier knits, wool throws, and overly dense pillows, then bring in lighter linens, woven textures, and faux botanicals,” she notes. Earlson echoes the swap, adding that the goal is for the space to feel “less visually dense” once the heavier fabrics come out.
Pull every velvet, wool, chunky-knit, or chenille piece off the sofa and chairs, fold flat, and stack in a labeled bin. Store the bin in a closet until fall. Replace with waffle-weave or loose-knit cotton throws and washed linen or cotton-canvas cushion covers.
Dark-Toned Pillows and Decor
“Swap one or two decorative pieces, a burgundy pillow for something in warm yellow or soft terracotta, a dense centerpiece for a single bloom in a clean vessel, and the room reads completely differently,” says Allen. She keeps a self-editing rule in mind while doing this: “If you’ve touched more than five things, put two back.”
Bagby suggests editing the surfaces while you’re at it. “Remove one or two heavy accessories from each surface, move darker objects to lower shelves, and let windows, artwork, and greenery have more breathing room,” she advises.
Walk the room and pull two pillows plus one shelf object that hit a dark winter tone (deep red, oxblood, burgundy, chocolate, charcoal). Replace with lighter versions you already own in warm yellow, soft terracotta, sand, pale clay, or cream. Anything dark you’re keeping moves down to a lower shelf.
Dense Floral Centerpieces
By summer, the maximalist autumn arrangement starts to read as fussy against longer daylight and bare windows. The centerpiece is doing too much; the room wants it to do less.
Allen prescribes a single, deliberate swap: “A dense centerpiece for a single bloom in a clean vessel,” she suggests. Bagby reinforces the logic in her own work, pointing out that letting the surface breathe is part of what makes a summer room feel summer.
Pull every dried arrangement off the coffee table, the dining table, and the entry console, and replace each with one fresh stem in clear glass or unglazed ceramic. A single peony, one branch of dogwood, three slim cosmos stems, a fresh eucalyptus branch, or a single hydrangea bloom all work, and grocery-store flowers are fine. The summer living room decor that’s everywhere this year reads almost entirely on this kind of restraint.
Thick, Textured Rugs
A thick rug looks right under bare feet in January and feels heavy underfoot in July. The visual density adds to it: a dense pile reads as warm the same way a velvet cushion does, and the whole room follows.
“I add cotton or linen cushions, swap heavy throws with lighter woven fabrics, and switch to rugs with a flatter weave so the space feels less visually dense,” says Earlson.
This is the one swap that needs a small assist. Tip the coffee table back briefly to slide the heavy rug out, roll it tight, slip it inside a breathable canvas bag, and store flat under a bed. Layer in a flatweave in its place: cotton is the softest underfoot and washable in smaller sizes, jute reads texture-rich and naturally cooling, sisal brings a more structured look, and a low-pile wool dhurrie gives the look of wool without the weight. If you don’t own a flatweave yet, a summer-leaning living room rug refresh shows the proportions and color stories that read warm-weather without going beachy.
Wintery Candles and Scents
A room’s scent does as much for its seasonal mood as its color palette, and most candle collections lag behind by months. The pumpkin-spice candles that worked in November will still be sitting on the console in June, quietly making the room read as winter no matter how light the textiles are.
“I put away the pumpkin pie, cinnamon, and other typical wintery candles, and bring out fresher or fruitier scents instead,” Earlson recommends. “This instantly gives the room a real summer vibe.”
Box up the dark amber and spice candles with the heavier textiles, and swap in two or three lighter scents in the spots you light most often: coffee table, mantel, console. Look for citrus notes (grapefruit, lemon verbena, bergamot), garden-greens (tomato leaf, fig, basil), sea-salt and driftwood, or fresh florals (peony, freesia, jasmine).
