Summer houses, often referred to as summer homes, are the epitome of relaxation and tranquility. When it comes to house interiors, the right decor can make or break the ambiance of a room. Wall stickers are a trendy and affordable option that can instantly add zest to your space. These stickers aren't just limited to rooms' walls. Have you ever thought about adorning your fence with them? It's an out-of-the-box idea that adds an unexpected touch of whimsy but it is not for everyone.

Painted chairs, coupled with a colorful rug, can revitalise your room, giving it the summer vibe that every summer house should radiate. Walls in a summer house often become the canvas of creativity. You can have one wall filled with memories of past summers or artworks that resonate with the season. Your summer house, your rules!

And while we talk about rooms and spaces, it's essential to highlight that even the space between chairs or next to your rug can be transformed with the right decor. But, as we dive deep into the world of summer house interiors, let's not forget the understated elegance of fabrics. The most crucial element in your summer house decor is indeed fabric. Home decor items such as cushions, table linens, aprons, and other accessories can effortlessly transform your home seasonally and with limited cost.

Deciphering the art of summer house decor

Whether you’re going on holiday abroad or enjoying a staycation in your London house, embrace the summer holiday atmosphere in your home. By using the right summer house decoration and fabrics, you can make your home space into a summer retreat without leaving the front door. With a little assistance from decoration and fabric experts, you can combine creative inspiration using our high quality fabrics to make your vision a reality. Harness your inner Christabel Chubb (from House & Garden) and let’s get going.

After all, summer house decorating is meant to be fun!

Your garden, festooned with summer blooms, can offer a bounty of décor accessories. Adorn your interior space with these fresh, vibrant touches. No garden tag? No worries. Simply make garden rooms by buying some fresh flowers to brighten up the interior or indulge in some of the gorgeous garden-inspired cushions, table linen and other nature-inspired lifestyle products. Explore more at maakeHome. Weave summer seamlessly into your summer house garden with these.

Floral and Birds VIII Square Cushion by BurcuKorkmazyurek

Let’s talk about fabric for your beach house

We’re going to discuss plenty of inspiring ideas for summer house interior decor, but you need to think about these considerations first:

• Fabrics that we use for summerhouse home decor have different purposes, depending on where you intend using them. For instance, if you’re looking for an apron to wear in the kitchen, it needs to be durable, perhaps even waterproof and stain-resistant. If you’re choosing curtains for a bedroom, the fabric also needs to be hard-wearing, but you will consider the drape, too. You will have a completely different set of priorities when you choose a fabric for garden or outdoor furniture – in this type of space, the material needs to be able to withstand the elements, including wind, rain and sunshine.
• A summer house with kids or pets needs very hard-wearing fabrics that are stain-resistant, especially for a playroom, bedroom and living area space. If you choose materials that are delicate, they won’t last.
• Is the fabric suitable for that particular room in your summer house? For instance, if you’re looking for bed linen, you should choose material that is warm or cool, depending on the season, as well as soft and crease-resistant. And kitchen curtains would have a completely different look and feel from bedroom or lounge drapes.
• Think about texture, for instance: if it’s a throw cushion, cover for chairs or sofa, curtain or other décor product for a bedroom, it needs to have a relaxing, cosy feel. If it’s for the kitchen space, you can choose happy, vibrant colours and patterns that will withstand wear and tear.

Choosing fabrics for your summer decor and how to make it stunning

As each kind of material has different requirements, consider the following points when you choose each fabric or fabric product for your summer house:

1. Quality

Quality is very important for summer house fabrics, as these will make your décor last longer. You’ll also find that quality fabrics are more hard-wearing and can withstand wear and tear and the elements far better. It’s important to remember that if the fabric will be in an area with a lot of sun, choose a synthetic rather than a natural fabric, as these won’t fade as fast.

2. Is it hard-wearing?

Materials used to upholster furniture in your summer house will obviously be expected to last longer than throws, cushions, tableware, etc. So make sure you choose very strong, hard-wearing materials when you upholster furniture like couches, dining room and kitchen chairs, even curtains for each summer space. For items used by kids and pets, choose synthetic materials like nylon and polyester which are made to last.

3. Fabric finishes

Most fabrics are treated with a finish or coating to give them a particular use. For example, fabrics are treated to make them anti-static, flame-retardant or water-resistant. Let’s take a look at some of the most common finishes that are perfect for summer houses:

• Resistant to stains: This is the most common finish of all. Making a fabric stain-resistant involves adding a chemical treatment that stops it from absorbing dirt and stains. This makes the fabric much easier to clean.
• Chemical coating: Another common fabric treatment, this coating protects the material from fading in the sun or being affected by harsh cleaning agents such as bleach or alcohol.
• Moisture resistant: The fabric has a coating applied to it that protects it from moisture seeping in.
• Fire- or flame-retardants (FR): This kind of coating is applied to a fabric to stop it from catching fire. Unfortunately, a lot of these retardants are not sustainable.
• Antimicrobial coating: This retardant protects the fabric from mildew, mould and other micro-organisms. It keeps the fabric from smelling and protects it from bacteria and fungi.

4. Texture

The feel of a fabric gives it a certain personality, which is why designers consider this element when coming up with ideas for materials used in a summer house interior space. Texture adds another dimension to the material that you use to upholster furniture, or when you buy cushions or a rug.

You can also use a textured fabric to hide any imperfections – this is often the case when choosing wallpaper. A textured wallpaper will hide any bumps in the walls. Texture can also hide wall scratches and stains. But remember – if the fabric has a rough texture, it could snag. Remember this when you buy a rug.

Still on the fence? Other points to consider when choosing summerhouse fabric

1. What does it cost?

You will choose more or less expensive fabrics for your summer house depending on your budget. If money is no object, choose natural fabrics as they are high quality and extremely luxurious. Technology has made it easy for synthetic fabrics to be luxurious and hard-wearing, too, which makes it easy to find more affordable man-made textile options for your summer house.

2. Colour and fabric samples

We’re about to discuss the fabric’s style and shades in great detail, but we want to make a suggestion here before you decorate your summer house. If you’re buying fabric online at maake, it’s advisable to purchase a fabric sample on the website before you print a design on it. If you wish, you can order a sample book which features a selection of our base fabrics, and shows what colours look like when we print them on these fabrics.

Read our blog The Best Textiles for Décor and Design here.

Marrying Your House Interiors with the Outdoors

 Spring fling - Rectangle Cushion by Blanka Calinic Design from maakehome 

To truly embody the summer spirit, here’s how you can beautify your summer house indoor space with some garden bounty:

• Design a space that flows seamlessly outdoors or onto covered patios.
• If you have limited garden access, create an interior oasis in your summer house. Transform your living room into a sun room with maake’s cheerful summer fabrics for cushions and relaxed seating.
• Infuse a dining space with an al fresco vibe, using maakeHome tableware in summer inspired designs.
• Revamp a room with summerhouse rules – accessories like floral maake cushions, curtains and kitchen accessories can make all the difference.
• Simulate an indoor garden by using garden-inspired fabrics.
• Embrace sunshine palettes of yellows and oranges.

Crafting the Ideal Summer Garden Space

Entertaining outdoors in the garden is one of the joys of summer. You don't have to live in palm beach to enjoy the summer. Take advantage of where you are by transforming your summer house with summer decor. Make those moments count with:

• Ambient lighting using outdoor solar lamps in the garden.
• Summer-ready personalized maakeHome table linen.
• An outdoor bar loaded with summer house essentials – a vibrant trolley for a garden space or indoor use is a great idea. Fill it with delicious icy drinks.
• Versatile seating like floor pillows, a soft rug or comfy outdoor couches are great. Adorn soft furnishings for the garden with summer fabrics in festive patterns to create a party space.

Dive into summer house decoration with summer themes

Before you choose your fabrics and colours, pick a theme for your summer house. Here are some recommendations that are perfect to use with maake fabrics:

• Island Magic: Lean on maake fabrics in blues, whites, and sandy hues.
• Fairy Tale: A Peter Rabbit-inspired fairytale garden, complete with maake floral fabrics and a shed, perhaps.
• Tropical Treasure: Think palm prints, pastel maake fabrics, and cane accents.
• Forest Haven: Woodland theme with earthy maake fabric textures, forest motifs, and serene lighting.
• Olde Worlde: Embrace a vintage English garden theme with breezy maake fabric choices and plenty of blooms.
• Zen Inspiration: Japanese or Balinese themes with maake’s tranquil fabrics. Use patterns with water elements, or stones and rocks on a wall or in soft pillows or throws. Add running water for an unmatched garden atmosphere.
• Summer in the Hamptons: Blue and white maake fabrics for an airy space with wicker furniture. Perfect inside or in the garden.
• Boho: A riot of colour, texture and pattern. Embrace maake fabrics in rich jewel tones.

Celebrate the joy of water at home. A summer house isn't just by the seaside; why not enjoy a pool in your own garden?

• Poolside: Think of hammocks adorned with maake summer fabrics or a living area resembling a cabana. Your poolside summer house is modern, simple and relaxing.
• By the Sea: Add nautical vibes with blue and white maake stripes for the bedroom or living area. Décor should be simple, soft and cool with lots of neutrals and gorgeous shades of aquamarine and blue.

Room Design Ideas for house interiors, make any space in your summer house shine

Al Fresco Dining: Dine under the stars with maake tablecloths in various themes, from nautical to tropical. Add maakeHome dinner napkins and pretty crockery to match for that special touch.

1. Al fresco dining

The best thing about dining outdoors in the garden sunshine or under the stars is that you can change it up every single time with colourful maakeHome tableware and a delicious menu. Here’s some inspiration for your summer house:

• For a picnic feel, use a red and white checked tablecloth, and serve lots of small plates of delicious eats. You can even use coloured paper plates and napkins so it’s easy to tidy up after.
• Go big and bold with hue and pattern – for a colourful festive theme, try different patterns or colours for serviettes, table runners, plates and glasses

Fruits Flowers Pomegranate Roses Art Table Runner by Marinova at maakeHome 

• Keep to the nautical look with a blue and white or aqua tablecloth, serviettes and white crockery.
• Create a garden party space with bold florals and summer flowers on tables, refreshing cold dishes and icy drinks.
• Tea in the garden is always fun… here are some ideas: Choose pops of colour for cakes, petit fours and mini sandwiches, and serve iced tea in chilled glass jars. 

Cat and Floral Pattern III Square Cushion by Burcukorkmazyurek from maakeHome 

• Try a tropical theme (see feature pic), complete with cocktails and coloured paper umbrellas. 
• Or make some Mexican magic with bold, bright, colourful food and accessories. Margarita, anyone?

2. Indoor Space

Design living areas in your summer house that are perfect for hangouts.

Open the windows, let the light and fresh air in, let the ideas flow and start decorating with maake summer fabrics for personalised cushions, throws and accessories.

3. Garden Feels

Go green with maake fabrics in garden patterns for year-round summer vibes. Think tropical wallpapers (button for wallpaper) and plant-inspired cushions for an outdoor log cabin. All of these are available from maake – log cabins not included!

These charming garden additions can transform the look and feel of any living space – the kitchen, dining room, breakfast nook, TV room or lounge.

4. White is Right

Use white as a canvas and accentuate with colourful maake fabrics and maakeHome living and décor products. After all, white is the perfect backdrop for any shade or pattern in a summer house. It also reflects light and brightens up a space beautifully.

If you have natural light in a room and decorate with white as your base, you’ll see the effect for yourself. It’s quite magnificent! The trick is to keep a painted wall and other key furniture items in bright white or a few neutrals (stone colours and beach colours work best) and use bright colours to offset the white. 

First things first – let’s look at summer house fabrics

There’s a variety of natural fabrics to use for summer décor, as well as some made with a blend of natural and synthetic materials, and semi-synthetic fabrics. Let’s check it out:

A Symphony of Summer House Patterns and Colours

Some inspiring ideas on how to bring summer into your home

Pantone’s 2023 colour forecast

Choose maake fabrics in earthy greens, neon sign blue and vibrant magenta (evident in the Pantone Colour of the Year, Viva Magenta). These shades will brighten up your interior.

East meets West

Add a touch of Asia with Chinoiserie patterns on maake fabrics or go bold with our floral prints.

Bold florals

Make a bold summer statement with a gorgeous floral print. This is a joyful addition to any room in a summer house. Go crazy with your combinations: mix bright pink with gorgeous orange blooms or combine purple and yellow. For a softer look, try perfect pastel peonies. Works as well for a wall as it does for décor accessories.

Kitchen Delights

With maakeHome kitchen accessories in vibrant fruit designs, the kitchen can be a haven in summer houses. Think of colourful table settings with our gorgeous tablecloths and napkins, complemented by a refreshing summer menu.

Summer tropical fruits are colourful by nature – think mangoes, watermelon, pomegranates, papayas, bananas, pineapples, pretty plums and tangerines.

Tropical Exotic Fruits Tea Towel by Marinova 

Tomatoes, avocadoes, yellow peppers, carrots and layers of lettuce add another whole colourful dimension to your kitchen palette. It’s time to get creative – a colourful world is waiting!

Cosy Yet Cool

A summer house should be inviting. Infuse comfort and make the space a cosy retreat with maake’s textured fabrics for soft pillows, light throws, rugs and curtains in materials like linen, cotton, silk, and micro modal.

Ceramic and wood accessories also add great texture. Accessories the room with stacks of magazines to read, soft curtains and an abundance of lazy, relaxed pillows.

Tablescapes

Get creative with colour when you create a summer table setting. Even if you’re dining indoors, add a holiday feel with mis-matched painted plates, brightly coloured tablecloths and napkins in a softer shade, perhaps with a small pattern on. Check out maakeHome’s stunning selection of ready-made products, or create your own with maake’s inspiring high quality fabrics.

Colourful glasses and candles add a touch of festive flair. Then add the perfect summer menu full of cold dishes and refreshing chilled drinks. A summer house can't get any better than that!

Summer fabric choices

Natural fabrics

For your summer house, cotton, flax, linen, silk and wool are the most common natural fabrics, as well as less commonly used interior decorating materials like hemp, jute and mohair. Linen and cotton are often used for upholstery, cushions, throws, blankets, bed and table linen because they are strong materials. Silk is more delicate, so it’s used mainly for decorative and painted items.

• What makes natural fabrics so popular is that they are biodegradable, grown and manufactured mostly sustainably, without harsh chemicals, lots of water and energy.
• These natural fabrics are so popular for an interior space because they are breathable, no matter the season. They are also more comfortable, which is why they are often used for bedding, too. Natural materials are also hard-wearing, as most of them contain cellulose, which makes them strong.
• They also absorb moisture, which is why they are often chosen for upholstery and bed linen.
• Natural materials tend to be hypoallergenic, not only because of their breathability, but also because fewer chemicals are used to manufacture them, so they are suitable for sensitive skins.

Note: maake prints detailed patterns and designs with different colours on natural fabrics using digital printing. In this sustainable computerised print process, we use digital pigment inks. We also use no water during the print process as well as 95% less energy than traditional screen printing.

Synthetic fabrics

These days, synthetic fabrics have come a long way, and are as comfortable and durable as natural ones. Of course, some are better than others, but their affordable prices make them a popular choice. As sustainability is an important consideration right now, manufacturing these materials has become under the spotlight, and as a result, a producer, especially one who collects data on sutainability, is trying harder to make these fabrics more sustainably. This involves using less energy and water, and looking after the factory workers with liveable wages and better working conditions.

Although technology has made some of these materials more breathable and hard-wearing, you need to be careful with your choices. As a result, fabric blends are very popular – this is when the fabric fibres are a blend of natural and man-made. Cotton fibres are often blended with a small percentage of synthetic or semi-synthetic material to create viscose, which is used for home décor products. Viscose is made by regenerating cellulose with a substance like wood pulp. This gives the material a silky feel. In fact, people often refer to viscose as artificial silk. When you combine viscose and cotton, the result is a breathable, hard-wearing material.

Note: All of maake’s synthetic fabrics are printed using the sublimation printing method. In this chemical printing process, which is also called dye sublimation, the ink used to dye the fabric changes from a solid to a gas using pressure and heat. This method does not use any water. Also, the inks we use meet Oeko-tex requirements and pass EN71-3 certification.

The best room décor fabrics

In our blog The Top 5 fabrics for interior design, we discuss a range of textiles you can use in home décor, including our choice of the 5 best home materials. We’ve broken them down into flame-retardant materials and 2 others. See below.

maake’s choice of flame-retardant fabrics

These 3 flame-retardant (FR) fabrics, one of which is great for light furniture upholstery, while the others are perfect for every kind of homeware for your summer house, from curtains and throws to cushions and upholstery – even the wall. These are:

Oslo FR

The slight slub texture of the fabric drapes beautifully, which is why we often use it for curtaining. This is a quality material certified FR (flame retardant). Its white polyester base prints vivid colours. 

Voile FR 

A very lightweight voile fabric that is perfect for décor accessories, as well as mosquito nets and window veils. This quality flame-retardant textile is sheer with a tight plain weave and a smooth surface. Has a good drape, which makes it a stunning choice for curtains. Front and back of fabric is identical.

Waterproof Suede FR

Extremely hard-wearing suede material that is flame- and water-resistant as well as microbial and easy to wipe clean. Great for homes with kids and pets. Often used for garden furniture (cushions, upholstery, etc).

This excellent fabric is ideal for home garden and outdoor furniture, such as cushions, furniture upholstery and other accessories. The suede front of the fabric is white, while the reverse is off-white and isn’t suede. 

Maake’s other 2 summer fabric choices

2 more recommendations for modern summer house decor for furniture and decor:

1. Bayeux Upholstery

This is a heavyweight crushed chenille fabric with a mild shine. It’s mostly used for curtains, cushions, and upholstery. A durable material with a soft touch, it’s the heaviest of maake’s polyester fabrics. Bayeux Upholstery has an off-white base but prints colours vibrantly with a look that is almost metallic.

2. Eco Velvet

A sumptuous, soft and vibrant material perfect for cushions, curtains and light upholstery. Features a slight stretch, very soft print face, short pile and smooth, off-white backing. You can either order this versatile fabric, or buy ready-made velvet cushions from maakeHome. Add to your favourites right here.

Maake’s top cushion fabric choices

We have compiled an entire comprehensive blog entitled Top 8 cushion fabric choices to help you choose the best cushion fabric from maake.

If you’re looking for ready-made cushions, check out the great selection on offer at maakeHome. Open the website with our persistent html and discover unique quality fabric products.

Crafting Your Perfect Summer Houses

With maake, you’re spoilt for choice with our range of exceptional fabrics and designs for your summer homes. Plus, with maakeHome’s curated collection of décor items, creating your summer sanctuary is just a click away. We tag worldwide and deliver locally as well as globally. Dive in and unleash your creativity today! Use ‘delivery add’ to your heart’s content!

If you’re keen to design your own fabric, follow the link below. We don’t use a user video, but our instructions are very easy to follow. Just follow every word.

Here comes summer, and with it, plenty of opportunities to spend time outside enjoying the balmy weather. As temperatures rise, you need plenty of decor inspiration (and not just from Etsy) to make your home and even your office interiors reflect the sunny season. Let the maake team help you transform your space into the ultimate summer house using our fabric ideas and best part? You can get your favourites personalised, just go to maakeHome and get started.

Choose your fabric                   Design your own fabric        Buy maakeHome products