How I Refreshed My Home for Summer and Why Cranberry is My Unexpected Color of the Season

If you’ve been here a while, you might know that I do a seasonal swap four times a year. I take down the spring look and bring in something that feels right for summer. Last year I wrote about this transition and showed you how I added pops of yellow to my blue and white. This year is a completely different story.

This summer I went warmer, richer, and honestly a little bolder. I brought cranberry back into my home.

That might not sound like a dramatic statement, but for me it kind of is. I had not used cranberry anywhere in my house in years. Not even at Christmas. Then last December I finally brought it back in for the holidays, and I loved it so much I could not let it go. The remodeling we were doing last winter kept me from publishing that Christmas content, so you haven’t seen much of it yet. It is coming this year, I promise, and it will be worth the wait. But the short version is: cranberry came back into my house in December 2025, and it felt completely right.

So when it came time to think about summer, I kept coming back to that color. Cranberry for summer. I know that sounds unexpected. But stay with me, because it works.

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Where It All Started: A Sofa I Couldn’t Have

Here is the honest origin story of this whole summer refresh. I was scrolling through Liz Marie Galvan’s Instagram, and I saw a cranberry gingham sofa that stopped me in my tracks. It was exactly the kind of piece I didn’t know I needed until I saw it. Warm, pattern-forward, with a ruffled skirt, it was completely cozy and charming.

Then I looked up the price tag. And I quickly came to terms with the fact that swapping out furniture with the seasons is not a lifestyle I can entertain.

But the color and the pattern had gotten into my head, and I couldn’t let them go. So I started looking for cranberry gingham anywhere I could find it. That search led me somewhere I did not expect.

From Sofa Envy to the Perfect Find

Months ago, while browsing the internet, I found curtains at Marshalls. Cranberry gingham curtains. I ordered them immediately.

I’m sharing where I found them because they are unfortunately no longer available on the Marshalls site, which is the nature of that kind of find. I have, however, found very similar curtains and linked them below.

This is where this refresh started. One sofa I couldn’t buy sent me down a path that ended with curtains I love and a whole room that feels completely new.

The Pillows: Layering the Pattern

The pillows got a refresh too. I found the most beautiful floral pillow covers with a light cranberry floral print and green foliage. I paired them with the green and white gingham covers I already had out for spring. Keeping the green gingham was an easy decision. It bridges the spring and summer looks and grounds all that floral pattern with something more geometric. The two together are exactly the kind of combination that looks collected rather than matched.

And then I opened a package that arrived after I had put my room together, one that I was not entirely sure about. A chinoiserie pillow cover, birds and florals, in blues, greens, and that same light cranberry. I put it up next to the floral covers and the gingham, and it just works! Who knew something that would go so against the grain of safe design choices would be so unexpectedly lovely? This is what I mean when I talk about designing with what you love, not what’s on trend, in my Small House Decorating Guide.

When this design surprise happens and you find a piece that bridges every color story you have going on in one small space, you buy more. I now have them sprinkled around the living area and into the newly wallpapered entryway.

That simple pillow that I wouldn’t have dreamed would work now connects every space without a single room feeling like it is trying too hard to match the next one.

Three Checks, Three Colors, One Room

Here is something you would not think would work. I have three different checks in this room right now, and none of them match. Cranberry and white gingham on the curtains, green and white gingham on the pillow covers. And then there is my blue and white buffalo check that has anchored this room through every season.

Three checks. Three different color combinations. Three different scales. You would think the room would look like a picnic tablecloth, but it doesn’t—it looks intentional.

The reason it works is that checks and gingham are part of the same pattern family. They share a geometry and simplicity that makes them natural companions even when the colors are completely different. What ties them together is not the color but the pattern. However, the scale of the print on each one is different, and I believe that is what makes them work well together. They coexist, and the variety is what gives the room a collected, layered quality.

If you have ever been told that your patterns need to match exactly or that mixing checks is risky, I’m here to tell you that is not true. Vary the color, vary the size and scale, and let the pattern family do the rest.

A Note on the Chandelier Shades

My chandelier has never had shades until this spring when I decided to cover the bulbs with some cute green and white shades. It gives the fixture a softer, more cottagecore feel. So for summer, the shades got swapped out too. I found some charming cranberry and white toile shades. They blend in beautifully with the overall room, which is exactly what a chandelier shade should do. But the curtains are the real story.

Styling the Shelves: Flow Blue, Transferware, and How to Mix Them

This is the part I get the most questions about: how do you mix collections without it looking like a jumble? Especially when you are working with flow blue china, pink and red transferware, and green transferware all at once.

The answer, at least for me, is that they all share the same cream/white background. That shared element is what makes them read as a collection rather than a pile of old dishes.

Here is how I approach it:

• Flow blue is my foundation. I spread it evenly rather than clustering it, and it sets the rhythm for the shelves.
• Pink and red transferware along with green transferware come in as the accent. A single plate on a stand or a small piece tucked in between two flow blue pieces. It is a sprinkle of moments, not the statement.
• Books with red spines replaced some of the books I had on my shelves and table displays. They add a little more color without adding more pattern.
• While I’m not a great plant mom, living greens add color to a room without competing against patterns. It also adds not only a texture but a natural, bringing the outdoor in element.

One thing I would add about mixing the reds: do not stress about the transferware and books matching perfectly with the other elements in the room. Mine don’t match at all. The slight variations showcase the collected-over-time look that is not only true to me but also to my home.

The Rug Question

I have a cranberry and navy Persian antique rug in storage that I considered bringing out for summer. I thought about it seriously and decided against it.

Here is my thinking: a sisal rug is genuinely summery on its own. The texture reads natural and casual and warm-weather in a way that a more formal Persian rug does not. It also is so “Nancy Meyers,” which is a look I aspire to. I already have a lot going on in a good way, and adding the old rug on top of all of that would have tipped the room into too much.

My rule of thumb for any decorating decision like this is to make the other small changes first and live with it for a day or two. Let the room tell you what it needs or doesn’t need.

Pulling the Color Through: Strawberry Stems in the Kitchen

One thing I always try to do when I introduce a new color into the main living space is find a way to pull it into the kitchen as well. The kitchen is connected to everything, and if the color stops in the living space, the whole house can feel disjointed.

For summer I am using faux strawberry stems in a simple vessel on the kitchen island. They bring in just enough of that cranberry-adjacent red to tie the rooms together without making the kitchen feel like it’s trying to match the dining room. Strawberries scream summer. They feel fresh and casual and right for the season.

I’ve also tucked a red ironstone piece into the open shelf wall in the kitchen. That surprise moment!

It is the small things, but small things are usually doing the most important work in a space. Less is more!

Cranberry coming back into the house has been a fun adventure. I forgot how much I loved it. I do not intend to let it disappear again for years at a time.

I would love to know what you think—would you have pulled out the Persian rug, or would you have left the sisal? Tell me in the comments below.

Peace and Love,

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