Winter to Summer with a few minor touches

I love so many decorating styles - traditional, primitive, rustic, cottage, and to a lesser extent mid-century. We have a bit of each in our home. The room in this post is an addition we put on several years ago when the children were young and all living at home. It is a combination eating area and family room - a gathering room as they were called in an earlier era.

Changing out the decor for the season is always fun, but I decided to give this room a lake cottage look for the summer and I can actually keep out the plaid blankets and pillows and make them fit the season by adding other touches such as a rustic "cabins" sign, a picnic basket, a duck, and a farmer's market veggie basket watercolor.

This room, when all six windows are open, can actually get a bit chilly in the evenings, so the blankets continue to be put to good use.

Summer is the red, white, and blue, season, with all the summer holidays - Memorial Day, Flag Day and, of course, the 4th of July. So the architectural stars and the flag pillow plus the colors in the weaving add to the spirit.

There are so many memories in this room - my mother's high school sampler on the brick wall, the antique weaving, a gift from David's mother after Faith and he were married in Charleston last Spring. The antique checkerboard was a gift from John many Christmases ago. It had been covered in white paint and was part of a chicken coop wall before it was rescued.

The water color is one I did in one of Ingrid Dohm's classes when her studio was a gathering place in the North End, and she was an integral part of our First Thursday celebrations.

Having a booth instead of a store, where I had regular hours, is giving me more time to spend at home and more time to enjoy the rearranging, something that was a bit neglected during my five years as a shopkeeper.

Homes tell the stories of our lives, and I often marvel at how fast those stories move from chapter to chapter.