I like to think of myself as motivated, but the truth is I think I spend too much time mentally critiquing what's "wrong" with my home. Having two toddlers means a constant drum beat of toy pick-up, and there are always lots of little things that I want to fix and change. But sometimes, like when my whole family is able to eat dinner outside on our deck, and the warm evening air is soft and sweet and golden, I have to close my eyes, take a deep breath, and say a quiet "thanks" for all that is great about where I live.
So, let's take a quick break from thinking about what we want to fix and change so we can wax poetic about the features of our homes that really shine during the summer months. Maybe you love the patio where you can read under the stars late into the night, or the way the light fills your living room in the evenings, or maybe it's your garden, because it gives you a sense of pride and a source of nourishment.
Ok, I'll go first. Here's what I love about my home during the summer.
I live in a 6-flat in Chicago, so we don't have a garden or room for any type of pool, and summer in the city can be hot and crowded. But here's what my home does have going for it during the summer.
1. I love that I have a back deck. Sure, it only looks onto the backs of other apartments, but it's also a chance to eat most of our dinners outside, a space for a small container garden, a way to catch up with our neighbors, an opportunity to listen to birds and crickets as we watch airplanes and the occasional balloon float by. At night we turn on strings of tiny party lights, and the deck is where we drink wine and talk, or sometimes where I go by myself to look up at the city sky and let my thoughts wander.
2. I love that my home is a 10-minute walk from an ice cream shop, bustling al fresco dining spots, and a weekly farmers' market, where I stroll with my kids and fill my bags with juicy peaches, earthy crimini mushrooms, and handfuls of fragrant fresh herbs. Our neighborhood of Andersonville truly does feel like a small town in a big city during the summer, and I love that sense of community.
3. I love my sunroom during the summer. It's a small room adjacent to our living room, and when the weather's warm it's endlessly entertaining to curl up in a reading chair, throw open all the windows and take in the dog walkers and ice cream trucks, bike riders and stoop sitters. Just the other night I heard the following snippet of a conversation trail up to my window: "And she didn't even change out of her stilettos before she started chasing him and his grandma!" Ah, summer in the city. Free entertainment and ice cream trucks. What's not to love?
Ok, now it's your turn. What do you love about your home during the summer?
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I'm loving your pallet table!
AC, lol here in south florida we enjoy eating in the yard more in the winter months.
I do love my pool though more in summer.
My apt gets amazing morning sunlight. My balcony is a good size and after a few years' of experimenting, this year I've really transformed it into a garden-y space. There is a fantastic gelato place about a block away. My neighbourhood is very leafy and shaded and there is a terrific park close by.
Love our gardens - herbs, veggies, figs, berries, and lots of perennials and annuals. Love that I can see stars at night and hear birds and frogs and not much else. Love that the 1st floor is dark and cool in the summer - when it is 100 (as it will be by Friday) and humid I retreat to the teal living room and let the A/C wash over me. Love the deck for fall, spring dining - too hot and buggy in the summer.
I do the same thing! I live in a two bedroom bungalow in Nashville, TN, with all hardwood floors and yet I pick at the little (and big) things!
In the summer, I love my vegetable garden (I love my okra and cherry tomatoes in particular). I love that my husband got a big schmancy grill, and that we have a deck with a table on which to enjoy a fresh dinner and summery libations with friends! I also love that one of my best friends lives next door to me, and we get to hang out on their porch too :-)
due to all of the gorgeous trees leafing out, the river view vanishes slowly in spring / summer so I enjoy the wall of green & really appreciate seeing the river again in winter and watching boats go by on an otherwise grey day.
i love all of the songbirds that fill the trees in summer, vines and blossoms and heady perfume of nature. lots of sun and lots of shade. blueberry & raspberry bushes surround my small lot.
i love lounging on the patio and having herbs, onion & garlic growing nearby.
we can easily walk to a state park and climb a mountain. not bad !! Summer at home is just fine with me.
Greetings from an fellow Andersonville-r! My small apartment porch is one of my favorite summer features for many of the same reasons: eating/drinking/lounging/grilling!! outside, pots of flowers and herbs, chit-chatting with neighbors.
I'll also add air-drying clothes and sheets on an outdoor clothesline, and I love the screen door I put up so I can leave my back door open all evening for a nice breeze and pretty view of my porch. Plus, yes, the farmers markets, all the neighborhood festivals, and a fabulous (clean!) beach and Lake Shore bike path less than a mile away.
The beautiful weather actually prompted me to start a blog called My Homespun Home about my home and all that home entails for me: cooking, crafty projects, etc. It's been a great way to document my summer so far!
@ABCORNWELL - I'm so glad that I'm not the only one that loves 'dark and cool' in the summer. My living room fits the bill perfectly, as does the rock basement.
I love my screen porch, too, especially at night or during a light rainstorm when everything cools off.
My bedroom has a sliding glass door that opens onto the balcony. When I get home from work I open the door and lay down for a little bit (or quite a while) and enjoy the afternoon breeze. Eventually my kid, the dog and the cat all end up laying down with me. It's a lovely way to unwind at the end of the day!
Being able to open my windows.
Hanging out on the front porch drinking my ice coffee on a Summer morning.
Definitely our overgrown front porch. It’s next on the list of renovation projects, but there’s something really appealing about the wild vines and crazy orange ceiling that makes it appealing. (Although I will NOT be keeping the orange ceiling!!)
Living in Dallas, Texas it always amuses me when people wax ecstatic about summer.
Picnics outside-no way. Not even after dark. Still hot and let's not talk about the mosquitoes.You could die!
Summer here is hell! Thank God for air-conditioning
We have great morning light (year round) in the kitchen. Sometimes that means I drop everything and run around like a maniac to gather stuff to photograph in that light (including food).
Our house stays cool easily. The original owners had argon gas-filled windows installed. :)
Short walk to the neighborhood pool.
I love sitting on the back patio under the big maple tree and watching the hundreds of fireflies wake up at dusk. It's my 30 minutes of relaxation a day.
Also- the sound the trees in the breeze, it's almost like having a little fountain.
They say it's a Dry Heat here in Tucson, and it is most of the time. So at those times sitting on our back patio with our misters on laughing with and at our kids is the best!
I have a fairly private back yard. Well, the privacy is actually only virtual as the street is sloping up so the adjacent lot on the right side is a bit higher than mine and although it looks private from my yard, the neighbour can see in. But, he is a divorced guy of my age, we get along fine, he doesn't have too many visitors so it's fine.
In summertime, I enjoy having all windows open (unless there is a need to crank up the AC which I limit to the hot muggy days only) and doing a bit of gardening. My patio has enough shade for me and my dogs to about noon, then it's time to take some siesta indoors (I hate the afternoon heat anyways) and then we venture out in the early evening again. The dogs have comfortable beds on the patio and they enjoy napping, watching bugs (they are FASCINATED with bugs), chasing squirrels, drinking from the bird bath, digging where they are not supposed to, etc. I enjoy being with them, working on the garden, drinking gallons of iced coffee and reading tons of books.
@Jess13 - your mention of fireflies reminded of my childhood (I grew up in Europe). We used to have tons of fireflies but I have never seen any in Canada).
The hummingbirds that frequent our five feeders (two large balconies), views of sunset over the Great Salt Lake (preferably with a G&T while lounging on our patio), and hearing my chicken's chatter.
I agree on all these points! I have a modest patio, but it's big enough for a couple of chairs, a few pots of herbs, a grill and some warm outdoor lights. I love my neighborhood with the lush greens and manicured lawns and being walking distance to ice cream, outdoor dining, and farmers markets. A huge festival over the fourth takes place in a park on the adjacent block to my condo. I wish I had more time to enjoy this time of the year!!
Having just moved to Chicago from Iowa, I too am struggling to not nitpick over the slow process of decorating my new apartment. I just got my IKEA bookcase and bed frame Saturday! Still need to decoupage my coffee table, get window treatments up, add some DIY art to the walls, get barstools for the breakfast bar and a kitchen table for two--as well as down the line get a better TV for the living room (ENORMOUS ceilings makes my college 32" look tiny).
I've lived in the city a little over the month, though, and I absolutely love my surrounding neighborhoods. I live just on the edge of Wicker Park, which (albeit being a "trendy" neighborhood) is gorgeous--shady, full of old, beautiful houses, and actually brimming with a lot of really nice people, especially young families. I like that it's a unique scene, it reminds me a lot of how you're describing Andersonville, which I'll now have to check out!
Thanks for the great post. :)
I love the coolness of the cellar. I love the breeze blowing thru the curtains.
This summer, I can finally love the back deck as we just built a new one, replacing a dangerous too small back porch. Now we can entertain more than 2 people!
I love our backyard. We live on a busy street in a mid-sized city, but our backyard is fenced in and we have two ponds. One has a waterfall, and the sound of water falling drowns out the traffic noise, so it doesn't even seem like you're in the city. We have a u-shaped sidewalk that goes around our yard, so our daughters can ride their bikes back there. They are always running around and inventing and creating things, and it seems like they play so much better outside than in!
This year, we finished a lot of the landscaping we've been working on (also, hauled away a lot of debris left by the previous owners) and put in a butterfly/bee garden. There is a surprising amount of wildlife in our yard, and I love to sit on the deck and watch the fish and the birds.
Go Andersonville! I love Simon's and Hop Leaf.
But call me a "concerned father" but I wonder how you handle the toddlers around that palette turned table? They even seem a bit dangerous for adults - note that they aren't really built as furniture, just 50 pounds of rough sawn wood and rusty nails. I worked at warehouses while putting myself through college and those things really do a number on your hands (giant slivers) and ankles (scraped).
I live in Oregon where it rains, rains, rains most of the year. The summers are beautiful here though. As soon as the weather starts clearing and warming up, we like to open up windows put cushions on outside furniture, hang lights, basically move outside because we've been cooped up all winter and spring.
@threadbndr - A rock basement and a screened porch - way to go! We had those when we lived in Woonsocket, RI, when I was a kiddo. Ate dinner on the porch every summer day - loved it.
@flora28 - Hahaha! I love you! I can dig it - and why *summer* festivals? Who wants to go out and get heatstroke and come home covered in bug bites? Let's rally for autumn festivals!
I really love our garden. We moved to England at the end of last summer, and into our house in the fall, so I never saw our yard (called garden here) in bloom. It has been a spectacular, changing display of colors and blossoms. We cleared out a patio, and have a really nice place to eat and sit in the sun, and we also put in a number of raised beds, so we can eat from our garden as much as possible. It feels like a park, but better! In rural England, everyone has a garden, and even though they only get to use it a few months a year, they are planted and tended meticulously!
I shared pictures of our yard and those of our neighbors here: http://and-here-we-are.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/what-i-love-about-where-i-live-garden.html
The views, and walking to the beach.
Not a blessed thing. I live in the hell that is Washington, DC in the summer, and the only thing I love about summer is that it will be fall in a few, um, several months.
Hmmmm...Gotta think hard on this one as I too live in AZ and it pretty much sucks-ass in the summer. I'm still thinking...
I live in a 6 flat too, but in Hyde Park! We have a back-facing unit as well, and one thing I absolutely love in summer is keeping the back door completely open if it's not too hot out. I love looking out onto our porch and my plants, and feeling the cool breeze wafting into our kitchen.
I love this happy thoughts post!
I love that my building is situated in an urban area, but also on the river bank. My apartment faces south, and nature (trees, water, mountains, birds all day long), but if I go out the front door, there are bus stops, shops, restaurants, etc. I love it all year round, but it's especially brilliant and happy-making in the summer. I also love that I have my own little balcony to sit on and melt into my little paradise in the sun. And I love the river breezes that cool, and the trees that are really tall right in the perfect spot to block the sun during the hottest part of the day. :)
What I love about my home in Dallas in the summer is that my air conditioning works well.
1) garden
2) kids go play outside
3) deck
4) kids go play outside
5) bbq
6) did I mention the kids go play outside?
Growing herbs and veggies on my small 10th floor balcony.
I have a small house with a BIG screen porch with a vaulted ceiling and ceiling fan....thrifted wicker and big, fat, cushions covered in vintage fabrics....a table and chairs for dining...outdoor lamps and candles!
Too bad I live in WI and can't enjoy it year-long, but I take what I can get.
Coffee on the deck. Dinner on the deck. Fire in the chiminea on the deck. Talking with friends on the deck. Relaxing on the deck.
My awesome back yard. It's awesome because we have one! I love that I can just leave the back door open and my kids can run in and out. Even though we live in a big city, it makes things feel more 'normal' that they can go out of of doors alone. Of course this isn't only a summer thing - my daughter will throw on a raincoat if it's a rainy spring day and head out back!
Fragrant or night-blooming plants on the patio.
Visits from neighborhood frogs and toads.
Nights when summer fog in other parts of the Bay Area manage to cool off the inland areas, where I am now (and where the summer daytime temp can exceed 100 degrees).
Any night when the temperature dips below 65 degrees and any day when the temperature doesn't get above 82 degrees.
A hot-weather excuse to make imitation Starbucks frosty mocha drinks, ice cream or sorbets.
Central air conditioning!
My constantly improving landscaping. (Just outdoor decor, after all!) Recently created my own garden steps on a steep slope, working on the weeding and pruning that it's been too hot and/or rainy to do so far, and a doing little planting. LOTS of bark mulch spreading and preparing areas of lawn which are on those steep slopes for composting under newspaper and mulch so they can be planted next year (and the riding lawn mower won't tip over trying to maintain the grass...)
My tiny "Japanese" garden with the birdbath which my feathered friends have been enjoying.
Gas grill on the small "balcony" deck off the kitchen. We don't cook at home a lot, but grilling is more enticing than stove food any day!
Houston, here, chiming in with the rest of the Texans. Thankful for a working A/C. Thankful to be close to several bodies of water and friends with pools for swimming, boating and water activities.
Thankful that I can be outdoors for the other 9 months out of the year. The summer does give me a lot of motivation to do indoor home improvement projects, so I guess I should be thankful for that.
PS: I miss fireflies too! What's up with that? Where did they go?
@ KPAUPAU
Fellow Houstonian here - I've been told that the fireflies can't withstand the stuff the city uses to spray for mosquitoes.
I'm thankful for a working A/C, nightfall, and covered parking :) Is it October yet?
Good to know! I would much rather not have skeeters than look at fireflies. I still can see some when we go visit friends up north in the summer months.