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Our Summer Home Tour

Our plain, builder grade home started out as a blank slate, but we’ve been working hard to make it our own! Come take our summer home tour to see the progress we’ve made so far!

Our Orchard House Summer Home Tour, white kitchen, cottage kitchen

Hello, hello, friends! I am SO excited to welcome you to our Summer Home Tour today! In recent months, our house has been in a state of transition, with a lot of half-done projects in most of our rooms, so I shared just a few rooms during the Christmas season and skipped spring tours altogether– it has been a while since I really showed you around!

Our Summer Home Tour

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

Ryan Homes Palermo Model, Elevation L, Summer Home Tour

If you’re new around here, we built our house with a community builder (It is a Palermo by Ryan Homes.) and moved in in September of 2016. It was a totally blank slate— all white walls, basic trim work, hardly any light fixtures, no window coverings– and we have been working away for almost two years to customize it and make it our own.

We are far from finished at this point, but I felt like we turned a little corner recently, and some of the rooms have finally begun to feel like the cozy, welcoming spaces I had imagined! Come on in and take a peek!

Summer Porch Decor on a Ryan Homes Palermo, Elevation L

You can see more details of our summer porch in this post.

Shop Our Porch

Today I thought I’d primarily share the rooms our main living area, since that’s the part of the house that has seen the most change over the past few months! Our living room, kitchen, and sunroom are all part of one larger space, and we spend the majority of our time at home there.

Let’s start in the living room!

Neutral Living Room with Touches of Pink and Aqua Decorated for Summer, Summer Home Tour

You may have seen a little sneak peek of this room when I talked about how I decorate the shelves of our entertainment unit a few weeks ago. Of all of the rooms in our house, this one started out feeling the most stark and empty, but it is coming together now!

One of the first projects we did in the living room was to use IKEA’s BESTA system + some custom trim work to create the entertainment unit around the TV. I love that it gives us some storage space, and I can also change out the decor on the shelves for each season.

Living Room with IKEA BESTA Entertainment Unit and Board and Batten, Summer Home Tour

The board and batten is a more recent addition, and I feel like it totally transformed the look of the space, along with the power of paint! The board and batten is painted Behr Marquee Cameo White, and the gray color above it is Behr Marquee Silver City (my very favorite gray paint color).

I have been wanting to find more spots to hang family pictures around our house, and the area above our love seat ended up being perfect for them.

Family Photos Hung Above the Couch on Board and Batten, Summer Home Tour

I especially love the photos of the boys because they capture their little personalities perfectly– Connor is giving his “cool guy” look, and Caleb is being silly, per usual! 🙂

Pink and Aqua Summer Living Room Decor Ideas

I went with my usual aquas for this summer, but decided to add a few small touches of pink as well. That’s about all I can get away with in my house full of boys, but I am loving the combination!

Wicker Tray Centerpiece with Lantern and Pink Peonies for a Summer Home Tour

We have IKEA’s EKTORP sofa, love seat, and chair as our main seating, and I love them. They are slipcovered, so it’s easy to pull off the covers and wash them– I don’t need to worry if the boys get stuff on them! I can also switch out the covers when I’m ready for a change. This set is tan, but I also have white ones that I put on to freshen up the look every once in a while.

IKEA EKTORP Couch with Kitchen in the Background, Summer Home Tour

aqua pillows- HomeGoods, left cream pillow- Hobby Lobby, right cream pillow- At Home, center floral pillow- this Etsy shop

They’re cozy too! The perfect place to snuggle up and relax. 🙂

Farmhouse Living Room with Board and Batten and White Curtains
Cottage Living Room Decor, Summer Home Tour

tray- At Home, lantern, pitcher

Neutral Living Room Decor with Aqua and Pink Accents, Summer Home Tour

Shop Our Living Room

If you stand at the entertainment unit and look back toward the couch, you can also see into our kitchen…

Living Room and Kitchen Open Concept, Farmhouse Style, Summer Home Tour

This summer I decided to add some small-but-bright pops of color to our kitchen, and I think they are exactly what it needed. It’s just enough to break up the white and gray palette and make the room really shine.

White Kitchen with Pops of Pink and Aqua, Summer Home Tour

rail at end of island

The walls in our kitchen were painted recently too (also Behr’s Silver City), and even though it wasn’t a ton of surface area, I feel like the paint really helped the space look less stark and more inviting.

We spend so much time at our kitchen island! It’s big enough for four stools, so we often eat meals there as a family, and the boys also work on homework, build lego sets, and do art projects at the island. And I use it for meal prep too, of course!

Drink Dispenser on Large Kitchen Island, Summer Home Tour
Large Kitchen Island with Clear Pendant Lights

Believe it or not, this is actually the second set of pendant lights we’ve had in our kitchen since we moved in less than two years ago. I liked the first set, but they were a bit too dark and angular for the kitchen, so we moved them to the hallway and put in these clear glass pendants instead. It was the right move for both spaces!

Our little coffee station is still going strong! Donnie loves the coffee, and I like the pop of aqua that the coffee maker adds to the counter, so it’s a win for both of us. 🙂

Coffee Station with Aqua Keurig in a White Kitchen, Summer Home Tour

corner tray- Target, old; pitchers

Cutting Boards Against Marble Subway Tile Backsplash with Pink Peonies, Summer Home Tour

Donnie brought me these gorgeous pink and white peonies and I just had to incorporate them into our tour! I just love peony season!

White Kitchen with Quartz Countertops- Caesarstone London Grey, Looking into Living Room, Summer Home Tour

Shop Our Kitchen

If you look across the island and past the sink, you can see into the sunroom, one of my favorite rooms in our house!

White Kitchen with Large Island, Quartz Countertops, Marble Subway Tile Backsplash
Neutral Sunroom with Wooden Furniture and Blue and White Ticking Striped Cushions, Summer Home Tour

blinds– we have the Bali Abaca color, curtains, furniture, rug

I gave a full tour of our summer sunroom in this post, but I wanted to give a few peeks of it here as well! This is our little spot where we escape to relax, visit with friends, or just enjoy time as a family.

Whitewashed Wooden Coffee Table in Summer Sunroom
Sunroom / Morning Room in a Ryan Homes Palermo

Shop Our Sunroom

Sunroom with Bamboo Shades and White Curtains

The sunroom is also the best place in the whole house to sit and enjoy the view of the orchard and the farmland and hills across the way, which was one of the reasons we chose this house in the first place!

Beautiful Backyard Deck and View of Orchards and Farm, Summer Home Tour

A little sneak peek of our summer deck decor! I’ll be sharing the whole thing next week, so keep an eye out for that!

Well, my “little tour” ended up involving way more pictures than I expected, but I hope it gave you a glimpse of what we’ve been up to in our main living area these past few months!

If you’d like to see the rest of this year’s summer decor, don’t miss these posts:

Our Summer Porch

Summer Shelf Decor

Summer Sunroom

Summer Deck Decorating Ideas

Thanks so much for taking the grand tour! Have a wonderful day!

This post contains affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosures here.

26 Comments

  1. Janet - shabbyfufu says:

    I’m a huge fan of all of the white Abby and you’ve added such beautiful seaside looking summer touches!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Janet! You are so sweet! So fun being “on tour” with you this week!

      ~Abby =)

  2. Absolutely gorgeous tour, Abby! I love how your new home has come together – it’s so light and airy and welcoming! And your view is really amazing; so calm and peaceful!! So glad you could be part of this summer series, friend!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much for your sweet words, Krista! And thanks for keeping us all organized for this fun series!! <3

      ~Abby =)

  3. I just love all your summer touches throughout your home, Abby. Love the family pictures over the sofa too…so precious!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Laura! I’m love seeing the boys’ cute faces too… but I may be a little biased! 🙂 So fun being “on tour” with you this week!!

      ~Abby =)

  4. Jen Woodhouse says:

    I just love how airy, welcoming, and homey your home is, Abby! All the updates you guys have done are beautiful – those pendants are perfect! And I’m still so in awe of that amazing deck!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thank you so much, sweet friend! Hope you have the best week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  5. Jenna @ Jenna Kate at Home says:

    Abby, your home is so beautiful! It’s certainly not builder grade any more! The colors you have chosen are so pretty and soothing…and summery! I love everything but YOUR DECK is amazing! I’m so jealous 🙂

    xo Jenna

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Jenna! The deck is definitely going to be our favorite hang out spot this summer. Hope yours is off to an awesome start! <3

      ~Abby =)

  6. Abby, I love your summer home decor, especially your bright living room! We also built our home recently and are working on adding personal touches. Your board and batten is so pretty and really gives a custom look. I’m hoping to add some in our dining room someday! Thanks for the inspiration 🙂

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thank you so much, Caitlin! Hope you are having a wonderful week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  7. Jennifer Lifford says:

    So pretty Abby! I love the board and batten in your living area – such a beautiful space to relax in. {and I totally relate to trying to fit in a little pink when you can!} Enjoy your summer with your boys! xo

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thanks so much, sweet friend! Hope your summer is off to a great start! <3

      ~Abby =)

  8. Wow, you’ve done so much with your home. LOVE all the blue and white.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thank you, Danielle! Happy Friday! <3

      ~Abby =)

  9. Your home is so pretty, Abby. I love all your summer touches and I LOVE your sunroom.
    Hugs, Jamie

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, sweet girl! Have a wonderful weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  10. Daisy Lawson says:

    Your home looks just gorgeous! I love how bright is everything and your style is awesome.

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Aw, thank you so much, Daisy! Have a great weekend! <3

      ~Abby =)

  11. I love all the white and light blues, Abby! Your home looks so calming, relaxing and ready for summer!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, Norma! Hope your summer is off to a wonderful start! <3

      ~Abby =)

  12. You’ve created such a restful and peaceful home, Abby. Everything flows together so well. And I must say that the tan sofa covers give your living room a wonderful sandy coastal feel for summer. You should be very proud of your decorating accomplishments! Well done, my friend! xo

    1. justagirlabby says:

      You are so sweet! Thanks so much, Diane! Have a wonderful week! <3

      ~Abby =)

  13. So beautiful Abby! Love your blues and new pictures of your family. It is all gorgeous!

    1. justagirlabby says:

      Thanks so much, sweet friend! Have a great week! <3

      ~Abby =)

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