I don't have any pics, but I do change my house, especially the living room. We have a smoothing sage color on the walls, cream colored couch and love seat, cream carpet (with some hardwood around the outside) and dark tables. So everything is a pretty neutral background.

I change the look by putting a large more "seasonal picture" and changing the candles on the mantel, etc....change the pillows to something with my "color of choice", adding a throw on the end of the sofa of that color....and adding pits and pieces of other things in that shade. In the winter months, I have added an area rug under the coffee table, etc. I absolute love the fall colors, so I am anxious to get back to those wonderful warm feeling things....but now, everything is pretty well in cream, sage with a bit of gold.

Thanks for the info phoggie. I love the idea of a cream colored sofa, but am a little hesitant due to my kids (3 under the age of 5!). Does yours wear well? I was thinking of a slipcovered version - washable of course, (then could change slip colors for seasons) but have yet to find one that I love and won't break my bank!

So do you put an area rug over your carpet then? I have carpet w/hardwood around it too in my LR and LOVE the idea of a rug but dh doesn't love the idea so much... I'm trying to convince him though :)

thanks for your great ideas - would love to hear others ideas too or see pics!

Sorry, I haven't mastered posting pics, but I do change a few things with different seasons. My color scheme is mostly neutrals in the main rooms so it's easy to add other colors as accents. I have boxes of candles in different colors for different seasons which I use for accents and seldom burn. Right now I have white pillows on the sofas, light colored candles, and a lighter colored arrangement on the mantel. Fall is typical fall colors and I have a collection of original oil paintings of fall scenes which I prop on the mantel. Christmas varies color-wise but I usually use a lot of my silver holloware collection for glitz as well as the "new" color(s). I usually put away the Christmas theme stuff before New Year's but leave the silver out til after Valentines plus I add some red things then but put all that away soon after. Easter decor is pastels and kid stuff for the Grands. I also have a couple of crystal baskets which I put Easter grass and eggs in.

I didn't used to change things so much but now that I'm home all the time I like to play with my house.

I also bring out throws and afghans and furry pillows for winter.

I'm thinking about having off-white slipcovers made but haven't done so yet. Also am planning to increase my collection of pillow covers so I can change them more often. I have cream curtains which I use all year. Couldn't be bothered changing them all seasonally.

I haven't spent a lot of money to decorate as we go to yard sales often and I buy decorative things I like as I see them. Pillows I buy new or make pillow covers. Afghans and throws I buy new but usually on sale.

I think you can use textures as well as colors to seasonally change the feel of a room. Think how a cream colored cotton or linen pillow cover feels and looks compared to a black or red fleece one. If you have wood floors you could use a seagrass rug for summer instead of that cosy darker wool one. If you have houseplants you can put them outside for the summer and have a less cluttered home. Also put away many decorative things for a cooler, more spare look. I don't do this as I"m definitely into "more-is-more" but I do think about it!

My S-I-L has a diningroom room that shows from her front door. Each month she changes the table setting for the holiday or the season (May/June/August etc). Except for Christmas this is the ONLY decorating she does.

S-I-L is very ornate in her table decorating. She goes all out to do really fun or very pretty settings. Nice thing is... decorating like this keeps it controlled (for kids) because it's fun but you don't have stuff all over the house to break, get dirty, worry about. It's affordable (she uses many of the same items each month), and it's real easy to do...I've helped her several times and it takes less than 1/2 hour to change the table. She keeps the months separate in small, stackable, see through, labeled, bins so she knows right where to find what she wants.

S-I-L's decor works well because they use their breakfast nook for daily meals so normally the table is just there being pretty for who ever walks through her threshold. It's really cool to walk into her home because it's always different.

We use our table so I told her I'm stealing her idea for an entry table. I haven't yet ...I did ask if she minded (would never do that without asking) and yes she is 100% OK with me doing that. We live in different states and both believe imitation is the nicest form of flattery (so we both have copied ideas from each other).

Lauren, Do you sew at all? If so, slipcovers aren't that hard to do because they are mostly straight-line sewing. Trading Spaces (is that a dirty word here?) used to show how they did it fairly often. Basically, they draped the fabric over the piece to be covered and pinned the pieces together in a rough approximation of the shape of the furniture, then sewed it all together.

Especially if one wanted a somewhat casual fit from the slipcover, this would be really easy. Also, you get total control over the fabric used for the cover AND you could scotchguard all of the pieces before you started pinning to make sure that you had stain protection.

Laurensmom, IMO there are two different kinds of slipcovers: Good, which cover each cushion/pillow separately, fit well/usually come with the furniture, and Bad, which are the "one size fits none" things that allegedly cover the whole sofa. The moment someone sits on the sofa they wrinkle and disarrange. I had one for about 3 days of driving myself batty. Both of my sofas are Good slipcovered cotton fabric that is easily washed -- twice a year as part of the routine, and whenever the kids spill something. I really highly recommend washable/removeable covers for all mothers of young children -- otherwise I would have dismembered my kids years ago. I sew but all my sewing time & energy are spent on quilting so haven't really tried making slipcovers. I probably wouldn't make seasonal slipcovers, just get a neutral color sofa and add seasonally appropriate quilts and throws.

One of my sofas has two sided slipcovers -- light denim on one side and a yellow/blue shabby chic style print on the other. I flip the cushions on a whim to match whatever flowers and accessories in the room. My other seasonal decorations are accessories only: candles, quilts, table linens, pillows, tchotchkes on mantel/entryway table/coffee table.

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone! I sew very minimally (could make a basic pillow or curtain) but I think if I tried to make a custom tailored slipcover, I'd drive myself (and dh) insane! LOL :)

yes, I agree that the one-size-fits-nothing kind are horrible. I had one too several years ago and everytime somebody sat on it - it wrinkled all up looked HORRIBLE! SO I definitely want the kind that covers all the cushions separately. My current sofa is a Rowe slipcovered version and the price for a new slip for it was $699! So I think I'm going to get a whole new sofa and put the Rowe one downstairs :)

bluekitobsessed - what brand is your sofa if you don't mind me asking?

thanks again!

When my kids were younger (they're 24 & 14 now) I changed things around seasonally with accessories a lot more than I do now. The storage of them got to be too much and I disliked the clutter. I do have a new Autumn wreath for the front door and I always put out the cornucopias, etc. around October. My throw pillows are perfect for the Autumn and Winter months. But, come Spring, I'm ready to lighten up a bit. Unfortunately, pastel Spring colors look weird in my house! We've been on vacation or have had company so much lately that I haven't had much time to look for some nice, cotton fabric to make pillow slipcovers for Summer yet. (They're easy to store! ) I recently went out and bought this huge 2-foot long, bright Talavara planter for the summer centerpiece for my dining room. I love it but am already worrying about how I'm going to store it safely from October thru April! I have brick floors with lots of Oriental rugs. It would be fun to replace them with seagrass ones, but the practical me says, "Yes, but where are you going to store those long rugs where they won't get eaten by bugs?!?" . . . (sigh!) so we're staying with the Orientals.
As for slipcovers for the chairs and sofas, most are leather and don't take to fabric covers very well. Our two sofas in the living room are cream colored linen and look good year round, thank goodness!
Christmas Season I go all out, though.

Laurensmom, my LR sofa with reversible cushions is made by Dino Mark Anthony -- a designer splurge 8 years ago. I'll probably post pix along with a question in the next few days. My FR sofa is Macy's (NOT recommended) blue denim, which you can see in my thread re: rugs. The $699 slipcover quote sounds about right (about 50% of the cost of the whole sofa) because there's a lot of material, the material is usually expensive, and a lot of labor.

Storage is definitely something you might want to think about before doing the changing-of-the-seasons decor. I went all out in the 'public' rooms, like the LR,DR, and kitchen/breakfast area.

In the rooms that had drapes, I put up ivory sheer panels~I needed something for privacy. All throw pillows were ivory or tan. Silk flowers went from deep colors to soft ivories~I bought inexpensive bouquets at a wholesaler. I liked cutting the Roses and Hydrangeas all the same length, rubber banding them together, and putting them in an ivory container. I did them in separate bouquets, not together. Dark color candles were all replaced with ivory. My usual winter lampshades, red or black, were changed to ivory. A Matlase twin coverlet was on the back of the sofa and loveseat~ivory. I changed wall accessories too, hanging an ivory collection of plates/platters on a DR wall~I purchased these at thrift stores. DR table scarf was changed to ivory, as well as making an extra set of seats for my DR chairs. Everything 'went ivory' in the kitchen, starting with using an ivory tablecloth~I normally don't use a tablecloth in the fall/winter. The little chandlier shades, too. ANYthing that could be changed, was!

I had dark wood floors, but didn't change out the area rugs. Not for lack of storage, I had never found anything I loved or I would have!

I now have 150+ boxes in storage, including my things for the change-of-seasons, and Christmas. I wasn't able to do 'the change' this year because I sold my home. I'll be moving to Austin at the end of August, so will be 'setting up' for the fall/winter seasons, but come Christmas time, it will be another change-out. I'll have up to 7 trees!!!LOL