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Eclectic Summer Home Tour and Blog Hop 2016

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Are you ready for summer?  It’s a great time to spruce up your space with different colors and textures in an eclectic vibe!  There are loads of inspiration for you this week and just after seeing a few of the first tours, I’m really excited to see the rest.  

If you are coming from {Home-ology} Modern Vintage welcome!!  We live in a Japanese rental home in Okinawa (for at least 1 and a half more years).  I don’t do much for our front porch because of the frequent typhoons but here is a picture of our neighborhood.  These few houses were built for Americans.

neighborhood.jpg

We live in one of the pink houses. 🙂  Konichiwa!  Come on in.

eclectic interiors summer home tour

We have an “L” shaped foyer with plenty of storage for books, shoes, and art.  I love displaying local beach finds and decor from all of our travels in this space.   The floral paper lantern light was a fun DIY to brighten up the space.

floral paper lantern

On the other side is a cute mantel I found at a local gift shop.  It’s really fun to create seasonal vignettes with it.

DIY Art with Washi Paper and thrifted frame
DIY Art with Washi Paper and thrifted frame

The bottom floor is one large open space so we’ve been creative by making different zones.  This five feet of wall space is my office.  It was interesting decorating around a fire extinguisher and fuse boxes but if you can’t make the ugly go away, make it pretty!

eclectic office wall in a rental
eclectic interiors summer home tour

I also teach piano lessons so my music studio sits in the corner of the living space.

eclectic interiors summer home tour

The rest of the space is our living room and kitchen.  Our home is always filled with natural light and we can peek at the ocean through our windows.  That totally makes up for the linoleum floors!  

eclectic interiors summer home tour
eclectic interiors summer home tour

We found most of our furniture at local thrift stores like the two gorgeous barrel chairs and the asian media stand.   It’s hard to find American size furniture here.  My husband looks like he is sitting on doll furniture in the local stores.  😉

eclectic interiors summer home tour
eclectic interiors summer home tour
eclectic interiors summer home tour

Simple DIYS (black washi tape on white candles) and painted furniture really made this space feel like home. 


I just participated in my first ORC and made over our kitchen.  (You can read about it here.)  I REALLY wanted floral in my kitchen so I added removable wallpaper to the cabinets.

kitchen cabinets with removable wall paper
kitchen cabinets with removable wall paper
minted art in the kitchen

There is washi tape everywhere here so there are washi tape DIYS all over our house!  The black swiss crosses and our china cabinet both are spruced up with a pop of color.

china cabinet makeover

Our laundry and downstairs bathroom are tucked behind the kitchen.  I shared the latest makeover during the New Year New Room Refresh.   Let’s head upstairs!

Japanese rental home

Most recently, I’ve changed around our bedroom furniture and added more summer inspired decor with seaside colors and textures.

seaside inspired bookcase
pretty and feminine bedroom
minted floral lampshade
palm branch art
bedroom teak bench
bedroom with floral lampshade
back-neighborhood

Behind our house are local Japanese families.   They are very friendly and I enjoy seeing the same neighbors every day.  

beach-tall
pacific-ocean-beach

Just a couple of more blocks is the Pacific ocean.  It’s a dream come true to live close to the water. 

Thanks so much for stopping by today.  Next stop on the home tours is Bigger Than the Three of Us.

Eclectic Home Tour- Wednesday

Monday

 

Make sure to check out my summer page full of DIYs, decorating tips, and printables for the season.

28 Comments

    1. Thanks Maggie! I do have some stories about moving that piano. This last move was great though. The Japanese were very efficient and professional.

  1. I am always so amazed at what a brilliant job you do making your rental feel everything but temporary. It looks like you’ve been there a decade and plan to stay forever in the best possible way!

  2. I am so jealous that you are so close to the water! I adore the floral wallpaper on your kitchen cabinets and the campaign dresser in your living room. Your bedroom is so bright and colorful – perfect for summer 😉

  3. I love every bit of your home! Having that beautiful view and all that natural light absolutely makes up for the vinyl floor! I also spied that awesome wood sofa table, and I want!

  4. I always enjoy your home tours! Your home is so bright and airy and I love how you style it. Your photographs are beautiful, too. I think the linoleum would be preferable to carpeting, especially since it’s white, which always looks good. I hope you’ll post about your girls’ weekend soon–I love when you share posts about living and traveling in Japan. 🙂

  5. I am constantly amazed by your home and the way you are able to take a temporary rental space and make it look like you’ve been tweaking and perfecting the design of it for a lifetime. You have serious skills my friend!

  6. Kathy! This was such a beautiful tour. You have done a great job at making this rental your home and the extra beach pics and neighborhood pictures are great for memories and would look so pretty framed. You are so talented and your pics are always on point!

  7. How did I miss you were in JAPAN?! LOVE it!!!! I don’t know where to start with your home!! It’s so fun and interesting and curated! I love the buddha head and the raw edge wood sofa table! The bench at the foot of your bed is A+ also… Now that I know where you live, I REALLY want to come over. 😉

    1. lol, anytime. We don’t get too many visitors but it sure is beautiful here. The sofa table, buddha head, and bench all came from Okinawa. 🙂 It’s so much fun shopping on this island.

    1. Thanks Karen! We found that little bench at a local boutique where everything was expensive except for that bench. Imported from Indonesia I believe. It’s teak.

  8. Your home is gorgeous, Kathy! I’ve seen bits and pieces before (like your fabulous kitchen cabinets), but never all together. It’s so bright and happy! And love that you’re so close to the ocean. Perfect.

    1. Thank you Arielle! I love opening the curtains in the morning and seeing the ocean first thing. Then I step outside and am covered in sweat in seconds bc of the humidity. lol

  9. You have such a lovely home, it’s an inspiration! The neighbourhood looks peaceful too. I love the mixture of styles and the muted colours, especially the way the kitchen chairs are painted! Great job and thank you for sharing 🙂

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