The Perfect Summer Bedroom

Summer is on everyone's mind these days. With the hot sun, warm breezes and lighter layers, it's easy to forget to pull off those flannel sheets and summerize your bedroom. But it's an essential transition. I talked to L.A.-based interior designer Megan Samuels Arquette about perfecting the art of the summer bedroom. The good news? Big changes don't require big price tags.

"Reinventing your winter bedroom into a summer sanctuary doesn't require a great amount of money," she says. "In fact, the very idea is to 'lighten up' and simplify. Start with the concept of creating a 'summer house' feel, one that evokes years of memories and carefree days."

This can be done with a few easy adjustments. Here are Megan's top 10 ways to make your bedroom the essence of summer:

1. Bring in lighter colors to create a renewed sense of space. Your cozy cocoon during the snowy months needs to feel airy and spacious.

2. Change out heavier window treatments by hanging white, lighter weight fabrics. (Inexpensive flat sheets work wonderfully for this purpose and they come with a rod pocket built in!)

3. Leave wood floors bare or dot them with cotton area rugs that will give your room a camp-like feel. If your budget allows, cover a carpeted room with a sisal area rug, which evokes sand and sea.

4. Remove heavy furniture for the season and replace bedside tables with a stack of vintage suitcases or a sweetly painted vintage chair. Top the new table with a lamp and add a bowl of beach finds, like sea shells or a blanched star fish.

5. Have white fitted slipcovers made or, easier yet, drape a light weight fabric or blanket over upholstered items.

6. Use natural textiles such as burlap and sun-bleached cottons to create quick cushions with a screened-in porch feel.

7. Add colorful throws. Bring in colors with a few bright blankets folded at the end of the bed, while keeping the rest of the bedscape light in color.

8. Use twine as a clothesline art gallery, clothes-pinning old and new summer photos across the wall as art.

9. Treat yourself to summery white flower and citrus scented soy candles.

10. Spritz sheets with a linen spray or create your own spray. (For your own spray, mix together 1 tsp. lavender essential oil, 1/4 cup unflavored vodka, 3 1/2 cups filtered water; the alcohol helps the oil and water from separating.) Or go natural with bunches of lavender wrapped together with a bit of grosgrain ribbon. "This will leave you with a pretty garden feel steeped in a fresh laundry and clean scent," says Megan.