Come with me. Take my hand and runaway to a holiday home just metres from the  beach in Comporta, Portugal. Casa Do Pego sits lightly on the sand, its face turned to nearby agricultural land. Sliding shuttersprovide shelter from the setting sun while a roof top terrace and pool let you chill out in privacy. Clean, minimal lines are perfect for a beachside retreat while the suspended fireplace provides the wow factor. Go on. I know you want to come with me. It’s the perfect cure for Mondayitis.

The days are getting warmer and the holiday season is just about to hot up. It’s almost Summer in Australia and New Zealand! Is your home looking washed out after winter? Does it need a little zhush before family and friends get together? Have no idea where to start? Luckily I had the chance to ask Korryn Bentley, homewares buyer at Freedom to help with a few timely ideas.

What are your quick and easy tips for breathing fresh life into your home for Summer?

I’m a fan of overhauling my winter block out curtains with fresh white sheer curtains. It’s inexpensive, quick and easy and will make a striking impact to your room.

I’m also getting my green thumb on and doing a freshen up in the garden and repotting my planters with new colourful petunia’s. That burst of colour is the perfect ‘WELCOME HOME’ – and even if you’re just potting up some succulents, your pots can add the pop of colour – perfect for Summer.

What trends are strong this season?

All things oak! For so long oaks and lighter colour timbers have been dressing typically coastal looking homes – but the rules have changed and we’re seeing the soft tone of oak as a great anchor in home interiors for monochromatic colour palettes of black and white or fun combinations of bold statement colours. It’s new, it’s fresh and I love it.

It’s that time of the year with lots of financial strains. What’s the light on cash but big on style piece from Freedom? You know, that piece I will love, love, love but won’t feel guilty about buying.

The Trigon Floor Rug – at only $229 it’s a steal! Triangles are the new Chevron for Summer and we have the product that covers this off entirely – made of wool, it is easy to take care of and instantly brings bold style into the home – and it’s a bargain!

Speaking of love, what is your favourite piece from Freedom‘s Summer Collection?

Brunch in Zest – Summer to me is all about outdoor breakfast after a swim and this is perfect for that. With the sand still on my toes, I can hang out on my balcony with a good magazine, a fruit salad and I might as well be on holidays. I can feel it now!

This is a sponsored post in partnership with Freedom.

It is about colour and pattern, fabrics and finishes, detail and layering. It is a fresh and vibrant twist on traditional and classic. If the bleached out, overexposed, white, black and wood of Scandi design is leaving you wanting more then drink in the designs of Ashley Whittaker. (And even more in Kim’s previous post.)

A neutral colour palette. Contemporary meets midcentury with a touch of Greek history. Sleek lines, warm woods, cool stone. Pull back the curtains to reveal glass windows framing an amazing view of the Acropolis. Greek architect Minas Kosmidis‘ renovation may have turned the layout of this Athen’s house on its head with bedrooms on the ground floor and living above but it is easy to understand why. Understated, earthy elegance.

Every cloud has a silver lining… unless it’s the Cloud House in Fitzroy North in Melbourne by McBride Charles Ryan. The Edwardian era facade is left relatively untouched out of respect to the existing streetscape. The old house’s original interior has been painted white with a carpet of flowers providing the surprise. Linking the old and the new is a red box, the heart of the home, the kitchen. What opens beyond is a fantastical cloud shaped living area. No silver lining though. Warm timbers cocoon the space. Unexpected, child like but meticulously crafted.