Oh summertime...hot days, long nights, days by the lake and oh yeah - sweating like crazy if you find yourself without air conditioning!! Is anyone else currently feeling a complex love/hate relationship with summer because they don't have air conditioning?!

I'm loving the great weather we've been having but at the same time, I've been sweltering in our home as we don't have air conditioning. When we bought our new house we knew there would be lots of expenses involved and with furnishing a whole home, landscaping a yard, building a fence and deck, so an air conditioner seemed like an unnecessary expense but James and I have suffering the consequences haha!

For this year we've decided to tough it out and re-evaluate next year but seeing as we still have months of heat ahead of us, we knew we needed to find a few solutions to survive the heat waves ahead so today I thought I'd share those tips.

The first suggestion is to spend time in your basement, if you have one. Basements are always cooler and we spend tons of time in ours in the summer! Make sure your basement is comfortable and functional because if you're anything like us, you spend a lot of time in it during the summer months.

Basement Details: Sectional // Coffee Table // Wood + Metal Shelf // Accent Chair

My next tip? Drink lots of water to keep your body temperature down. If you can't control the environment you're in, you can always control your own body. Keeping hydrated by drinking lots of cool water will help keep your body temperature down + keep you cool! Plus, we all know there's so many benefits to staying hydrated. I've never been a big fan of the H20 so to entice me to drink more I always add some fresh fruit to my water!

Another great tip to help keep your house cool is to keep your window coverings closed during the day. Whether you have curtains or blinds or both, keep them closed to keep your space cool. Trust me on this one, you might not think it's a big deal to have your blinds open but you'll notice a big difference if you keep them closed! I always keep my roller shades closed during the day but on really hot days, I pull my curtains closed too and notice a huge difference!

PS what do you think of this dining room switch up?! I'm digging these new pieces from The Brick as a more eclectic switch from our previous set.

Dining Room Details: Table // Chairs // Bench // Mirror // Bar Cart

My last tip for keeping cool is the tried and true suggestion for keeping a fan in the room to help keep the temperature down. This year we picked up the Dyson Pure Cool Link Tower Fan from The Brick and I don't know how I've lived without it. I find traditional fans to be kind of annoying. They're noisy, bulky and the air flow always seems to be a little too intense for my liking.

The Dyson fan is incredibly quiet and has 10 settings so you can adjust the fan levels to your liking. Not only does the fan cool the air but it also purifies the air helping to remove odors and clean the air which is great for my asthma. I also love the remote control so you can easily adjust the settings, set a timer and more! I think it's a sign you're definitely getting older when you get this pumped about a fan (true story!) but what can I say, when you don't have an air conditioner the rolls royce of fans gets you pretty pumped! haha