Now that Mother Nature has at last given us (Southern Californians) a small taste of summer, (no, I’m not whining, why do you ask?) I thought I’d share with you some images of homes that ‘speak’ summer to me.

This AD image looks to be located at the beach, but even without seeing the ocean you can just tell that those stairs probably lead you to the sandy beach below.

You look at certain architectural styles and immediately think of the beach or summer vacation, right?  Shingled homes are especially reminiscent of all things Cape Cod or Eastern Seaboard.  I love the look.

There are also several cottage-looking homes that remind me of some of the yet-to-be-remodeled Balboa Island “beach” cottages or other coastal town cottages in SoCal where the quaint cottage hasn’t been replaced with the McMansion that tends to overbuild for the lot (no offense to those that want maximum square footage for the $$$).

This may be a garden room, but with the table set for lemonade and finger sandwiches it reminds me of summer (not that I get to enjoy that very often due to work).

This house is gorgeous no matter what season but the vintage soft-topped convertible Mercedes speaks summer to me, don’t you think?

 

…more my speed, how I love a little backyard cottage.

via Peggy & Fritz

 

Last year the talented designer, Erin Paige Pitts did a post HERE on several Balboa homes (several shown below)  she discovered on a run.

 

What type of home says summer to you?  Fond memories of a cottage at the lake or on the beach or up in the mountains?

Happy Summer!