Lend a cool, calm appeal to your abode

Beat the summer heat within your house with a few quick fixes to make it look and feel cooler.

Kaushiki Gon, style director, FabFurnish.com, suggests a few home decor tips:

* Shades of summer: Paint your house in light colours, which reflect light and heat. They automatically lend a more pleasant ambience to the space and also make it more inviting and cheery. White is the perfect shade for summer, but yellow and mellow green are good too.

* Light fabrics: Whether it is curtains, bed linen or cushion covers, make sure that your home is draped in nothing but natural fibres. Cotton is the best choice followed by linen. Both are good conductors of heat and have the ability to make the home feel cooler. Additionally, lounging about on bed linen or sofa upholstery made of these materials is much easier for your skin and more comfortable.

* Pleasant planters: Placing indoor planters in the house is the best way to not only keep the space cool but also enhance the quality of air. What's more? They make for one of the best visual treats in this blistering heat. A lot of potted plants such as Areca palm, aloe vera and baby rubber plants can do the trick as they are known to remove harmful toxins from the air and bring down temperature, while also upping the style quotient of the decor tremendously.

* Cut clutter: Unlike winter resorts, summer houses are typically minimalist with very few accessories cluttering up the space. Stow away all that you don't need and your home will automatically look and feel cooler.

* Minimise light: Artificial light creates a lot of heat in the home and should be best avoided. During the day, opt for natural light. If you feel that leaving the windows open causes the home to heat up, place a pedestal fan facing the window so it can push the hot air out. For the night, swap all traditional lights with energy-saving CFLs and try to limit their use to mood lighting as much as possible. This will create a much more pleasant ambience in this scorching heat.