Summer hosting is all about creating a home that feels welcoming, relaxed, and ready for people to gather - especially after long boat days.
At Sugarwood Interiors, we love curating entertaining pieces that are both beautiful and functional - the kinds of finds that immediately become part of the gathering itself. The best hostess gifts aren’t just thoughtful; they’re pieces the host can actually use that night.
Hostess Gifts She’ll Actually Use
We love gifting entertaining staples that feel elevated enough to leave out all summer long:
- Camilla Decorative Bowl for citrus, salads, or shelf styling
- Handblown Napkin Holder paired with the Toile de Nantes Guest Towels (also available in cocktail napkins and other patterns)
- Hand Painted Margot Pitcher for flowers or summer cocktails
- Hand Painted Floral Spoon Rest and the Brass Shell Spoon for those little hosting details guests always notice
- Stoneware Colander with Hand-Twisted Edge that’s functional enough for prep but beautiful enough to leave on the counter
We intentionally hunt for pieces that feel collected, timeless, and hard to find elsewhere - entertaining pieces that elevate everyday hosting without feeling overly formal.
Our Favorite Summer Hosting Tip
Have one make-ahead appetizer ready before everyone comes in from the boat or beach.
We love this Honey Whipped Goat Cheese recipe from Half Baked Harvest served on the Honeycomb Cheese Board with warm bread, fruit, and honey.
(We also carry several Half Baked Harvest cookbooks in-store - one of our favorite hostess gifts alongside entertaining pieces.)
5 Easy Ways to Refresh Your Home for Summer
1. Restyle Your Coffee Table
We love using coffee table books like Entertaining Beautifully either stacked with candles, greenery, and decorative objects, or opened up on a book stand to a favorite page. Swap out anything heavy or dark for texture: rattan, linen, cane, pleats, matte ceramics, woven trays. Even one texture change per room makes everything feel intentional. Style in “odd tension”: pair something polished with something organic.
2. Refresh Your Shelves
Less clutter, more breathing room. Mix ceramics, books, greenery, and woven textures for a lighter summer look. Intentional negative space is a characteristic makes the beautiful pieces stand out. Summer rooms should breathe.
3. Add Height
Pieces like the Sinclair Footed Urn instantly make shelves and consoles feel more layered and intentional. Styling in triangles is a strategy we often use when styling in homes or in our showroom - one tall, one medium and a shorter piece creates movement, and makes it feel intentional.
4. Bring the Outdoors In
Use stems and blooms from your yard, hydrangeas, or bowls of citrus throughout the home for an effortless seasonal refresh.
5. Layer lighting
Tiny lamps on kitchen counters, cordless lamps on shelves, warm bulbs - this is the difference between a pretty room and an expensive-feeling room. We love picking out a fun fabric to recover lamp shades as well!
Here at Sugarwood Interiors, we have a handful of talented Interior Designers ready to assist with something as small as a restyling job to a larger scale design project. We would love to meet you and assist, no matter the scope or size.