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If you have a house in a hot country, you’re really going to want to keep the inside of your house cool during the scorching summer months. There are a number of ways you can do this without making any structural changes to your house. The most basic step is to get a portable air conditioner, so that you can cool a particular room when it overheats. This is best done with the doors closed to keep the cool air in, so that you don’t need to run it too long.

Another easy way you can keep the heat out is to hang dark curtains over the windows in the sunniest rooms. Keep these closed, but the windows open during the day. If you don’t like your room to be too dark, use an organza curtain that will still let in light, but will keep a lot of the heat out. You will want the inside of your room to appear cooler too. Light blues and greens reflect light and are also ‘cool’ colours, so these are the best choices for your sunnier rooms. Keep the furniture minimalistic, as rooms can get very stuffy in summer, but if you find this looks too bland, you can balance the look with a brightly colour bedspread or quilt. My favourite room is painted a light baby blue and the bed has a bright yellow and baby blue striped quilt on it; the room stays both cool and homely during the summer months.

Leather gets very hot and sticky during summer, so rather stick to linen sofas in neutral creams and blues. Don’t over-pile the sofa with cushions that will retain heat, but rather just leave a couple of cushions in a material that stays cool like organza. For a theme for one of your rooms in your summer house, consider the beach. Instead of overstuffed furniture you can use painted white, wooden chairs with cushions and you can decorate it with paintings of dolphins and cool waters. A good way to do this cheaply is to cut out pictures from old National Geographics, stick them on cardboard and place them in supermarket frames. You can paint the wooden frames in whites or light blues to complement the furniture. If you have some money to spare, put a fish tank in the room with a few tropical fish.

Don’t underestimate the usefulness of sarongs and cool bed sheets. Sarongs are wonderfully multi-purpose; you can hang  them on a wall for decoration, use them as a sheet or a picnic blanket, or even hang them over lamps if the light is too strong; just be aware of fire risks. Bed sheets can replace thick duvets in the hot summer months. If your duvets just gather dust, rather fold them away and make up your beds with high quality, colourful sheets. Thick blue and white stripes always look classy and quite beach-like to me.

Remember, you’re going to want to convert your cool rooms into warm havens during winter, so keep your décor flexible. You can change your linen and scatter cushions with the seasons, and invest in a dual purpose air conditioner that you can use as a heater too in winter. You’ll be surprised by how much you can change simply by manipulating light and colour.