The world has approximately 372,000 miles of coastline, full of life and natural beauty. It’s no wonder so many people are inspired by it when choosing their home’s decor.
Whether you’re decorating a beach house, or just looking to bring the beach to your home, incorporating a coastal design is the perfect way to recreate the beauty of the Earth’s gorgeous coastlines.
Read on for our best tips on using coastal style to decorate your home.
1. Coastal Color Palette
A key design element of coastal style is featuring a color palette that’s inspired by the coast itself. Keep your decor breezy and blue like the ocean, with accents of seagrass green, corals, and sandy beiges.
Using the same colors as the beach helps you recreate the look and feel in the comfort of your own home. Incorporate these colors into your paint, furniture, and decor for an airy, beachy coastal home design.
2. Breezy Pastels
Aside from a coastal color palette, pastels also lend themselves well to the coastal style of your home.
Choose light and airy pastel corals, lilacs, and blues. These cheerful, whimsical colors match perfectly with almost any coastal style.
3. Different Coast, Different Coastal Style
If you’re wondering how to find your home’s coastal style, take cues from the overall style of your region.
Different coasts have different coastal style, from the beach bungalows of Florida to the breezy maritime themes of coastal Maine. Depending on where your home is located, find the beach design that fits it best.
4. Keep an Open Coastal Architectural Style
The key to coastal style is keeping your living spaces as open as possible. High, vaulted ceilings and open kitchen concepts keep your home as open as the sea while making it fun and easy to entertain guests.
To define the individual living and dining areas of your home, shop for ocean-inspired area rugs that can separate the different spaces. That way, you’ll be able to define the different areas of your coastal home design without the need for walls.
5. Focus on Versatility
To keep the coastal style of your home fun and fresh, go for a neutral base with plenty of versatile options that change as freely as the tides.
There are many beachy slipcovers to choose from for your living room furniture. They are cozy and easy to switch up if you want to redecorate. You can also shop for an array of throw pillows that make it easy to instantly change the space to fit your mood.
6. Incorporate Geometric Patterns
Geometric patterns match well with coastal style. They can mimic anything from the crosshatched designs of fishnets to the bold blue stripes of a sailor’s uniform.
If you’re looking for coastal style that’s more modern, shopping for geometric patterns on your accessories is a great way to do it. Look for them in your throw pillows, towels, area rugs, or anywhere else you’d like to accent.
7. Create an Outdoor Oasis
Coastal style shouldn’t stop inside your home. In order to get the full experience, be sure to transform your outdoor living space as well.
Deep-seating outdoor furniture features cushions with a wider surface area, offering you and your guests a comfortable, luxurious place to lounge. You can also pick out beach-theme garden accents and other outdoor art to fill your entire living space with coastal style.
Swimming pools can also add a ton of luxury to your coastal living design. As we learned from the examples of this company, adding a specially designed outdoor pool creates an oasis-style type of backyard that you’ll never want to leave.
8. Simplistic Coastal Home Design
A key concept of coastal style is minimalism. In order to recreate the feelings of the beach in your home, less is more. Choose key pieces in your decorating and don’t go overboard with your accessories.
9. Multicultural Seaside Coastal Design
If you’re looking to break away from traditional American coastal design, try drawing inspiration from other cultures. Mexican, Asian, and Indian influences on beach design can offer just the look you’re going for.
10. Bright Accents and Sandy Neutrals
As an alternative to the tradition blue-green-beige coastal design palette, you can also achieve a beachy look by filling your home with sand-colored neutrals and finding bright accents to make the space pop. For example, vibrant lemon yellows look especially beautiful in coastal living design.
11. Create a Vintage Formal Dining Room
A vintage dining room can be the perfect shabby-chic addition to your beach home. Pair an ornate dining set with some fine china and vintage floral wallpaper for a gorgeous formal dining room.
12. Coastal-Themed Heirlooms
If you’re looking for a touch of luxury in your coastal living design, consider investing in heirloom pieces for standout decor. For example, a blue-and-white china vase can match your colors perfect while adding a luxurious touch to your coastal design.
13. Waterproof the Indoors
If you’re living right on the water, prep your home for easy lounging after a day of swimming.
Many outdoor pillows and cushions are high-quality and beautiful enough to multitask in your indoor coastal design. Choose sea-themed outdoor furniture for a living room that can stand up to a day at the beach while being easier to clean and more durable than tradition indoor furniture.
14. Design a Cheerful, Lively Kitchen
Kitchens with character fit well within the concept of coastal design. By keeping your decor lively, you can transform the busiest area of your beach home into a bright, cheerful space.
Keep your walls white or try white-based paints with just a hint of color. Pair this with cheerful artworks such as happy sea creatures, bright beach scenes, and colorful seashells. Incorporate these designs in your towels, potholders, and kitchen tools as well.
15. Keep Things Rustic and Retro-Chic
Coastal style fits well with everything retro and rustic. Distressed woods mimic sandy piers, while vintage pieces give off the look of ancient treasures that wash up at the beach.
When shopping for artwork and other pieces for your beach design, look at thrift stores and boutiques for rustic furniture and shabby-chic decor for a one-of-a-kind heirloom coastal style.
Final Thoughts
Shabby coastal style is the perfect way to recreate the feeling of the beach in your home. Now that you’ve got some ideas, it’s time to start decorating!
For more tips on interior design and decoration, check out our blog.