Beach house decor basics
The basics of every coastal design starts with space, light, color and texture. Then layer on flooring, furniture, lighting, decor and accessories to create your personal beach house style.
4 Basic Must-Haves To Create A Coastal Style “Feel”
The beginnings of a coastal inspired home start with space, color, light and texture. When you have these basics in abundance naturally, you’re well on your way.
But if you don’t, fear not, there are design tricks to get you there.
SPACE
A room is made up of positive and negative space.
Positive areas contain “stuff ” and negative space is open and empty space, including space between things.
The goal is to create a balance between the two.
Creating balance in a coastal inspired design
A living room in the photo shows a couch and two side chairs centered around a coffee table. All the furnishings are anchored by an area rug.
The furnishings are positive space. The area between the furnishings is considered negative space.
Coastal styles tend have the illusion of more negative (open) space. Even if your space is small you can achieve negative space by using other design elements, such as appropriate size furnishings.
Look at your room and rearrange furnishings and accents to create a balance of positive and negative space. You may find the need to take out some stuff.
Coastal Designer Tip: Regardless of the size of your room or furniture, allow eighteen inches of negative space around furnishings to create a balance.
LIGHT
Natural light is daylight.
The more you can let in to your room the more bright, airy and lighter it will feel.
Consider removing heavy drapes, shutters and blinds. At the very least pull them wide open during the day to let in more light.
Beach house style lighting
When there’s not enough natural light, there are these things called lamps!
General lighting to replace daylight.
Task lighting for a specific purpose.
Accent lighting to emphasize or highlight an item or feature.
Also consider mood lighting, such as dimmer switch or flameless candles to add ambiance.
The types of light bulbs you choose will also add enhance a room’s function or feel. Full spectrum light bulbs are best to mimic daylight.
Coastal Designer Tip – Create as much open daylight as possible. Take an inventory of the artificial light sources in the room. Where can you add more light?
COLOR
Your color choices have the ability to create a mood and alter the perception of how large or small a space feels.
As a lover of the coastal style you’ll never fail when drawing color inspiration from nature.
Using nature to inspire a coastal color palette
WATER
Oceans, rivers, streams, ponds, lakes and pools provide a spectrum of cool colors.
Predominately blue and green but consider all shades in between like turquoise, aqua and navy. And the whites of sea foam and wave crests too.
LAND
Sand, sea shells, driftwood, dried seaweed, sea glass and eel grass is where you’ll find beige, coral, gray, white and brown influences.
SKY
From sunrise to sunset the sky provides color inspiration. It doesn’t matter the season or the weather (hello fog and drizzle).
There’s a rainbow of color options including shades of blue, yellow, orange, red, pink, purple and even gray.
Coastal Designer Tip – Look to natural sources you love for inspiration. These colors will work beautifully in your spaces.
I’ve put together 5 Easy Ways to Choosing Coastal Paint Colors to take away the panic of standing in front of all those paint chips displays!
TEXTURE
The are two kinds of textures. Those we see and others we feel.
By using a mix of textures you’ll create a subtle sense of dimension and depth to your space.
You can add texture from using things like raw woods, shiny surfaces, textured walls, natural fibers and more.
Textures for coastal design interiors
Sometimes a room feels like there’s something missing. Often it’s a lack of textures.
From furniture materials to wall and decor accessories to motif and woven fabrics, varying textures add interest and detail, making a room visually pleasing to the eye.
You can add textural elements like raw wood mantels and accent pieces, wallpapers, stone surfaces, smooth walls, natural sisal and jute fibers and more.
Coastal Designer Tip: Look around your space and notice the different textures. Is it balanced or is everything the same texture? Can you take a textured piece from another room to add dimension and depth?
Let the sky, sand and sea inspire your beach house choices
Here’s an idea to begin your Beach House Decor journey:
Take a day adventure. Look at the sky. Sit by the water. Collect beach treasures.
Gather textures like sea shells and pieces of driftwood.
Also bits of textured or patterned fabric.
Select paint chips in colors you’re drawn to.
Pick out inspirational artwork that makes you happy. Either something you already have or a photo from a magazine or online search.
Place all the design inspiration ideas on a table or floor. Look at what you love!
As you go through your spaces consider which nature elements and colors you are drawn to. There’s no right or wrong answer.
Happy Coastal Decorating!
