Sophisticated Seaside Style Comes Home
Here’s how to make a summery coastal design look good year-round
The seaside look is a perennial style favorite. However, while endless blue and white stripes, driftwood sculptures and carved seagulls might look great in your vacation rental, getting the cool coastal look right in your home can be more of a challenge. Here’s how to nail this tricky trend.
Dive into ocean drama. It probably wouldn’t be coastal if blue and white didn’t feature somewhere. But one way to make seaside more modern and bold is by choosing a darker shade, such as indigo or navy. This bedroom is still distinctly oceanic, but the inky walls and bedding create a grown-up feel. The New England-style slatted headboard adds to the vibe.
Paint tongue-and-groove paneling white. It should be out of fashion by now. But there’s something inspiring about tongue-and-groove paneling’s long-standing popularity in interiors. This simplest of paneling techniques lends an instant laid-back beach-hut vibe, while pulling off the trick of seeming classic, rustic and quaint all at once.
Here, the casually propped driftwood, rickety stools, striped cushions and vintage books create a relaxed all-at-sea atmosphere. And who knew beige floral curtains could look so charming?
Here, the casually propped driftwood, rickety stools, striped cushions and vintage books create a relaxed all-at-sea atmosphere. And who knew beige floral curtains could look so charming?
Install paneling on just one wall. In this shipshape room, a wall of horizontal tongue and groove almost gives the impression of being inside a yacht’s cabin. What also works here are the pared-back accessories: the wall-mounted oars, model yacht and twists of rope in glass bowls all nod to the boaty trend but in a way that’s contemporary and chic. Loving that precise mix of yellow, navy and white cushions too.
Embrace nautical without the kitsch. Who can resist a scale model of a lighthouse or a print of a beach shack? But it’s also possible to find such nautical motifs used in a creative, modern way. The beautiful yacht wallpaper in this child’s room is a case in point. It adds a magical, romantic feel, while the wide-stripe linens offer another spin on the seaside theme.
Go all in. Anchors, yachts, oars, sailor stripes and helms — this nursery features almost every coastal motif in the book and still manages to look great. Nautical can be a great unisex theme in kids’ rooms. It’s stylish enough to appeal to the grown-ups while stoking the little ones’ imaginations.
Think vintage and cozy. Seaside style can be as much about a feel and tone as a specific set of decor elements. So go for anything you might uncover in a 1950s beach hut, cozy cliffside cabin or vintage camper van. In this home, the granny-square crochet blanket adds some nostalgic charm and fits in with those candy stripes and yacht-print blinds.
Choose an eye-catching piece. If all-out coastal isn’t your thing, try just one or two great details. In this 1930s home, the fantastic driftwood chandelier and heart-shaped wall art indicate the sea isn’t far away, while the bright turquoise exudes beach-house glamour.
Pop in a porthole. If you only try the coastal look in one place, make it the bathroom — it just works in here. This one nails the trend in a quirky, different way. The blue walls, driftwood stool and lobster-pot-style storage are fun without descending into tacky, but the star is the customized tub with two portholes in the side. (Notice the porthole mirror too.) Aye, aye, Captain.
Keep it classic. This airy bathroom is a lesson in upmarket seaside chic. Key to its success is the judicial use of modern blue and white stripes in the towels and waste basket, as well as the single feature wall painted mid-blue, alongside white-painted tongue and groove.
And don’t go too modern in your coastal bathroom. We tend to picture seaside bathrooms as classic, even old-fashioned, which is why the pedestal sink and Shaker-style storage work so well in here.
How have you done coastal style at home? Share your pictures in the Comments.
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So Your Style Is: Coastal
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And don’t go too modern in your coastal bathroom. We tend to picture seaside bathrooms as classic, even old-fashioned, which is why the pedestal sink and Shaker-style storage work so well in here.
How have you done coastal style at home? Share your pictures in the Comments.
More
So Your Style Is: Coastal
Casual Coastal Style Done 6 Ways
This room features an elegant Scandinavian palette of chalky blue-grays and acid yellows, bringing to mind stormy seas and windswept dunes. The coastal theme continues in subtle details: a restrained boat painting, chunky knitted poufs (think fishermen’s sweaters) and an ultra-minimalist seagull figurine. They all signify the seaside, but there’s not a seashell-decorated statue in sight.