Give your home beach house style with a seashell display.
Imagine having the getaway feel of a beach house year-round, even if you're landlocked. Beach houses are simple, casual and soothing. They invite you to relax the moment you walk through the door. Whether you long for a charming seaside cottage or a hut on a tropical island, use beach-style decorating ideas to enjoy laid-back living every day. Does this Spark an idea?
Colors
Beach house color palettes vary, but they're nearly always inspired by nature. Homes filled with whites and pale, pearly seashell pastels feel soothing and relaxed. Ocean-inspired color schemes include blues or turquoises mixed with whites and neutrals. Tropical beach locales inspire vibrant palettes of coral, turquoise, green and yellow.
Walls
Crisp white walls always work for beach-style decorating. If you prefer color, paint with any shade in your color palette. Ground the color with whites and neutrals in your furnishings. Painted beadboard or horizontal planking works well for an accent wall or all over the room. Paint trim glossy white, or leave it natural with a light stain.
Floors
Beach house floors are sand-friendly and easily swept. Hardwood floors, stained light to medium or painted white, remain classic. Or, pull up your wall-to-wall carpet and faux finish the concrete to look like limestone blocks. Define seating and dining areas with natural sisal or seagrass area rugs. Scatter casual, flat-woven dhurrie, kilim or rag rugs to soften floors for bare feet. Avoid plush rugs and carpets.
Furniture
Straight-lined or curvy furniture--or a combination of both--works for beach-style decorating, as long as the pieces feel casual and aren't fussy. Look for light to medium stains on pine, maple or cherry. Relax formal furniture with glossy or distressed white paint. Add texture to the mix with wicker, rattan and bamboo.
Upholstered furniture must be sun-, sand- and water-friendly. Use simple or dressy shapes, but keep the fabrics casual. Stick with simple solids, stripes and botanical patterns in cotton or linen. Try washable cotton slipcovers, perhaps with dressmaker details. Mix in coarse or nubby woven fabrics--such as burlap, chenille or bouclé--for texture. Use textured fabrics for throw pillows and side-chair seats.
Windows
In beach-style decorating, window treatments should be simple and minimal. Focus on letting in plenty of natural light, and on the view outside. Try bi-fold or hurricane shutters for classic beach house style. Or, use natural woven shades--by themselves or with simple curtain panels of cotton or linen. Light-filtering sheers work well for hiding an undesirable view, while maintaining the beach house feel.
Art and Accessories
Complete your beach-style decorating with natural accents. Fill a basket or ironstone compote with seashells. Use a piece of driftwood as sculpture. Display starfish on a tabletop, along with a coral cluster under a bell jar. Cover a mirror or picture frame with glued-on seashells. Suspend bits of beach glass from your chandelier. Hang a painted seascape--fine or primitive--over the mantel.
Tags: beach-style decorating, with whites, beach house, beach house, beach house style, cotton linen