Looking to make your home a refuge? A place of serenity where just walking into a room makes you feel more calm and peaceful? The coastal look may do just that. Here are 20 great ways to give your home the relaxing coastal look.
- Color is a key factor to the coastal look. A variety of greens, blues, grays, whites, sand colors will fit as the backdrop to a coastal room. You can take almost any color add the right accessories and you will have a coastal room.
- Accessorize with glass jars filled with rocks, seashells, coral, sand, a collection of your choice in a see through glass jar. Turquoise tinted green or blue jars.
- Decorate with wicker baskets hung on the wall or use them for organizers in your room. Decorate with woven placemats, and straw hats hanging on a wall are nice carefree accents.
- Art that you create yourself or a painting with sea like colors, or an actual picture of the sea, etc…
- Add a woven rug to a room. It can be a bleached sand color, brown or even blue. It just needs to have a relaxed woven look to it.
- Lampshades made of canvas material in a sand, blue, seafoam green, gray, or white color. Add a lamp that has wicker texturing.
- No clutter.
- Relaxed style of furniture. Add some wicker furniture.
- Put a pouf or two in your room for people to sit on. Doubles as a footstool too.
- Window coverings can be simple drop cloths or light and breezy white curtains to your room. Plantation shutters work great too for a coastal look.
- Round mirrors hung from rope above the mirror can give a room a beachy feeling.
- Add subtle touches of decor that speak of coastal such as wrapping twine around the bottom of a decorative glass jar. Display a necklace of beads over a photo on a table. Or hang a beaded garland on the wall.
- Wrap curtain holders with rope or white wood beads. Napkins displayed on a kitchen table with twine and a seashell glued to the twine.
- Display woven placemats on your tables or on the seat of a chair to add a touch of beach.
- Paint the ceiling of a room with calm blue or light green.
- Add weathered wood to a room.
- Use burlap and stencil on it to add to a stool or frame it.
- Bring plants into your room.
- Add pillows that have beachy colors or made of canvas type fabric that tie in the coastal look of the room.
- Decorate simply. Don’t overdo.
Is there anything more relaxing than sitting by the ocean and watching the waves wander in and wander out? Coastal style invokes a relaxing and calming mood when styled right. My family and I (except for my hubby who had to stay behind because he was in the middle of football season he is the head football coach at our local high school) headed to Orlando, Florida back in the fall for a week of fun and relaxation. I would call Orlando the center of coastal! If you want to attempt this style in your own home, here are twenty tips and tricks to transforming your home or a room of your home into the coastal vibe.
1. Start With Color
Most people would say that sea glass greens, serene blue, neutrals, and sand colored walls would create the perfect coastal backdrop for your room. However you can take almost any color and add the right accessories and you have coastal. The thing to remember is to choose colors that inspire calm and serenity. You can go light or you can go dark like navy blue, white, and some red accents. White and a bit of black is a possibility too. Scroll through paint sites online and find a color you really like.
2. Coastal Accessories
Clear glass jars filled with a variety of items invites a coastal feeling to a room.Things like pieces of coral, seashells colored pieces of chunky glass, cinnamon sticks, rocks, sand, a collection of old wooden thread spools, balls of yarn in colors that you pull out of a piece of coastal art in your room. Colored glass jars displayed on a shelf or table makes a nice coastal accent.
3. Use Wicker Baskets, Woven Placemats, Or Straw Hats
Wicker baskets are very useful in getting the coastal look. You can set some on the floor to use for blankets, or magazines. Hang an arrangement of them on the wall for art decor. Put a floral arrangement inside the basket and set it on a coffee or dining room table. Wicker is a casual classy look for your coastal decor. Woven placemats make a nice coastal statement. You can use them on a table or put them on a chair. Hang a collection of straw hats on the wall for a carefree look.
4. Coastal Art
A sea inspired painting, coastal colors on a canvas, a group of coastal pictures, or a variety of wooden blocks pieced together can form a coastal inspired palette. Be intentional in what you put on your walls. It needs to draw the colors of your room together. You want your room to be light, breezy, and airy so don’t hang too much on your walls. Choose a focal point and go with that as the main focus of your room.
5. Rugs Can Add To Your Coastal Decor
Woven rugs come in all shapes and sizes. They are actually quite popular. You can use them in an entryway ,in your kitchen or dining room, in a family room or living room and don’t forget the bathroom. The woven look is more casual looking and relaxed in design but still very chic. There are many options when it comes to color and style. I put a woven rug by our back entrance in the dining room. I get all kinds of compliments on it. You don’t want to go overboard with coastal decor because it is uncluttered style. So if you are intentional about what you put in your space, a rug would be a good decor item to consider. It could also serve as a focal point when placed under a coffee table on top of existing flooring.
6. Lampshades In Wicker Or Canvas
Back to our family trip to Orlando. I was smitten with this lamp shade that was hanging in our hotel room. I am a fan of wicker anyway but loved the texture and look of it. Very costal looking. Other lampshades that speak coastal style would include simple canvas covered shades. They come in a variety of colors. Choose a shade that will best compliment your color scheme.
You can also add chunky glass lighting to your interior to go with your coastal look.
7. No Clutter
When it comes to the room you are decorating in coastal, no clutter is a must! After all, you are trying to create an atmosphere of peace and calm not to mention relaxation. Nothing spoils that vibe more than clutter! Go through and de junk the room you are designing in this style. (I need to follow my own advice so you are not alone in completing this task!) Only hang on to items that you really love and that compliment the coastal style. When you walk into your room, do you feel refreshed and it is it inviting? This should be your goal.
On a happy note, make a little extra money by selling the items you are giving up online in your local marketplace. Or, give them to a charitable thrift store. You could also gift items you are parting with to a friend as long as it is something your friend would want.
8. Casual And Comfortable Furniture
You will find the hanging chair above in my daughter in law’s and son’s library. Doesn’t it look inviting? Wouldn’t you love to curl up with a book in that chair? Choosing furniture or slipcovers for your coastal room should be relaxed in look and feel. Canvas type fabric works. You can always choose to use sheets or drop cloth for slipcovers if you want to recover yourself. If you go with a solid fabric on your sofas, you can add color and style with your pillows. Just make sure your furniture is comfortable and it can be on the informal side. Your preference here.
9. Add A Fun Pouf
A loose knit pouf makes great extra seating or can double as a footstool. Because they are rounded, they give the look of comfort and relaxed style. A great addition to a room gone coastal.
10. Window Coverings That Speak Coastal
You have many options both inexpensive and expensive when it comes to adding coastal looking window coverings. Plantation shutters are beautiful, crisp looking and very coastal looking. You can stick with white or neutral colors or go for adding a splash of color with them to your room. (Just remember what you put on the inside of your windows shows up on the outside so be wise in choosing your colors.)
Drop cloth curtains easy to make and give a relaxed feel to your room. Or add some light white airy type fabric curtains that will easily blow in the wind when you open your windows.
11. Add A Round Mirror
Whatever room you are decorating in coastal, a round mirror hung with an attached large rope to hang it from will elevate your coastal look. It makes me think of a ship and an “ahoy mattie” greeting. This would be a great look for a bathroom mirror. Add a navy striped shower curtain with a woven rug, a large seashell on your countertop and there you have the bones of a coastal looking bathroom. You get my gist though. You can have fun with this style.
12. Little Touches Add A Coastal Look
Something as simple as twine can change the look of your decor. Wrap the bottom of a unique glass jar with twine and secure it. Fill the jar with flowers or seashells. Fill a white ceramic pitcher with loosely displayed fresh or faux flowers or put a few faux roses resting on the side in a wicker basket sitting on a chair. Use large bleached white wooden beads strung together and drape them over a photo on a table or hang them on the wall like a garland.
13. Accent Curtains or Napkins
To add a little coastal to your curtains and accent them with rope tiebacks or the large wood beads strung together. To add some coastal to your kitchen or dining room table tie napkins with twine and glue a seashell on them.
14. Woven Placemats On A Table or Placed On A Chair
Decorate your kitchen or dining room table with woven placemats. Add a white plate with dark navy napkins decorated as mentioned above tied or wrapped with twine and topped with a seashell. You can also place a woven placemat on a chair to make your chair look more coastal. Wicker chairs can add some coastal vibe in a hurry placed at each end of your table. Something about the wicker chair look is casual but inviting!
15. Paint The Ceiling
Have you thought about adding some coastal design by painting the ceiling of a room in a light coastal color. You walls could stay neutral and you add a slight light pop of color on the ceiling.
16. Weathered Wood
You can create your own weathered wood look (with paint) such as the headboard pictured above or actually buy weathered wood and decorate your room with it. It can be a table, furniture, the frame of a mirror, stairs, or flooring that has the look of weathered wood. This can help give any room in your home a coastal look.
17. Burlap Decor
Although burlap is usually associated with farmhouse or french country decor, you could use it for coastal. Stencil a wreath, a seashell, on burlap and frame it or make it into a couch pillow and display on your furniture. Simple and casual but could blend in with your coastal decor. Cut out a piece of burlap and tuck it in a white ceramic bowl. Set some seashells in the bowl. Starfish would look nice also. Add some stenciled burlap to a footstool.
18. Add Plants That Have A Coastal Look To Your Room
Some succulents have a coastal look to them. They are easy to take care of and if you don’t have a green thumb, they are pretty hardy. Shop for assorted palm trees, snake plants, agave, or elephant ear plants. You can go big or go home as they say or stay with some small greenery. A plant can give your room a natural look when going for the coastal vibe.
19. Pillow Decor
Pillows tie so many things together when you are putting a room together. It is no different for coastal decor. Add several pops of color with pillows. Or you can decorate more in neutrals depending on what you want your room to look like. Pillows alone can put the finishing touches on a coastal room. Pay attention to fabric , color, and the style of pillow.
20. Keep Everything Simple
I know you might want to go crazy with the coastal look but hold yourself back. It is far more important to keep things uncluttered and simple in the room you are decorating. Keep in mind, airy, breezy, calming, and peaceful. Maybe take a minute to sketch out your room and decide where you want decor and art to go before you place it in your room. You got this! Happy Coastal decorating!
You might want to take a look at these posts too…
- Looking for more ways to make a bedroom cozy? How To Make Your Bedroom Cozy DIY
- How about bringing your garden indoors? Make A Unique Garden Indoors
Recent Posts
Simple To Make Slow Stitching, Patchwork, And Applique Christmas Table Runner
This simple to make Christmas table runner has all the things...slowstitching, patchwork and applique. It is as easy as sewing up some patchwork blocks, cutting them to look like Christmas trees, a...
If you're looking for a quick pick me up for a bedroom, family room, entry way or living room how about simply adding a pillow. This pillow is easy to make and won't take you a long time to make it....