Classic Coastal Interior Design Ideas

Coastal Interior Design: Everything You Need to Know About This Nautical and Serene Style

As Solis adds, modern coastal design as we know it today has been architecturally driven through an emphasis on large scale windows that expand the view and bring the outdoor landscape into the home. The style has traditionally framed the landscape as part of the art within the home, she explains. Sophisticated materiality choices that beautifully complement and dont compete with the view, alongside thoughtful architectural details that elevate the relaxed experience are all key tenets of this tradition.

Some people will also use coastal as a catch-all term for any interior design style that draws inspiration from or is connected to the beach such as beachy, nautical,Mediterranean, or tropical. However, coastal is still understood as its own distinct aesthetic too.

Defining elements and characteristics of coastal interior design

To better understand the coastal look, consider the elements that go into crafting the aesthetic. Coastal interiors often focuson a soft, washed, or faded neutral toned color palette paired with natural materials and soft touch experiences such as washed linen, cashmere, wool, and alpaca, explains Solis. Though not exhaustive, coastal interiors often make use of the following design motifs:

• Large windows with an emphasis on natural light and framing landscapes
• White walls
• Color scheme that draws inspiration from a rocky beach, including blue, white, cream, green, and gray
• Clean lines
• Construction materials that include natural wood elements throughout, and matte painted surfaces or plaster finishes
• Woven and natural textures such as rattan and jute
• Classic design elements such as sisal rugs, slip-covered furniture, linen, and ticking stripe patterns

Examples of coastal interior design

For some design ideas that channel the coastal vibe, consider these projects from Hamwey and Solis.

Coastal dining room

Coastal living room

Coastal bedroom

How to bring coastal interior design into your home

If your home design could benefit from a touch-up and the coastal aesthetic feels like a fit, Solis and Hamwey have design tips to help you create the look.

How do you build a coastal interior?

According to Hamwey, its best to avoid kitschy or expected decor when creating a coastal interior. Instead of incorporating elements like shells, starfish, and navy blue stripes, take inspiration from the natural environment for everything from the color palette through to the materials used, she advises. She recommends leaning into earth tones, natural textures, and thoughtfully layered blues. This aesthetic is meant to evoke the feelings of relaxation and ease that waterside living brings to everyday life, she adds.

39 Coastal Living Rooms That Feel Like a Day at the Beach

How Do You Make a Living Room Look Coastal?

Style your coastal living room with shades of white, beige, sandy tones, and shades of blue and green that recall the sand and the sea. Keep it soft and lightdont be afraid to mix in shades of yellow, pink, peach, and other soft colors found in nature that will add nuance.

Prioritize natural fabrics such as linen and cottonincorporate natural materials on furniture and accessories such as weathered wood furniture, a jute rug, or a rattan mirror. Maximize natural light by keeping window treatments minimal, like clean solar shades or gauzy curtains, and dont clutter the room with too much decor to maintain an easy, breezy feel.

What Makes a Room Coastal?

Coastal rooms often feature a color palette that is reminiscent of the colors of the seashore such as pale blues, greens, and shades of white and sandy beige. Natural materials such as weathered wood and natural textures such as rattan, jute, wicker, or rattan complement a coastal room, which may also feature warm gold metal accents that mimic the sun.

In general, a room decorated in coastal style is a more refined and sometimes abstract interpretation of a beachy interior that can work in any setting, from a city apartment to a suburban home located miles from an actual beach.

How Do I Make My House Look Coastal?

Coastal spaces are airy, breezy, uncluttered, and relaxing. The simplest way to broadcast a coastal vibe is to stick to a natural palette of white and blue. You can channel the Greek islands with a minimalist color palette with white walls and bright blue textiles, or use moodier shades of blue-gray with dark or weathered woods depending on your taste and style.

Also, feel free to add color or black-and-white wall art that depicts beach scenes; palm print wallpaper; or decor accents in natural materials like driftwood, rattan, or jute.

Beach house interiors: 18 ways to get the coastal look

Feeling inspired by all the beach house interiors that floating around Instagram at them moment? Well, hey, we don't think you need to live anywhere near the sea to recreate those relaxed coastal interiors. But before you go buying anything and everything that comes in a crab print, or a load of wall art that says something like Life is better at the beach, there is a right way to do the coastal trend, so keep scrolling for plenty of subtle seaside inspired design ideas...

For more living room ideas make sure you check out our gallery too.

1. Beach house design is all about layering up on texture

Coastal interiors aren't all about blue stripes and miniature ships in bottles. You can create all the beach house interiors by layering up lots of different fabrics and materials. Rugs, cushions, baskets, wall hangings can all be incorporated into your current space to create that relaxed, laid back feel that the coastal look is all about.

And can we just talk about that driftwood coffee for a sec? Coastal inspired homeware at its best.For a similar table have a look on Wayfair.

Get some more inspiration from our white living rooms feature.

2. Add blue huesto a beach house living room

Combine the traditional seaside look and the more contemporary, rustic beach house look by keeping with the whole mix of materials thing, but adding in a few hints of blue. We love how this blue carpet looks against the limewashed floor, and the cushions are just the right amount of nautical without venturing into Life's better at the beach territory.

If you want more tips on how to bring these ocean hues into your space, head over to our blue room ideas.

3. Beach house furniture: go for a simple lines and tons of comfort

Keep things simple and classic with clean lines and a blue and white colour palette. This is definitely a moregrown up take on seaside style: the whitewashed walls and a pale floor work perfectly with the deep blue sofa and light grey cushions. Add in some wooden accents to stop the look becoming too matchy matchy and a few stylish coastal accessories (check out that porthole mirror) to bring the look together.

If you are after a new sofa to go in your coastal inspired living room, make sure you have a read through our guide to buying a sofa.

4. Invest in a subtly striped sofa

If your love of coastal interiors goes beyond a few anchors printed on cushions and a shell wallhanging, think about investing in a classic striped sofa as the focal point of your living room. We love this sofa from dfs; the stripe is subtle enough so, if your tastes do change, it could be adapted to suit any style.

5. Or go for a striped armchair

If you aren't ready to commit to a full on striped sofa, maybe an armchair might be a better idea? We love the Scandi feel of the Calmsden Armchair, upholstered in Lapland Stripefrom Vanessa Arbuthnott. Why not pinch this idea and mix the soft coastal look with more striking pieces like sculptural dark wooden furniture? Rugged, Mid-century, coastal style? You saw it here first.

6. Beach house decorating ideas on a budget: Upcycle furniture

If you want to bring some coastal interiors into your home but don't want to fork out for new furniture, try upcycling some of your existing pieces. The white washed, shabby chic look is key in coastal interiors, and conveniently we have a step-by-step guide to creating a rustic paint effect. Once you are happy with the result, complete the look by adding a few nautically-inspired accessories.

7. Pick pretty pastel paintsfor your walls

A quick and easy way to get a lovely, light, beach house look is to use paint. Give your walls a lick of a new coastal colour to instantly transform it into a room that just feels like it belongs by the sea. We love this lovely duck egg blue, it works so nicely with creams and wooden accents. Make sure you check out the rest of this gorgeous lakeside summerhouse, you'll find loads of inspiration there.

8. Switch up your bedding for a beach house bedroom ideas

Moving on from how to get the coastal look into your living room to how you can incorporate it in your bedroom, we reckon the easiest way to bring any trend into a bedroom is with bedding because it's quick to do and it's (relatively) cheap. For coastal interiors, the obvious choice to go for is stripes, but we also love the relaxed look of linen bedsheets, in sea-inspired colours think calming blues, crisp whites and sandy beige.

9. Match a subtle colour palette with wood for a calming space

If the more traditional blue and nautical stripes aren't quite your thing but you love the light, airy feel of coastal interiors, a simple neutral palette can be just as effective at evoking those holiday feels. Layer up different weathered coastal colours and add natural materials for plenty of texture and interest. When adding accessories, arrange them in small groups, in a haphazard way, in keeping with the whole informal look.

Love the shiplap style headboard in this bedroom? We've got a whole feature dedicated to DIY headboard ideas, and you can actually make something similar yourself, so make sure you go and have a snoop over there.

10.Create a rustic coastal look in your dining room

Much like the bedroom above, there's not a sea shell in sight in this gorgeous dining room, but you still get that beachy feel because of the neutral colour palette and all those natural elements. We love the big vase ofnatural grass as a contrast to all those pale colours; you could obviously source the real thing but Wayfair actually do some pretty realistic looking versions.

11.Add pops of blue to an all white space

Ah, back to white and blue. Again. A quick way to get that coastal look in your dining room is to switch out your diningchairs oooor you could even paint your current ones in a lovely sea blue. Something like Farrow & Ball's Stone Blue or Cook's Blue would work well in a coastal style interior.

If you do want to give painting your dining chairs a go, have a read through our guide to how to paint furniture to get you started. You might want to check out our pick of the best furniture paints too.

12.Beach house kitchens need a coastal display

You can bring some of that coastal style into your kitchen without having to whitewash the entire thing. If you have any glass fronted or open cabinetry use this to display glass jars, small wicker baskets and nice pieces of crockery. Ramp up the seaside feel by adding some driftwood sculptures, rattan lanterns and seagrass wall hangings.

13. Or paint your kitchen cabinets white

If you want to take the look even further, an all white kitchen is a sure fire way to add that airy, coastal feel to your space. You could even paint your cabinets yourself, just follow our step-by-step guide to how to paint kitchen cabinets. Lift the look with a wooden worktop as a contrast and pick out kitchenware that has a touch of colour to it (more on that next).

Love this kitchen? You are going to want to check out our white kitchen ideas then.

14. Pick out some coastal tableware

If you are after a quick, budget-friendly way to bring in a bit of that seaside charm, pick out a few pieces of of tableware.This collection from John Lewis is just the right amount of seaside without becoming too twee. Note how there is a healthy mix of your obviously sea inspired motifs (starfish, crabs, etc) and non-maritime prints too, to keep the look fresh and modern.

15. Bring elegant coastal decor to your bathroom

Bathrooms are possibly one of the easiest rooms to incorporate the beach house interiors trend as the colours just lend themselves so well to the space. Just look to add a few key pieces coastal style towels, classic motifs like fish and anchors, anything that's made of shells. Just don't go over board (ha ha). A porthole style mirror or some rope baskets for bathroom storage can be all it takes to add that relaxed, on-trend feel.

16. Pick a cool blue for a coastal style hallway

A subtle beach house interior is perfect for a hallway because it brings with it all the hallway must-haves: a soft, pale wall colour that reflects light, bags of natural materials to make it feel welcoming, practical surfaces (think: wooden or stone flooring) and cute, but uncluttered accessorising. We love this very low-key take. Bone China in Mid Blue paints are by Little Greene. Find more pretty hallway paint ideas in our guide.

17. Take the beach house look into your garden

Don't limit the beach house look to your interiors, get those vibes going in your garden too! String up a hammock, throw down some striped picnic blankets, dot some lanterns and festoon lights around, dig yourself a lake and there you go.

18. Create an outdoor living room

You could take it even further and set up an outdoor living room. This concept of creating an entirely new living room in your garden has been really popular over the last few summers and they do look particularly gorgeous. You can get garden furniture that's as nice as actual living room furniture now the John Lewis St. Ives range is a case in point.

If you want more inspiration on outdoor living ideas, check out our feature.

Read more: