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How to add Beach Style to Your Home

Beach style brings immediate calm to a room.  Beach style is relaxing.  You can almost hear Jimmy Buffet and smell the tropical flowers on the breeze. You feel like you’re on vacation.  At least, that’s what I’m hoping.

My son left our home to serve as a church volunteer in Russia for two years.  During that time, he endured harsh winters, so when we moved from his childhood home in the middle of his stay in Russia I was worried about creating a bedroom for him to come home to.

He would be coming home to a standard 10’x12’ bedroom with beige walls unless I did something about it. I considered designing a room around world travel since he’s the first of us to have explored the world outside of the United States.  But I think that world travel décor works best when discoveries are brought home from travelling the world.  After two years in cold climate, it seemed appropriate for his room to greet him with beach style.

The finished project looks great, and has the relaxing island vibes I was looking for.  Keep reading for ideas on how you can create a beach-style room for your home.

Every great room starts with a great focal point.  For this room, I wanted to feel the beach.  I found a wallpaper called “James Bond Island” that fit the bill perfectly.  The large-scale mural also simplified the design by requiring that it be surrounded by neutrals that weren’t overly distracting.

Neutrals doesn’t mean boring.  In this case I chose a beautiful driftwood legged table to display the chess set.  It’s neutral, but still has tons of beach style.  I wanted a comfortable chair, but wanted to avoid a hanging chair.  So, I gave it the feel of a hanging chair by backing it with a canopy.  It also draws the eye upward, maximizing the high wall space so the room appears larger.

Because he loves vinyl records and has an extensive collection, I wanted him to have a beach style entertainment center to store his records.  The modern painting gives the space opposite the mural some needed energy, balancing the room.

Now that you’ve seen my version of a relaxing beach-styled room, it’s time to bring those tropical breezes to your home.  Here’s some elements to consider and include when designing your beach-style getaway.

ELEMENTS OF BEACH STYLE DESIGN & DECOR

1.  Tap into the beach vibe.  Coastal style should set the mood.  It should bring the feeling of relaxing in the sun with light, fragrant breezes kissing your skin.  Be careful that you don’t include everything beachy in your design–oars, boat bookshelves, fish, sand in every jar, coral and shells covering every surface.  As you choose your furniture, linens and accessories, choose items that give off a coastal vibe, rather than telling you by its design that it IS coastal.

2.  Elements of Light. Probably the biggest coastal design element is light.  You want the room to amplify light, either by flooding the room with light from large windows framed by light curtains, or by using lamps and sconces to increase the room’s light.  White is commonly used as the background color (walls, couches, bookcases), but you can experiment with sandy colors too.

3.  Clean, light fabrics.  To keep with the coastal tone, you’ll want to choose linens that are light enough to be moved by a windward breeze.  Sun-bleached colors are beautiful additions to a coastal room in the form of pillows and throws.  The one heavier throw that adds surprise to a coastal room, is white faux fur–because we all need something unexpected that still works with the style.

4.  Natural fibers.  Jute, wicker, straw, and sea grass are hallmarks of coastal style.  A great way to bring natural fibers into your design is with rugs, ottomans and chairs.  But you can also be creative about adding natural elements, such as the driftwood table I used in my bedroom design.

5.  Casual Furniture.  The beach is no place for stuffy, overly polite furniture.  All the furniture should be inviting enough that you want to curl up and read a book the moment you see it.

6.  Treasures from the Sea.  No coastal room is complete without at least a few of the treasures from the beach.  Vases of blue sea glass filled with seashells, fishing nets, starfish, and polished rocks all add a touch of the coast to your room.  Beware of overkill.  Add a few touches, and then sit back and enjoy your vacation without leaving home.

We’d love to hear from you!  What style elements help bring a vacation feeling into your home?

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