Decorating Ideas for a Small Coastal House
Decorating ideas for a coastal house typically emphasize the home's beautiful surroundings. Beach home design and decor blurs the boundaries between the indoors and outdoors, with wraparound porches, picture windows and decks extending the living space. Make the most of your small beach house with architectural elements, color schemes, furniture, textiles and art that celebrate nature, light, sand and surf.
Architectural Elements
Designing beach homes begins with planning views and natural light. A wall of windows facing the water, whether you have a view of the ocean or not, sets the tone. Widen existing windows or add skylights or solar tubes to allow sunlight to pour inside. Arches rather than dividing walls will give rooms an open and breezy feel. Blur the boundaries between inside and outside with terraces, courtyards, decks, porches, sun rooms, sleeping porches and garden architecture like trellises and gazebos. Remove interior doors so natural light can travel through the rooms.
Color Scheme
Set the tone of your small coastal home decor with a color scheme. The popular beach cottage style emphasizes natural materials and finishes. Wood shows up on exposed ceiling beams, wall posts, wall panels, wide plank floors, built-in shelves, mantels, niches and other architectural features. Unpainted, unpolished, distressed, vintage and weathered wood features create a homey atmosphere. A light coat of antique whitewash lightens wooden elements while allowing the underlying texture to show through. For a brighter palette, consider sunny yellow on the walls, or a warm, rosy gray. On ceilings, a crisp white with blue undertones in a semi-gloss finish reflects natural light.
Furniture and Accessories
Extend the natural look with furniture and accessories made of wood, bamboo, rattan, wicker, straw, stone, paper, sheer cotton and clay. In the dining room, a wide plank wooden farmhouse table with benches for seating creates a nice focal point. In the bedroom, cover a wrought iron bed frame with lightweight cotton fabrics. Keep furnishings low, modular and minimalist so they do not block the passage of natural light and the flow of ocean breezes. Accessorize with pieces celebrating nature's bounty like a blue glass bowl filled with lemons and limes or a mantel display of seashells, coral, sand dollars, sea glass and driftwood.
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