Summer’s coming and I wanna go to the beach!  And more than that, I want the beach to come to me… (not literally – I don’t really want sand traipsed throughout the house and wet salty swimmers on my couch.

But I do love the beach house look, don’t you?

Here are ten easy ways to create that in your home:

Seagrass, Coir, Wicker

The rough texture and natural colour of seagrass, wicker, and coir go a long way towards creating a great beachy feel.  Use these as rugs, chairs, in trays.  You’ll find these present in almost every beach interior you covet…

Faded Colour

Your colour scheme will need to be muted shades of those colours found near the sea: pearl, oyster and driftwood create a gorgeous layered look; sun-faded blues and corals can also work, as can pale sea greens. 

Be careful not to introduce too much or your interior will start looking tropical rather than beach chic (which is fine as long as that’s what you want).

Cotton and linen fabrics

Use natural unsophisticated fabric for your cushions, sofas and chairs.  Ditch the silks, the velvets and anything manmade and reach for nubbly linens, stripped cotton ticking and neutral plaids.

Unvarnished and distressed wood

Make sure that all furniture and exposed wood is NOT varnished – that just looks too slick for this style.  Strip off the varnish, distress the paint, bash the edges to roughen them up a bit!

Shells and coral

Scatted a few shells or a bit of coral around the room.  You don’t want to overdo this, but one or two nice pieces set the scene.  If your budget doesn’t stretch to that driftwood, bowls of pebbles can be just as lovely.

Nautical accessories

Other items associated with the sea can add gorgeous touches to a room: model boats or lighthouses, a copper diving helmet.

Edit out the shine

Make sure you don’t keep shiny slick items.  this isn’t a place for chrome, marble or steel.  Shiny fabrics also look wrong.

Tongue and Groove

Painted wooden tongue and groove panelling immediately conjures up pictures of boatsheds and waterside living.  Clad a wall in this, put it on your ceiling or cover the whole room in it.  The transformation of mood will be dramatic and delightful.  You can even just put it half way up a wall.  I love this look in bathrooms (cheaper and even better-looking than tiles).

Window treatments

Keep any window treatments simple.  Blinds and curtains should be cotton or bamboo and not fussy: no pelmets or swags, no fancy trims.

Art on the walls

Art is best beach related: frame shells or beach finds, or photos from holidays.  Keep frames down to bare or distressed wood.  No aluminium frames and heavy gilding will be too much for this scheme.

Enjoy the beach!

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