Coastal interior design brings the ocean indoors and creates a cool, refreshing atmosphere throughout the home. It’s a design style you’ll commonly see in beach homes or other seaside properties, but it can easily apply to homes in other, more landlocked regions. Professional interior design firms can help you set up the perfect coastal designs within your home, so you’ll have open, airy gathering spaces, relaxing and refreshing bedrooms, and plenty of natural light in every room of the house.
If you’re looking for a new design style for your home, a coastal interior design layout might be the right option for you. When considering the primary design elements that characterize this interior styling, it’s often assumed that oceanside states like California, Florida, or Hawaii are the only eligible regions for this form of interior design. However, many homeowners love these stylish interiors, particularly because they bring the beach to their location.
Costal Interior Design Ideas
Coastal interior design is frequently confused with Mediterranean design, which utilizes brighter, warmer colors alongside patterned furniture pieces and artwork. While most Mediterranean plans are in part inspired by the Amalfi and Greek coastal regions, the general styling in and around the interior of the home varies significantly from coastal design. In this article, we’ll cover some of the main characteristics of coastal interior design, including the architectural elements, furniture, and decorative pieces that make this home layout truly shine.
Sand and Water Colors
Interior design for beach homes typically starts with white wood and walls to keep the space bright and airy. However, white coloring alone does not constitute coastal design and by itself only serves to keep the home interior modern. Light sand and cool, water colored accents throughout the space bring coastal interior design to life by carrying the colors of the beach into the home.
In the coastal home’s kitchen, light blue cabinets and fixtures are a popular choice for setting up coastal interior designs for the kitchen. These same colors apply to the seating and overhead light fixtures for the living room, while sand and exposed wood colors apply well for end tables, shelving, and bookcases.
These sand color accents keep the space from feeling overly cool throughout the home. For bedrooms and bathrooms, ocean blue creates a refreshing and relaxing atmosphere. Turquoise, navy blue, and yellow are also popular color accents for coastal interior design, while grey and black are somewhat uncommon.
Open to the Ocean Breeze
To keep the interior of the home light and airy, interior designers will look for every possible way to increase incoming natural light throughout the space. Because coastal interior designs often draw from beach homes and seaside properties, this natural light often flows in through open patio doors, skylights, and larger windows that normally connect the home interior to the beach. This creates a breezy atmosphere for your interior spaces, even when the ocean isn’t right outside your door.
Nautical Decorations and Artwork
Modern coastal design elements include decorations and artwork that invoke the look and feel of the open ocean. In many cases, coastal designs borrow directly from nautical design, which is another design style that draws inspiration from sailboats and ships. Old-fashioned captain’s wheels, compasses, and sailboat or anchor imagery are all examples of nautical decorations that apply to this design style.
Coastal interior design often borrows a few individual decor pieces from nautical interior design to great effect, enhancing the feeling of being near the ocean while inside the home. However, it’s sometimes easy to get carried away with these decorative elements, and they should, for the most part, play more of a minor role. You’ll want to avoid making the space feel like a sailing club lounge, which is often what happens when nautical design elements are overused.
Prioritizing Relaxation
When you’re thinking about oceanside properties, the first thing that often comes to mind is vacation and relaxation. Because many properties that are actually near the ocean serve this function, the accompanying coastal design includes many elements that make it easy to kick back and take it easy.
Couches and recliners are in a higher quantity than in many other home design styles and serve as the centerpieces of the home’s open living rooms, with plenty of space between furniture elements.
Beach chairs and wicker seating options easily serve the home’s interior and exterior spaces simultaneously. Prioritizing relaxation in design functionality allows the space to continuously feel like a simple comfort that distances homeowners from the stress of their work routines.
Natural Tones & Finishes
Coastal interior design often prioritizes natural construction materials for everything from countertop surfaces to baseboard finishes. Exposed beams overhead are a popular choice for the ceilings, while simple wood floorboard and finishes accompanied by a patterned rug are a particularly trendy look for flooring.
Bed frames, door and window frames, and freestanding cabinets also bring a natural appearance to the home and prevent the abundance of blue and white colors from making the home look and feel overly sleek.
Natural colors and design are particularly important for setting up a coastal kitchen design. Many new and trendy kitchen designs for modern homes utilize grey, black, or green cabinets, whereas most coastal designs stick with white.
Shining metal fixtures and statement range hoods are also popular kitchen design elements for modern homes that you likely wouldn’t find in a home focusing on coastal interior design. Building a kitchen in this design style begins with deprioritizing stainless steel and increasing the visibility of backsplash tiles and colors.
Refreshing Atmosphere
The collective effect of coastal interior design is a home with a comforting, refreshing atmosphere. The space should feel lightweight and simplistic in fashion, reminding visitors of a nearby beach or ocean. Natural light and other simple comforts keep the rooms airy, while the white, sand, and light blue color palette produces an altogether pleasing effect. To learn more about incorporating coastal interior design in your space, you may want to consider reaching out to a local interior designer.