Coastal Style Living from Ideal Home

Coastal homes make the most of their stunning views, often having vast windows or french doors causing the outdoors to feel like an extension of the inside space, and allowing light to flood into the room.

Coastal style homes are full of character, interesting details, personal touches and make good use of natural elements.

If you close your eyes and conjure up an image of a sunny breezy day on the beach, what colours come to you? The blues, greens and turquoises of the sea, the natural shades of sand, shells and grasses? The bright blue sky with white fluffy clouds? Textured wooden groins and slighlt faded deck chairs?

All of these elements feature in a Coastal Style Room. The casual comfort pictured right features crisp white tongue and groove walls combined with natural floor coverings and a splash of fresh coastal blue on the rug and cushions.

The New England Coffee Table (pictured) combines bright white legs with warm natural oak, helping to hold various elements of the room together and keeping the space airy and inviting. For even more of a natural feel, choose the driftwood inspired Provence Coffee Table and combine with a rustic rattan armchair or two.

A New England Style Shelving Unit would look stunning on the wall of such a room – perfect to display your seaside finds of shells and pieces of driftwood. The Manhattan Shelving Unit perfectly fits the bill.

For more inspiration from your favourite Home Interiors Magazines, be sure to visit the House To Home website.

Add the finishing touches to your Coastal Style Interior

If you are looking to create a Coastal Style room, our white painted furniture is just the ticket! For a bedroom, the Manhattan Range of White Painted Bedroom Furniture features tongue and groove detailing, alluding to the beach hut style. The New England Bed is available in four sizes from single up to super king size, and is the perfect design to complement a coastal interior.

Finishing touches in the form of nautical striped cushions and bedding will really help the room to come together; or add a New England Style twist with the addition of stars and stripes such as our stunning Riviera Maison Barrington Farm Cushions.

Courtesy of Ideal Home Magazine, finding simple wall art couldn’t be easier! Simply download pdf versions of their stunning free posters, print them out on a colour printer and mount them in simple white frames. Choose from “I can see the sea”, “Are we there yet?”, “Wish you were here” or “Ship Ahoy!” all in perfect coastal colours. Before you know it your room will transformed into a stylish coastal hideaway.

White children’s furniture on flickr

Creating a coastal style interior involves incorporating natual colours to capture the beauty of the coast, and creating an inviting, comfortable space.

A popular choice is to use a blue and white colour scheme to resemble the summer sky, the sea and the breaking waves. As an alternative, you could also decorate the room so that it highlights rather than imitates the coastal scene by downplaying interior colours and using a predominantly white colour scheme so that the eye is drawn to the view outside the window; be it a coastal or coutryside scene.

Whitewash your room and add white painted floorboards. Keep the whole look fresh and clean by using only white furniture such as a coastal style wardrobe, chest of drawers and white painted bedframe.

Add accent colours of blue or coral via cushions, lamps and beddings. Choose fabrics with monochrome stripes to enhance the coastal feel – Ian Mankin offer a great selection of striped fabrics. Large overstuffed cushions and pilliows will add a feel of homely comfort.

Writing in the Press and Journal, Gabrielle Fagan looks at key trends for home interiors in 2010.

Amongst trends such as Spring Greens, Flower Power and Monochromatic Magic, Gabrielle writes that Coastal Style is definately a look for 2010.

“A relaxed coastal look will be ultra-fashionable,” says Marnie Janaway, head of home design for Sainsbury’s.

“The allure of the sea is strong this year, with all things nautical in vogue. Refresh a home with an airy Hamptons beach house palette of tranquil blues and understated neutrals.

“Cool cottons, natural rattans, galvanised metals and folk-inspired patterns can be easily mixed and matched across different rooms of the home, from bedroom to bathroom.”

So why not modernise your home by painting your walls and floorboards white and adding New England Style white painted furniture? Complete the holiday home look by adding accessories such as cushions, blinds and curtains in sea blue shades.

Add a set of Beach Hut Money Boxes, and you’ll even have somewhere to save for next year’s holiday!

West Wittering Beach

Originally uploaded by New England Lifestyle

Holidays by the sea conjure up images of idylic living, fresh and clean sunlight interiors. Think white wooden floorboards, fresh painted walls and clean bright furnishings.

For the bedroom, our Manhattan Range of white painted bedroom furniture immediately makes me think of being by the seaside in the summer. The tongue and groove detailing, clean lines, and fresh white finish reminds me of a holiday time, of fun times spent splashing around in the sea under the warm sun.

For the seating area or conservatory, the Hampton Coffee Table with its planked top is a must, combined with a couple of comfortable white seats in which to just relax and enjoy the ambiance.

Whether the walls are simply painted in fresh white, or cladded with white painted tongue and groove panels, our wall flag can make it seem as though you are on the other side of the world.