Coastal Dining Room Decor, Beach House Style

Coastal Dining Room Decor, Beach House Style

by | Home Decorating, Homemaking

Bring the fresh look of the coastal regions into your dining room decor. This is a feeling, rather than strictly just one style. Consider such widely ranged stylings as Savannah Southern Traditional, New England Maine, West Coast Casual, Gulf Coast Beach House, All have hints of the ocean, seashore living, and good times in common.

 

Gulf Coast Sophistication

coastal dining

The formal look of polished wood, celadon green placemats, a gracious living mark this look as truly Southern but with a soft and easy look that came from those sweet Gulf breezes.

The formal look of polished wood, celadon green placemats, a gracious living mark this look as truly Southern but with a soft and easy look that came from those sweet Gulf breezes.

Small Space Solutions

The Casual Comfort of Coastal Dining

Half the fun of a beach house is the way you can kick back and enjoy things like eating a great meal together without too much fuss. Games are at the ready for times when you aren’t on the beach, or just surfing around the area spying out great little shops or sitting and watching the sunsets.

Beach House colors and textures make a dining area a good place for the family to gather. Simple and made for highlighting the important things like the conversation and the food.

That doesn’t mean the dining design goes unnoticed! Just that it isn’t in the way of having a relaxed good time.

Maybe this style of dining is for you year round… take a look at the beachside ambience this look could offer in your own kitchen and dining areas.

Explore for decorating ideas of your own…

A sampling of whats on this page:

  • Elements that make a coastal look
  • Examples of dining furnishings
  • Dinnerware styles and accessories that create looks for New England, Gulf Coast, West Coast, or Hawaiian styles.
  • Craft ideas
  • Some delicious recipes
  • Regional colors

Casual Textures

One of the best points of beach house decor, especially in the kitchen and dining area, is its sturdy resistance to daily wear and tear. Kid friendly furnishings with a sense of fun create a welcoming atmosphere for diners of every age. All without any sacrifice of style.

Gulf Coast

Sea green accent in rustic dining room. Ginger Barber CC BY-NC 4.0

 

The Gulf coast has a Southern vibe that is lighter and brighter with touches of formality to it. You will find white surfaces with dark woods as a favored interior look, or Rattan with glass tabletops.

I have yet to see a Beach house in this area that is done in a Retro style or with the down home Yankee look of battered tableware or nautical kitsch, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.

Seagrass Textures For Beach House Dining

.seagrass dining chair

Seagrass: The perfect foil for cool sea side colors

Natural textures are such a vital part of this interior style. Seagrass is a material that is easy-care and adds great texture. So many items are made from it- even a dining room set of chairs! It lends an instant beach house feeling to any room.

Think of where you might best accentuate your room with an item made of seagrass.

Natural Inspirations

  • An entire dining room set, table and chairs, all made of seagrass
  • The rug is a popular dining room decorating item. Made of seagrass or some similar material, like sisal, it brings texture and a casual, easy care feeling.
  • Rugs, chairs or baskets made of seagrass bring elements of the beach into the house.

West Coast

The California look is well known. Bright and sunny with lots of comfort and good living vibes. More Mediterranean influences than on the Southern or Eastern coasts, this dining room can go Spanish, Asian, or Retro, and everything in between.

But one thing rules: the look is expansive and open, with sunny or light colors predominating.

Color, comfort, and style are important on the West Coast.

Natural Textures: Rattan, Seagrass, Woven Burlap

No matter which color scheme you choose, Beach House dining style is made with lots of natural textures, woven mats, seagrass baskets, nubby textured table linens.

The boat ropes and sea-wind worn wood are echoed in the colors and surfaces of the furnishings and accessories.

Northern Coastal Dining Room

Dinnerware with Beach Themes

Set Your Table With Coastal Style

New England Coast

The Yankee sensibility is frugal and battered, well worn furnishings and tableware add to the charm of many a Yankee household. Red, white, and blue abound, with iconic sea creatures, both real and mythical.

While strongly practical, traditional antiques, and heritage looks are common, there is quite a bit of whimsy included.

The Northern clime requires more warmth and a cozy feeling, which is reflected in these rooms.

New England Clam Chowder, Anyone?

 

These dishes seem waiting for new England clam chowder.

The embossed seashell motif is subtle but makes you think of easy beach house living. Relaxed mood for a great dining experience.

New England Lobster Mats

Get in the mood for a seafood feast when you lay out  lobster decorated linens and serveware. This Northern coast boasts of bright colors from boiled lobster, deep blue waters, and pine forests. It has elements of mountain lodges but with its own seacoast influences.

Click here for food ideas

East-West Sea Coast Buffet

Summertime Dishes for Entertaining

Create your Beach House dining room, and then get ready to entertain! Serve an East Coast Buffet and enjoy time with your guests.

Try This Menu

Fish Tacos

West Coast Grilled Veggie Pizza

Cold Soba Salad

Guacamole and Tortilla Chips

Cold Lemonade and Beer, if desired.

Ten grilling recipes from Coastal Living

Maryland Crab Bake? Maine Lobster? Outdoor grilling?

Coastal feasting

Ingredients

  • shrimp
  • scallops
  • chicken chunks
  • various colored bell peppers
  • tomatoes
  • mushrooms
  • onions
  • marinade:
  • 1/4 cup olive oil or cooking oil
  • 2 tablespoons lime juice or lemon juice
  • 2 tablespoons finely chopped green onion
  • 1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
  • crushed 1 teaspoon fennel seed
  • crushed 1/8 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

  1. Choose your combination of veggies, seafood, or meat ingredients, have all “chunk-size”.
  2. To prepare marinade: mix oil, lime juice, onion, thyme, fennel seed, and pepper in a plastic zip bag. Add scallops, fish, or meat with fennel, sweet pepper, and veggie chunks. Seal bag and place in refrigerator. Marinate for one hour, turning bag occasionally to distribute the marinade.
  3. Soak wood skewers, then thread onto the skewer. Cook on the grill, turning occasionally and brushing with additional marinade.

Classic White For Gulf Sun and Sand

Beach Themed Dining Room
white coastal dining room

Colors of the Sand, Sky, and Sea

A palette of colors from well known paint suppliers, Sherwin Williams and Behr.

Southern coastal colors

Southern coastal colors

Go Retro

 

Cheerful Colors Are Fun

… And fun is part of the beach house scene

Beach House Colors

Using beach house colors of driftwood, seafoam, ocean blues, nautical navies, and sailcloth white can dress up the dining room environment, set the tablescape, and create a kitchen-dining room ready for family meals of entertaining friends.

While I love the colorful ones, there are subtle seashell embossed, white tableware sets that will quietly showcase any meal. The decorative quality of the designs add a feeling of the seaside, and reminders of scenes that are unique to the coast.

Beach House Color Styles

Beach House Colors Are a Visual Vacation All Year
My favorite color schemes are the restful, yet cheerful colors and the whimsy of the beach houses I’ve rented. It makes me feel calm and happy no matter what the weather or season.
Natural Objects

Use driftwood or collected shells to create jars of natural objects or decorate mirrors or picture frames.

Romantic Beach Memory Vignette

beach-house-crafts

Explanation of the items included in this vignette are listed below. Create your own beach house vignette for a mantle, the top of a dresser or side table.

Memories + Beach Materials = Romance

the photo above is a picture of a totally romantic gift for a friend’s wedding memory. “The frame has three panes of glass. in the back is sand from where they stood and took their vows.

In the front are shells from the beach of the house they stayed in for the wedding.

The polaroid was taken at sunset just after they took their vows.

In the bottle are three sands:

  1. The bottom layer is the sand from the house in which they stayed,
  2. The second is the ground on which they stood, the top is from Hawaii where they honeymooned.
  3. The broken shells on top are also from their wedding, added for sparkle effect.”
Wall Decor : Make your own with vignettes or collages.

Beach House Crafts

Creative ways to add the beach look

Crafty Decor Ideas

diorama

Seashell Shadow Box or Coastal Wall Shelf Display

coastal dining room wall shelves

A unique wall shelf with a very coastal vibe is this geometric hexagonal floating set. Its natural Paulownia wood creates a beautiful frame for your coastal themed objects.

Get a shadow box, antique it white, gather some seashells and arrange them within for a simple, yet effective looking wall decoration.

Or use the floating wall shelves with the vignette effect of the hexagonal openings.

Objects for accents:

  • small sea landscape paintings
  • collected seashells
  • small branches of driftwood
  • coastal or nautical figurines
  • small seagrass baskets
  • Sand dollars
  • Decorative ocean themed salt and pepper shakers or plates

Or create a miniature vignette like this…

shadow box

Keep The Style Going: A Coastal Kitchen

  • Coastal Kitchen Comfort and Sophistication
    Do enjoy you visits to the coast? Is seafood one of your favorite foods? Bring the coast to your own home kitchen with some of the beautiful beach themed dinnerware and accessories to create some of the resort ambiance that makes a vacation so much.

Beach Decor List + Craft Projects

Timeless Blue and White Toile Patterns for Interiors

Timeless Blue and White Toile Patterns for Interiors

by | Featuring Zazzle Products, Home Decorating

Blue and white decor is always a fresh way to bring peace and calm into a room. From the kitchen to the bedroom, blue and white patterns are welcome. Lately, an old classic has been trending: French Toile de Jouy is a classic, traditional pattern that has stood the test of time. Design tastes for fabric and wall paper patterns come and go, but French toile always manages to stay elegant, graceful, and understated. It is especially beautiful in a vintage context.

French Toile De Jouy and Cottagecore Aesthetics

What styles are enhanced with this French-inspired pattern?
  • Farmhouse and Cottagecore come to mind.
  • As mentioned, American Colonial, and vintage English or French interiors were decorated with toile de jouy.
  • European informed style, especially in the more sophisticated color choice of charcoal black on ivory.
  • French toile patterns mix well with thoughtful pairings of checks or plaids in the same hue.

Using Toile de Jouy Patterns

Although the 1970’s saw these patterns pop up in shirt fabrics, French toile is usually seen in interiors of our homes. Because it is strongly associated with the American colonial period, these designs become popular whenever Colonial decor is trendy. It also gets a pick-me-up in trending fashions when Designers incorporate it into their collections. Recently, that has been the case. Bedrooms, especially, benefit from the monotone, elegant, and peaceful effect of toiles. Bucolic scenes of pretty countrysides or whimsical hot air balloons match the mood of our most intimate spaces.

Love the Vibe, but not in Blue?

toile pattern wallpaper in bedroom photo by Matthew Hranek

Ruby red toile pattern wallpaper in bedroom

In Colonial times this fabric was used for curtains, bedding, and upholstery. Today, similar applications with the addition of wallpapers are gaining interest and popularity.

Toile in Today’s Interiors

An easy way to add fashion trends, particularly if you don’t want a long term commitment, is with pillows. The fine textured patterning of toile de jouy designs melds with solid areas of color.
blue toile table runner

Blue toile table runner available on Zazzle

Another fine use of toile de jouy is in table linens. A table runner, placemats, or cloth dinner napkins will accentuate the dining room with a seasonal spot of color. More permanent ways to bring the monotone patterns into play are with wallpaper. Interesting detail without overwhelming modern, small spaces. toile placemat

Origination of French Toile

Also known as “toile de Jouy“, while associated with the French, it actually originated in Ireland. Irishman Francis Nixon exchanged the printing process from wood block to the copperplate method that allowed for more detail, monocolored, bigger prints. While the French word toile originally referred to linen, the Irishman Francis Nixon printed his designs on cotton. A factory in Jouy, France began printing these types of designs which then became wildly popular in the ln the late 18th-century. The scenes are usually pastoral, but embrace the more exotic, as well. Traditionally a soft blue on ivory, many color iterations and even patterns modified with color surprises can be found.

Patterns Come Alive

Fresh perspectives in topical elements can be found today, from original, new designs to fashion forward colors. For those with a love for vintage, the traditional birds and branches, gardens, castles, and Fragonard inspired people are readily available. One of the most versatile ways to have the colors and designs you crave for certain rooms or products is to use a company like Zazzle. These patterns can be tailored to everything from stationary to bed duvets or bathroom towels. Cups, table linens, indeed hundreds of different home products, can be printed to order. The historically printed patterns are usually shades of red, blue, green, or black on a white background. Today, pink, mustard, brown, and many other variants are used to create the single color prints.

Add Interest to Your Traditional Home

Has this taste of French toile whetted your appetite for layering interest and texture through these vintage prints? Give your home an addition of French Country style with accessories in the colors that appeal to you. You may find you love the subtle, relaxed look of these pastoral prints.

Kitchens With Beach House Charm

by | Home Decorating

Beach House Kitchen – Colors, Cabinets, Canisters

beach house style kitchen

beach house style kitchen

Beach House Kitchen Décor

Do enjoy you visits to the coast? Is seafood one of your favorite foods? Bring the coast to your own home kitchen with some of the beautiful beach themed dinnerware and accessories to create some of the resort ambiance that makes a vacation so much fun. Clean colors and witty artwork, driftwood tones, and blue ocean views infuse Beach House décor.

Whether you choose an entire Beach theme or just perk up the kitchen with some exciting coastal design additions for summer fun, a bit of the Coastal relaxation and good eating creates a welcoming kitchen located in any part of the county.

 

kitchen Decor Ideas

Cabinet Pulls

Vintage Antique White cabinet pull

Vintage Antique White

Probably the easiest way to add a motif to the kitchen, there are innumerable designs available. I saw so many that it would easily be a very hard choice to make, but reduce the confusion by settleing on a type of metal, the accent or harmony colors that you believe would look best. Be sure to determine which shape fits your hand most comfortably and look for you design in that style.
Seaside Cottage Turtle Kitchen Cabinet Hardware Knob

Kitchen Cabinet in Driftwood

A white kitchen is always classic, but another look could be the soft gray color of driftwood. An entire kitchen or maybe a few accent pieces for a sun and water washed décor.

Beach Theme Kitchen Tips

  • As you can see the market is filled with beach-themed accessories, and they are all so cute you just want them all, but the secret of a great look is in the edited choices that portray the relaxed and easy feel of the beach. Be sure you add some well chosen decorative elements, but don’t cram every space with all the “beach” and “shore” items possible.
  • In kitchens especially, efficiency is important. Design for efficiency, but allow for expression of your artful side in the decorative choices like the nautical flavor of the wine rack featured on this page. Storage, but with your own stamp of whimsy or sophistication on it.
  • Take a cue from the beach itself: soft neutral colors don’t have to be boring as long as different textures abound. Combine pastels or go bright, but keep it interesting with texture of seagrass or maybe a painted surface or two on the cabinets.

 

easy breezy colors

easy breezy colors

Make Entertaining Easy

The best kitchen dinnerware and drinking cups are those that are colorful, easy to keep clean, and preferably non-breakable- or at least sturdy enough to withstand tough use.

Coastal Kitchen Cabinets

They can be dark wood, or painted in Beach House colors, but keep your coastal kitchen filled with light! No dark kitchens at the beach.

Beach Decor Kitchen

Beach Decor Kitchen

Beach Decor Kitchen

Giant Clamshell Planter – Like the one in the kitchen photo

Treasure Gurus GIANT 22" CLAM SHELL tridacna gigas WHITE CLAMSHELL

Treasure Gurus GIANT 22″ CLAM SHELL tridacna gigas WHITE CLAMSHELL

Fill with plants or use as a fruit bowl, it will add a stunning seashore note to your kitchen space.

 Buy Now

Keep the Kitchen Ship-Shape

– Not only the décor, but in efficiency

Coastal Kitchen vignette

Coastal Kitchen vignette

Wine Storage

Wine racks can organize the beverages, and provide a splash of color or decorating element.

Think of how to join efficiency and seaside sense of fun

Organization is important in any room in the house, but it seems essential in a well run kitchen. If the aim is easy care and relaxed living, then a little forethought given to creating “a place for everything”, and then “putting everything in its place” is in order. And who says it has to white, dry, and prim? Add some coastal flair wherever you can and the decorating marries to the purpose for an outstanding place to cook and entertain.

Remember the mantra of the Beach house ease: relax, relax, relax. Let your plans take the work and worry out of making meals or cleanup; bring in as many well organized storage pieces and cooking appliances as you need in a well planned space.

Cheerful colors in a coastal mode

Cheerful colors in a coastal mode

nautical mode decor

nautical mode decor

Sailboat Design Flatware

img src=”https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31GxpKygYBL._SL160_.jpg” alt=”Towle Everyday Nautical Flatware Service for 4, 20 Piece Set, 18/0 Stainless Steel, Silverware Set” data-original=”https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/31GxpKygYBL._SL160_.jpg” />

Towle Everyday Nautical Flatware Service for 4, 20 Piece Set, 18/0 Stainless Steel, Silverware Set

The quality flatware that you want to look for in stainless steel. With its refined lines and perfectly nautical themed sailboat motif and rope border, it will be a service you enjoy using every day. Service for eight with five serving pieces.
 Buy Now

Kitchen Decor Tips

Fine wood cabinetry

Fine wood cabinetry

Those Wonderful Sea Creatures

Sea side kitchen theme

Sea side kitchen theme

Decorate Your Kitchen

The sea provides food and plenty of inspiration for décor accents. Judiciously choose a motif that accents your own kitchen colors, and interests. Make it fun or sophisticated, but make it something you love.

More sea creature dishware and serving pieces in Beach Dining Décor.

Crabs

Seafood themed kitchen towels

Seafood themed kitchen towels

Colorful Fish

So many serving pieces and kitchen accessories come with pictures of fish or in fish shapes. It makes the feeling of the ocean part of your everyday experience of serving and eating meals.

Sea Turtles

Seas turtles are the most lovable creatures that make you think of the coast. They are represented on fabrics and the walls.

Swordfish

Does this say Florida , or what?

Coastal Color Appliances

Coastal turquoise kitchen Source: Photo by Richard Leo Johnson

Turquoise Charm

What is more essential to the seashore than the blue of a shimmering aqua color that reminds you of beautiful beach glass?

Kitchen Aid Appliances come in a delicious array of colors, including some that make decorating your kitchen in coastal colors a breeze.

Consider introducing the color of your choice with gadgets and appliances. It can give coherence to the design and perhaps a bit of of fun.

the crab is in

the crab is in

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