Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Home

Homes are going Coastal

By Elizabeth Bettendorf
Published March 17, 2006

As a native Floridian who grew up in South Florida, I've always had family members who lived on or near the water. It was a cosmic gift I took for granted as a child, living so close to the water's edge that I could hear the lap of waves when the wind churned or the hollow drum of rain on the bay during a storm.

What I also took for granted was the way these houses looked, tropical yet traditional Southern refuges decorated with a nod toward their geographic, waterfront niches.

These days, designers, home editors and writers alike refer to this style - now more ubiquitous than ever - as the Coastal look. I have a new decorating book that refers to this manner of decorating as "American Coastal'' design. It pulls colors from nautical flags and showcases rooms that look all at once crisp and natural and uncluttered.

The Internet marketplace is full of sites dedicated strictly to the beachcomber-themed house from www.homebytheseashore.com to www.coastaldecorshop.com to www.newportnautical.com - each devoted to attaining that seaside vacation decor year round.

Several national homes magazines have gone so far as to build idea houses in Florida intended to instruct readers on how to get that coastal look through the use of furnishings, fabrics, paint colors and accessories. I've seen the look best put together in cottages and Victorian homes along the coast of Maine.

Some coastal-decor ideas I've incorporated into my own home include the use of pale blues, silver (or pewter) allowed to tarnish a bit, shells, old wicker, matchstick-style roll shades, worn maps, antique miniature sailboats, grass mats, simple colored glass objects, Adirondack chairs and ocean-inspired art.

Mary Beth Allen, a divisional vice president of homes merchandising for Bealls, is all too familiar with the coastal craze embraced by many Floridians.

Bealls, which carries beach-inspired household goods in its home departments, has opened three stores solely dedicated to such a look. The stores, Coastal Home by Bealls in Osprey, Naples and Melbourne, picked up on the seaside merchandise some customers collect with a passion.

Artwork, stemware with shell and palm motifs, coordinating rugs, rattan furniture, outdoor resin furniture that looks like wicker or rattan, accent tables painted with shorebirds or tropical plants.

"The look is popular in Florida mainly because we have so many (residential) areas on the water - from the beach to the intercoastal waterways,'' Allen said. "People come from the north because they've bought beach condos or second homes and their dark furniture from back home suddenly doesn't work anymore.''

Even if you don't live on the water, you can get the look of a seaside cottage with a few quick touches.

First, she advises, consider incorporating coastal-related artwork into your decor. It can be new and fun, from framed pictures of flip-flops to beach chairs, she says, or more traditional including metal art shaped like birds, fish and palm trees.

Or, as I recently saw in a darling home in Wesley Chapel, antique Floridiana paintings add a cool, breezy, tropical touch.

Allen also recommends incorporating small, inexpensive, coastal touches, such as beach-adorned wineglasses or candles. Decorative insulated tumblers look cute in a kitchen, too, Allen notes, but also earn their keep when you want to cart an icy Diet Coke to the beach or pool.

Just make it a point to keep things simple and tasteful by mixing a few choice seaside inspired items with what you already own.

Remember, whether you live snugly inland or at the water's edge, one slightly tacky but adorable "At the Beach'' sign is all you really need.

[Last modified March 16, 2006, 12:28:37]