Our beach house…. a modern coastal mood board

So last week I filled you in on our crazy news… we’ve just moved house.We’re looking around at the moment for our dream block of land… the one we’d love to settle down on and NOT MOVE AGAIN. Like, ever. (Says the girl who just finished moving house for the third time in three years.)

So meantime, we’ve moved into a rental at the beach. We’re making a sea change. And yes, that makes us sound approximately sixty-five years old. It’s only half an hour’s drive from the city where we used to live, in this sleepy little seaside village known as Zilzie. I love it – walking to the beach with the kids, the sea breezes, the beautiful ocean views. I also wonder whether the smallness of this place is going to drive us crazy. Time will tell.

The really hilarious thing is that the house we’re living in now belongs to my husband’s company. Up until we moved in, it was being used as a holiday rental. And one of my jobs this past year was to fully furnish and decorate it. I did this as a commercial job, for the purpose of being used by holiday renters, never knowing that in less than six months’ time we would actually have cause to move in there ourselves.

Lucky I always choose stuff I actually really like myself, right?

It’s worked out beautifully, because our River House is now being used as a display home with all our furniture still in it. So it was awesome to have a fully furnished house to move into. You know, because we enjoy not sleeping on the floor and all. It’s actually been one of the smoothest moves we’ve ever done. The house was completely set up with everything we need to survive including linen, crockery and essential kitchen appliances. So it wasn’t one of those stressful moves where you have to get beds assembled and made up and stock the new loos with toilet paper and feed and bathe the children when you can’t find the can opener or which box you put the towels in, all in one desperate rush before nightfall. It’s actually been quite relaxing, as far as moves go – we’ve been able to move our stuff across and unpack it in dribs and drabs. I still don’t feel completely settled, but we’re getting there slowly.

The likelihood is that we’ll be here for about a year. By that time hopefully we’ll have found the right block of land
(in the same coastal area) and finished building our own house. We could always buy something, but building is our “thing”. My husband’s good at it and knows all the right people, and I love being able to choose everything just the way we want. Well, as budget allows, of course.

But back to the house we’re in right now. When I was given the job of decorating this home, I knew right away that a relaxed coastal theme would be perfect for the location and lifestyle. The trick was to catch the beachy vibe, without being cheesy about it. Instead, my goal was to create a modern coastal feel that was both sophisticated and comfortable.

Here’s the mood board I came up with for the living area:

Everything in this room was sourced from Freedom Furniture, because well, I do love that store. It’s a decorator’s delight.Ever wondered how a decorator goes about putting together a whole-room concept? Well, I’ll be honest, I usually just go with my gut and choose stuff I like. I seem to be able to visualise pretty easily how it’s all going to come together. But I know that answer is not all that helpful for people who find it hard to visualise, or people who look at an empty room and freak out at the endless possibilities. (Anybody relate?)

It’s helpful to start with a theme: I always have a “story” in mind, a feel I’m trying to create. The rest is a fairly intuitive process for me, but when I step back and analyse the decisions I make, there are specific design elements I always take into account. Perhaps it would be useful for some of you if I broke those down.

So, let’s talk through the elements I considered here.

For a modern spin on ocean hues, I’ve combined a palette of indigo-blue, white, and sand, with a striking teal sofa and an accent of silver in the drum stool. The buffet is whitewashed timber, the colour of sun-bleached driftwood.You don’t want everything too matchy-matchy, so it’s a good idea to choose different tones and hues of the same colour. Teal, indigo and aqua are all variations on the colour blue. This adds depth and interest and stops it feeling cheesy. The painting ties several shades of blue, sand and white together in the one piece.

Danish mid-century design is enormously popular for its clean, spare lines – still as stylish today as ever. I chose two sofas that contrast in colour, shape and size. The thing tying these seemingly eclectic choices together? The style of the sofas. Both are button-backed with mid-century lines, so they hold hands nicely together in a room.

The coffee table is a modern take on Scandinavian design, with the classic combination of white and beech. The round table top brings softness to the room – it’s more inviting than one with sharp corners. A circular shape also works better with two different-sized sofas, especially in a smaller space.

Nothing says “coastal” more than layers of texture. The shag-pile rug evokes the softness of sand beneath feet; the vertical-stripe pillows have a canvas-style texture reminiscent of sails, while the lamps bring that essential touch of woven wicker to the room. The oversized wall art has a thick impasto texture on the surface – a lovely, tactile feature in a painting.

My favourite textural element is the driftwood mirror, which has to be seen to be believed. It’s enormous, and really “makes” the room.

If you want an element to make an impact, repeat it. The striking seaweed prints hanging above the buffet are a great example of repetition in this room. Together, they have a far greater impact than alone.

Repetition can also be used to create unity. The sandy tones of the floor rug are picked up in the light tan and black pillows, which I placed against the teal sofa. The blue velvet pillows were thrown on the grey sofa. In this way, a colour from one part of the room is repeated in a different part of the room, which creates a cohesive effect.

 

When coming up with a room concept you love, considering design elements such as colour, texture and unity can make a real difference to the overall feel of a room.Next up I’ll be showing photos of how it all came together! So excited to share!

Let’s chat: Do you enjoy decorating, or do you find it overwhelming and difficult to know where to start? Do you consciously consider things like colour, shape and texture, or do you just go with your gut? Who here is a fan of coastal style?