Coastal flooring and decor ideas: How to bring the beach into your home

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It’s understandable why many people want to introduce coastal interior design into their home. Whether it’s in the UK or on holiday abroad, being by the sea is an opportunity to experience the beauty of the elements and feel totally relaxed. It’s also often the place where you make long-lasting, happy memories. So why wouldn’t you want to recreate that vibe all year round? In this guide, we’ll be looking at ways to add sunshine and warmth on even the coldest days with our coastal flooring and decor ideas. We’ll explore different coastal interior styles as well as suggest coastal colour palettes for your space.

Jump to:

What is coastal interior design?
Coastal colour ideas
Coastal flooring ideas
Coastal decor ideas
Popular coastal styles
Coastal styling mistakes to avoid
Complete your coastal home with the right flooring

What is coastal interior design?

Coastal interior design is inspired by the decor of homes in seaside towns or beside the beach, with a focus on creating light and airy spaces. It pairs natural textures and materials with organic shapes and colours for a lived-in look that encourages relaxation. Coastal style is a timelessly popular trend because it recreates that slower pace of life reserved for holidays and uses neutral colour palettes that work in every home. Flooring is the foundation of the coastal look, with textured carpets and wooden floors providing a blank canvas on which to build your scheme.

The key elements of coastal style

Inspired by sea, sand and sky
Natural light
Organic textures
Relaxed design
Natural materials

Coastal vs nautical interiors

Coastal and nautical interiors are often thought of as the same thing, but they’re actually different. Coastal interior design evokes the feeling of living beside the sea, so tends to be softer and more timeless, and uses a variety of blues and organic textures throughout the decor. Nautical interior design draws inspiration from sailing and life at sea. Maritime motifs feature heavily, such as boats, ropes, anchors, portholes, and lifebuoys, against a backdrop of navy and white stripes with pops of red. Nautical style is more of a theme, whereas coastal style is an aesthetic.

Coastal colour ideas

With the sea, sky and sand as inspiration, coastal colour palettes are very versatile. Whatever room you’re decorating and whatever your interiors style, you’ll always find a combination that works.

Neutral coastal colour palettes

Whites and creams meet sand and stone shades to create a neutral coastal colour palette. Think natural and neutral tones like pebbles on the beach, chalky cliffs and washed-up driftwood on the shore.

Blue coastal colour schemes

There are so many shades of blue to choose from depending on your mood. Sky blue is great for a cheerful vibe, especially when paired with butter yellow. Seafoam creates a nostalgic feeling of faded beach huts or a weather-beaten seaside cottage. For a tropical blue, go for aqua, or for a classic look, choose navy.

Add warmth with natural textures

Both blue and white can be quite cold when used on their own, so add warmth to your coastal scheme with natural materials and textures. Linen curtains or bedding will bring a breezy, relaxed feel to your room, while woven accessories in jute or rattan will give your space a homely feel.

Coastal flooring ideas

The flooring you choose for your coastal interiors needs to work all year round. Go for a floor that feels both cool in the summer and cosy in the winter – this means deep, fluffy carpets are a no-go. Whether you fancy a carpet or you’re going for hard flooring, we’ve got plenty of coastal flooring ideas to suit every room.

Coastal carpet ideas

For your coastal carpet, texture is just as important as colour. Take inspiration from a fisherman’s jumper and choose a loop pile carpet - preferably made from wool or a wool mix - to weave natural materials into your scheme. Sisal carpets, runners or rugs are also a great option for stairs and hallways. They’re natural, beautifully woven, and are very hardwearing, but they’re not very comfortable if you like to walk around barefoot. Colourwise, choose soft beige carpets or sandy neutrals to add warmth to your coastal-inspired bedroom.

Coastal vinyl flooring

For a feeling of shimmering water, and a slip and water resistant floor that’ll last for years, look no further than a gorgeous vinyl floor. A blue vinyl floor can look like the sea on a sunny day, and it may be the splash of coastal decor you’ve been craving for your bathroom or kitchen. As an alternative, a mosaic tile pattern in turquoise and blue will remind you of diving into a swimming pool in an exotic destination, while wood-effect vinyl looks like wooden decking that’s been bleached by sunlight.

Coastal wooden flooring

A wooden floor is a popular choice for a coastal scheme. From bleached timber to whitewashed oak, there’s a light wooden floor to suit your coastal style, whether you’re trying to recreate a traditional Cornish cottage or a contemporary holiday home on Cape Cod. You could go for real hardwood or engineered wood floor, but if you want durable wood-look flooring at a fraction of the price, choose laminate or luxury vinyl tiles (LVT). Luxury vinyl is also water resistant so it’s a great choice for a coastal-inspired bathroom or kitchen.

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Coastal decor ideas

While many people create a beachy vibe in their bathroom, there’s no need to restrict coastal decor to just one room. This style works well in living rooms, dining areas, and even kitchens.

Furniture for a coastal home

If you want that breezy, New England look, choose light wooden furniture or linen upholstery for sofas and chairs. Cane or reeded furniture also works well – that’s something you can DIY easily by upcycling your existing chest of drawers or bedside table.

Accessories inspired by the coast

You may already have beachy souvenirs picked up from your holidays that you want to display. Or perhaps a favourite family photo on everyone enjoying themselves at the seaside. Alongside personal touches, introduce light-coloured soft furnishings like linen cushions or cotton throws, and coastal accessories such as driftwood, woven baskets and hand painted ceramics. You can even buy seaside-inspired home fragrances or diffusers that include ingredients like salt, seaweed, eucalyptus, and sage to give your space that briny tang.

Coastal lighting ideas

Warm, low-level lighting is key for creating that cosy coastal feel once the sun goes down. Use opaque glass lamps on side tables and hang woven pendants from ceilings. Add lampshades with coastal-inspired patterns like waves or stripes or just keep it simple with plain linen. Hurricane lanterns are great for using both inside and outside to create that summer evening ambience - whatever the weather or time of year.

Popular coastal styles

There is no one-size-fits-all coastal style. Some beaches are on the chilly Atlantic and some are on a tropical island, so they’ll have a completely different coastal colour palette.

Hamptons coastal style

Imagine living in one of those exclusive seaside mansions dotted all along the New England coast. These homes echo their ocean-side location with bleached wood, and pale light-reflecting accessories and decor. Their interiors are full of warm neutrals like whites and greys, and use natural textures like linen, cotton, or hessian, with accents of natural brown. This style also features blues of all shades, from a soft pastel to crisp navy which contrasts well with white or cream.

Caribbean coastal style

If ‘coastal inspired decor’ makes you think of warm sand, rum cocktails on the beach and inviting teal-green seas, then this look is for you. It’s the opposite of understated, with maximalist decor in warm, vibrant, clashing colours against a shaded backdrop of dark wooden flooring and furniture. You may want to fill your room with large-leaved plants to lend a tropical feel, or oversized botanical prints in your wallpaper, or even set up your own Tiki bar area in your garden!

British coastal style

You may want to stay closer to home to get your coastal design fix. Recreating British seaside style in your home could incorporate the high-contrast, primary colours of the funfair or the pier, to the softer blues and yellows that make you think of big skies and empty beaches, to the greys and neutral tones of a bleak but beautiful winter seascape.

Mediterranean coastal style

At the heart of Mediterranean coastal style is a celebration of natural elements, warm hues, and rustic textures. Use a balance of hot, cool, and earthy tones such as terracotta, sandy beige, deep blue, and olive green to evoke the sun-soaked landscapes and azure waters of the Mediterranean coast. Learn how to bring Mediterranean style into your home with our guide.

Coastal styling mistakes to avoid

There is such a thing as going overboard (get it?) with coastal decor. Take a look at your scheme and check you’re not guilty of making any of these styling mistakes:

Having too many seashell accessories
Using too much blue and making the space feel cold
Forgetting to add texture
Choosing flooring that's too dark
Mixing too many coastal themes or styles

Complete your coastal home with the right flooring

If our ideas for coastal interior design have inspired you to transform your home, why not pop into your local Tapi store to speak to our floorologists about the best flooring to match your coastal style? Or if you want to discover even more ways to incorporate coastal themed decor into your home, then our lookbooks are full of colour combination inspiration.