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Create a Modern Coastal Dining Room With Beach Flair
Rooms in a coastal style evoke the feeling of being by the water.
In a modern coastal dining room, this translates into light colors, natural materials, and airy layouts reminiscent of the seaside. Decorating your dining room in this style brings natural beauty to your home, lending a sense of calm and serenity to indoor spaces.
Color, materials, and textiles are vital, as is furniture. And between dining tables, chairs, sideboards, lighting, and decor, a lot goes into creating a modern coastal dining room.
1. Know the Color Palette
Modern coastal rooms have color palettes dominated by whites, soft neutrals, and various blues. These colors represent natural coastal elements, such as the sky, water, sand, seashells, and clouds.
Create a calm, beach-inspired vibe by painting walls in pale blues or sandy beiges. Translucent curtains and light-colored area rugs can make it feel like you're outdoors. You can also introduce navy, soft gray, or seafoam accents to add depth and interest.
2. Choose Natural Materials
Choose materials that reflect what you'd see in a coastal setting. That means going for natural wood, rattan, wicker, or bamboo furniture.
For example, a weathered oak or driftwood dining table adds a rustic touch. You can add rattan or wicker chairs to complement and complete the look. Additionally, sideboards and buffets are standard dining room fixtures, and including these in similar materials helps create uniformity.
3. Incorporate Plenty of Textiles
Coastal designs use soft materials and fabrics, such as cotton, linen, or jute. Soft furnishings in a coastal dining room can evoke comfort and ease and make a space feel more welcoming.
You can incorporate textiles into:
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Linens
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Curtains
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Cushions
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Table runners
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Napkins
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Upholstery
For a quintessentially coastal look, choose striped patterns when selecting fabrics, particularly in blue and white. Also, avoid very dark or rich tones to maintain the light and breezy vibe of the coast.
4. Include Bright Lighting
Use windows and add plenty of light in a coastal dining room to strike the right mood. Floor lamps and wall-mounted sconces work well, especially together, to create a bright, airy feel.
To blend in the natural aesthetic, include fixtures made from glass, rope, or distressed metal. Pendant lights made from capiz or seashells diffuse light beautifully, while a statement chandelier above your dining table will become the focal point and steal the show.
If you prefer something more subtle, simple lanterns or lamps with linen shades create a soft, warm glow.
5. Decorate With Detail
The detail you put into your decorations will determine how authentic your coastal dining room will feel. While color, materials, and lighting are fundamental elements of the look, the details bring a nautical-themed decor to life.
Here are a few ideas:
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Use maritime ropes to bunch your curtains.
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Add sea glass at the base of potted plants.
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Place a decorative sailboat-in-a-bottle on a shelf.
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Display starfish or shells in clear vases.
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Put up artwork featuring ocean scenes or beach landscapes.
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Include a mirror framed in driftwood with a patina finish.
6. Remember Functionality
Although it's usually the aesthetic that gives the room its vibe, you need to factor in function and utility when choosing dining room furniture in a coastal style.
Use woven baskets to store dining essentials like placemats and napkins as part of your storage solutions. A distressed sideboard can also be a practical place for dishes and glassware.
7. Use Plants and Greenery
Bright lighting, wooden furniture, and neutral hues are terrific at mimicking a natural look, but nothing brings nature to an indoor space like nature.
Plants that live well indoors, such as palms or philodendrons, are most suitable because of their vibrant colors and simple maintenance regimens. Place several around the dining room to accentuate the coastal look by adding a splash of green.
8. Create Open Layouts
Finally, emulate the outdoors by arranging your furniture to maximize light and airflow.
You can achieve the right look without cluttering the space. An open, unobstructed layout allows easy movement and adds to the relaxed, laid-back feel.
Bring a Coastal Vibe to Your Dining Room
With a few design tips, you can create a modern coastal dining room that provides the best of all worlds: a stylish room that's comfortable and welcoming.
By recreating the look of nature, you'll also ensure your design will always stay in style, letting you dine in a coastal room for years.