Designing your home in a casual beach-chic style should be bright and airy, visually transporting you to the beach no matter where you live. Coastal interiors blur the line between indoors and out or remove it altogether. Casual coastal style incorporates beautiful accessories such as shells, coral, maritime instruments and coastal art, aiming for a clean and sophisticated ambiance. You don’t have to live near the ocean to achieve a coastal appearance in your home. By just infusing a few tips into practice, you will feel like you have the ocean at your doorstep. Casual beach-chic style is easy to achieve, you just have to remember to keep it simple and edit ruthlessly to get your beach themed haven.

Light could be the most important, yet most overlooked, element of beach style. That’s one reason white is the hallmark color of coastal interiors: It spreads and amplifies light rather than soaking it up. Plentiful windows, glass doors and skylights allow sunshine to flood in, so if your home is skimping on these elements, consider adding them. If that’s not an option, at the very least fake it with lamps and sconces.

A beach house is a natural draw for weekend guests, and it’s inevitable that everyone ends up in the kitchen. Keep yours open with easy-access open shelves and glass-front cabinets, and include an ample island.

While coastal interiors aren’t known for shine and shimmer, a few carefully chosen accents can help to diffuse light even further. Consider a mirror mounted opposite a window or a glass-topped table in a sunny breakfast nook. Just be sure not to bring in so many high-gloss notes that you lose the cozy ambiance.

Bring in varying shades of a single color, like the example above. Or add hints of classic nautical hues — navy and white. The key is to stay consistent; too many color schemes in different rooms add up to too many personalities for a single house.

For upholstered furnishings, consider outdoor fabrics, which come in designs and colors that look as spot on in a living room as in a screened porch.

Style Secret: Collect Beachy Treasures

What did you bring home from your last trip to the shore? Odds are, you filled your tote bag with shells, beach rocks, sea glass, bottles, maybe an old ship’s cleat or two. Take inspiration from these finds in choosing small accents. The key word is restraint. One or two starfish on a shelf look striking and sculptural; baskets and vases full of them can be overkill.

A grouping of shell prints like this one is a wonderful touch to a beach theme. Shadowboxes with pieces of coral or starfish are also a nice way to get the look and feel of the ocean.

Style Secret: Casual Furniture

Coastal furniture should give the impression that it can stand up to salty air and sandy feet, even if you actually live on a suburban street in Dallas. Slipcovers, sturdy wood tables and case goods, wicker and even thick glass fit the bill.

Create a soothing, spalike feel with neutrals and a hint of blue. Add bamboo shades and a few pieces of well-placed coral and shells, and you have a room that feels like a real beach getaway.

Style Secret: Incorporate Natural Fibers into your scheme

Organic materials such as sea grass, straw and jute, in the guise of rugs, furnishings and accessories, bring a natural warmth and texture to coastal interiors. A few touches of rope — nautical balls, cabinet and drawer pulls, even stairway spindles — add lighthearted appeal yet stay true to the theme.

Style Secret: Crisp, Clean Fabrics

In coastal interiors, fabrics are simple, unassuming and put-your-feet-up comfy. Think linen slipcovers, cotton rugs, and muslin curtain panels or floaty sheers that billow in the breeze. You can’t go wrong with pure white, but washed-out pastels or tailored stripes fit with the look as well.

Style Secret: Add Light, Weathered Woods

While exotic hardwoods may jibe with tropical interiors, American coastal style dictates a lighter touch. Picture driftwood: worn smooth and bleached out, with a salt-kissed patina. That’s the look you’re after. Whitewashed or pickled woods, blond maple and ash, or bamboo — on flooring as well as furniture. Painted planks and beadboard are coastal classics as well.

Photo Sources: 1. Kate Jackson Design, 2. Coastal Living, 3. Christopher Developments, 4. Garrison Hullinger Interior Design, 5. Hutker Architects, 6. Corine Maggio Natural Designs, 7. Plato Woodwork, 8. Patrick Sutton Associates, 9. Borges Brooks Builders, 10. Brandon Architects, 11. Tim Clarke, 12. Knight Architects, 13. Taylor Borsari, 14. The Anderson Studio, 15. Darci Goodman Design, 16. Viscusi Elson Interior Design, 17. Pinterest, 18. Marcelo Brito & Pedro Potaris, 19. Allison Jaffe Interior Design, 20. Martha O’Hara Interiors, 21. Tim Clarke, 22. Tobi Fairley Interior Design, 23. Kate Jackson Design, 24. Marcus Gleysteen Architects, 25. Tara Bussema, 26. Knight Architects, 27. Richard Bubnowski Design, 28. Blue Sky Building Company, 29. Martha O’Hara Interiors, 30. Olga Adler, 31. Pinterest, 32. Kelley & Company Home, 33. Spinnaker Development, 34. Tumbleweed & Dandelion, 35. William T Baker, 36. Coastal Living, 37. Martha O’Hara Interiors, 38. Garnish Designs, 39. Spinnaker Development, 40. Andra Birkerts Design, 41. Palmer Todd, 42. Workshop/apd, 43. WA Design, 44. The Anderson Studio, 45. Garrison Hullinger Interior Design, 46. Kelley & Company Home