34 Easy Ideas for the Coastal Grandmother Home Decor Style

Do you love the Coastal Grandmother home decor style? If you aren’t familiar with it, that’s okay too. Join me to chat about the Coastal Grandmother decor style, why I am obsessed with it, and why I think you’ll love it too! Hint: You don’t have to live on the coast!

Do you know what your decor style is? To be honest, people always ask me and I’ve always kind of thrown out a bunch of words to try to describe my home decor aesthetic: vintage, coastal, cottage, a little of this and a little of that. All along, my style could really be summed up in the “Coastal Grandmother Home Decor Style.”

Now, mind you, I’m only in my early 40’s and I’ve got a whole lot of living to do! While grandchildren sounds great someday, I hope it’s not for a good, long while! Since we live in a Florida beach town, I do have that coastal part naturally going for me. But, guess what? You don’t need to be a grandmother or live in a coastal town to enjoy the coastal grandmother aesthetic in your home, or even simple touches of the coastal grandmother look!

What is coastal grandma decorating style?

Before we dive into all of the fun of the “how”, let’s quickly touch on the “what.” Have you seen Father of the Bride? Confession: it was one of my favorite movies in my late teens and I even took elements from that to inspire my own wedding in 2003! When I think of the coastal grandmother lifestyle, I picture two things.

First of all, I picture Diane Keaton in Father of the Bride. There is something about that comfortable lifestyle with all of the beautiful, simple home decor details that appeal to my senses. Fresh flowers, natural materials, classic style, cozy interiors, big windows with lots of natural light, classic pieces that never go out of style, bowls of fruit on the kitchen island, and breezy white linen curtains gently blowing. You get the picture, right?! What’s not to love?!

Secondly, I picture the picturesque little beachside cottages and shops we visited in New England and Cape Cod on our honeymoon and again in 2021 on vacation with our kids. Seersucker shorts, linen dresses, coastal colors, homemade ice cream from the quaint, family-owned shop, nautical accents, and cute little wicker basket purses. Am I doing a good enough job painting the scene for you? I’m trying to hurry, I promise!

However, I think to really incorporate the coastal grandmother home decor trend into our homes, we really have to be able to embrace the feeling of the coastal style. It’s casual, comfortable, with no one in too much of a rush. It has time for family games, lounging by the pool with a book, taking a walk downtown to get ice cream, and popsicles in cute pajamas. Basically, it is everything I want our home to feel like in the summer months.

So, bring on the coastal grandmother vibe! Call it whatever you want but I LOVE it!

beautiful coastal grandmother bedroom with straw hats hung as a "gallery wall" over the bed

How to get the coastal grandmother look?

Now that we know the coastal grandmother decor style is all about evoking a cozy, casual, slow living, welcoming feeling in our own home, how do we get the coastal grandma look without redoing all of our decor?

I have good news. Apparently, I have been embracing the coastal grandma look in our home decor every summer for many, many years. However, while there are certainly overlapping elements with my vintage home style during the other three seasons, I don’t keep the coastal vibe all year long. There are some easy ways to incorporate coastal decor into your home without changing everything.

Here is a list (though not exhaustive) of some of the main ways I bring the coastal grandmother style into our home decor each year:

Neutral color palette
Add touches of light blues and colors of the sea
Blue and white decorative accents, like ginger jars and crocks
Natural textures like jute and sissal
Natural fabrics like linen
Straw hats
Sea shells, coral, and other beach treasures
Natural wood accents and furniture
Antique furniture
Vintage home finds
Floral patterns, like throw pillows and floral prints (though not as bold as in cottagecore or grandmillenial decor styles)
Woven texture, like wicker furniture and baskets
A touch of gold/brass accents
Mixture of a classic design style with casual, “lived-in” elements

The list could continue, but I think this is a really great start! Let’s chat about some specifics and I’ll show you around a few things I have added to my own home decor for a coastal grandmother aesthetic this summer!

large vase of white hydrangeas in front of an apothecary decorated with coastal summer decor

34 Easy Ideas to Use the Coastal Grandmother Home Decor Style

Coastal Grandmother Home Decor: Color Scheme

The coastal grandma style has a simple color scheme that mirrors the outdoors. This outdoor scene likely takes place in a quaint beachside coastal town, in a cottage with views that open to the ocean.

The colors of sand, sea shells, water, dunes, and flowers can inspire the perfect color palette for the coastal grandmother home decor trend. Shades of blue, white, ivory, taupe, earthy neutral tones, and soft greens will give an instant coastal grandmother look.

The coastal grandmother trend can be incorporated with either small touches or large installations. However, if you start with a neutral base and work in this soft color palette, whether in large or small pieces, you can achieve the coastal grandmother home decor style.

beautiful wooden dough bowl full of various starfish and sea shells

large wooden dough bowl full of various starfish and sea shells

Coastal Grandmother Home Decor: Rattan and Natural Wood Elements

Honestly, you can’t really call the style “coastal grandmother home decor” if you aren’t using at least some small elements of rattan and natural wood. Fortunately, there are a lot of great options for rattan finishes throughout your home. From beautiful picture frames to budget-friendly furniture, it is pretty easy to incorporate rattan into your home decor.

Pro Tip: Watch at thrift stores, yard sales, and Facebook marketplace sales for used outdoor wicker or rattan furniture that you can clean up and bring indoors!

Natural wood can range from a pretty wooden dough bowl on the kitchen island to light wood nightstands to dining room chairs. There are so many ways to bring natural wood into your home. One important element of the coastal grandmother home decor style is mixing and matching furniture pieces. Bringing in a natural wood dresser or table from the thrift store to mix with your upholstered pieces is exactly the look you’re going for.

Pro Tip: Check out THIS post to learn how we strip paint from furniture to reveal the natural wood underneath.

This method has become popular in recent years but we learned it many years ago from an antiques dealer and have been using this great method for a long time. THIS blog post will give you a simple tutorial to turn a thrifted furniture piece into a gorgeous antique-European style natural wood piece.

large white apothecary with a large mirror propped up on top and styled with various elements of coastal summer decor

Coastal Grandmother Home Decor: Fabrics and Patterns

If you are even reading a blog post about coastal grandmother home decor, there is a really good chance that you already have all, if not most, of the elements you need for fabrics and patterns. This is one of the most easy ways to start transitioning your decor style and make your house feel like it has that coastal style.

Coastal grandmother interiors will be filled with white accents, particularly on the furniture, with slipcovered pieces that are light, breezy, and easy to maintain. This is why all of my sofas have white washable slipcovers! I even bleach mine and put them in the dryer!

Recently, we have added a small seating area in our back living room where we enjoy sitting and playing with our English Creme Golden Retriever, Winchester. I found THIS beautiful sofa with washable cushion covers and an interchangeable ottoman to create a sectional. It is super comfy and I still can’t get over the low price!

Used to, slipcovered furniture meant a really big investment. However, there are a lot of great options available now to get the coastal grandmother vibe on a low budget.

Your fabrics can also include things like a simple white linen drape or throw pillows with covers in a soft color palette. All of these textiles will help create the coastal grandmother home decor look like you’d find in a Nancy Meyers movie. or architectural digest magazine!

Pro Tip: For the luxurious feeling that accompanies the coastal grandmother home decor style, add down inserts to your pillow covers!

I added THESE gauzy striped curtains to our back living room area. The gauzy fabric feels so light and airy while the soft stripe is a classic element of the coastal or beach house style decor.

Patterns are also an essential element of the coastal grandma style. I enjoy combining solid, stripe, and floral or block print style throw pillows on my white slipcovered sofas. The throw pillows can literally be “tossed” around (which totally happens with 3 kids!) and still look pretty in whatever order and combination they may land on the sofa!

You can browse more ideas for fabrics, patterns, and finishes HERE.

gorgeous vintage pillow with a floral "coastal grandmother" quilt on a white couch

Coastal Grandmother Home Decor: Use of Natural Fibers and Textures

Any coastal style relies on the use of natural fibers and textures. The coastal grandmother home decor style also incorporates pieces that give a nod to the heavy rope and nets of fisherman out to sea. Pieces like jute rugs, jute ottomans, and driftwood are perfect ways to bring the natural fibers of the coastal grandma style into your home.

I am partial to any elements that incorporate a scalloped edge. This is probably because it makes me thing of the soft waves as the tide comes in! However, there are many decor elements using natural fibers that have the scalloped edging.

Here are a few easy decor ideas:

Coastal Grandmother Home Decor: Natural Elements

Something that many coastal homes have in common is a collection of sea shells accumulated from family beach days. Our home is no different! In fact, ever since I started creating a huge centerpiece on the coffee table with my antique wooden trencher and shell collection, a few more get added every time we make a trip to the beach! Honestly, it is these kinds of little things that help bring the coastal grandmother home decor state of mind to a home!

Other natural elements that I love bringing into our home for coastal decor are sea fans, coral, sea sponges, large conch shells, sea glass, various sea shells, oyster shells, pretty pieces of small driftwood, and whatever other treasures the kids find along the way!

Here are a few fun ways to style these coastal elements in your home:

Line up large shells on a shelf to feature a collection
Hang flat natural elements, like a sea fan or starfish, on the wall
Drill a tiny hole and combine smaller shells to make a sea shell garland
Group all of the shells together in a large wooden bowl
Place extra pretty pieces, like coral or sea fans, under a glass cloche
Glue small shells onto a plain mini wreath to make special napkin rings
Add sea glass to thrifted glass apothecary style bottles and use as shelf decor

Pro Tip: Coral is one of my favorite sculptural items to use in coastal decor.

However, real coral can be extremely expensive. THIS faux coral looks incredibly real and is so easy to style, as it has a flat side so it can stand on its own. I used my realistic faux coral on my summer mantel! You can find other very realistic coral HERE and HERE for awesome prices!

sea glass in different medicinal bottles styled on a white apothecary

coral used on a gallery wall and styled on a white mantel in a coastal grandmother living room

glass cloche covering a small bowl holding shells

Are you ready to become a coastal grandmother? Well, at least in your home decor style?! Haha!

Even though it’s not even summer yet, I am already enjoying this breezy style in our home. Especially since the Florida temps are really heating up already, anything that helps our home feel cool and airy, while still be cozy, is a win to me!

You can browse my favorite coastal grandmother home decor style items HERE on my storefront! I love it so much that I have a whole list dedicated to it!

Happy almost-summer and happy decorating (in whatever your style is called!)