People are spending much more time at home since the pandemic turned homesteads into offices and family entertainment hubs. With that shift has come a longing for making the home feel more like a tropical oasis or a beach getaway. This trend is evident in wall art, accessories and table linens that capture the spirit of the sea.
While coastal decor has always been popular, the style is expanding beyond the tried-and-true coastal palette and traditional regional trends. Adventurous spirits are also embracing bolder colors and expanding their horizons. Seaside retailers can provide the right combination of colors and decorative options to fulfill every customer’s whim.
“I think people are just trying to get happy again,” says Lynn McKernan, owner and designer of wholesale decor company Rightside Design Studio. Last year the company doubled its sales and McKernan attributes this to an online presence. A return to in-person retail pushed growth even more. “It’s like people have been cooped up for so long and they just want something in their house that brings them a smile.”
Reimagining the home and how spaces function along with capturing coastal experiences is driving decor sales across the board. “There’s a goal for functionality and to make everything in the house work,” says Ashleigh Poirer, owner of coastal furniture and home decor store, K & A Coastal Design, Naples, Florida. “I don’t think any more they are show places — they are places where people live, and they are taking advantage of being home. How we try to furnish rooms is both adorable and functional.”
From materials to motifs and tabletop trends, there’s much to explore in the dynamic coastal decor category.
Functional furnishing
As Poirer notes, customers are taking a good hard look at their homes and considering what works, what doesn’t — and what they love or can’t wait to purge.
“Because so many people are spending time at home, we are selling swivel chairs for living rooms, large kitchen and dining tables that seat up to 10 people, desks, pull-out sleep sofas for company and anything that makes spaces more functional,” she says. Flexible ottomans, benches and poofs that can be placed anywhere in the home are also fast sellers.
All K & A pieces are beachy nautical and have a breezy feel. Fabrics are all in coastal colors — navy, aqua, shades of white, oyster and sand. “When guests walk into the store the first thing they say is, ‘Oh my God, these are my colors. This is so calming,’ says Poirer. “Everything is light, bright and airy so they just feel serenity. It’s very spa-like.”
This is exactly the feel customers are seeking, she adds.
Beyond furniture pieces, rugs made from natural materials like coir (the fibrous material found between the hard, internal shell and the outer coat of a coconut) offer an opportunity to dress up an entryway, says Eirini Kalafatides, creative director and president, DHOME Brands, the parent company of Entryways, Skeem and Divine Home.
“Our home decor brands offer nautical and beach inspired designs every year because they’re such popular themes,” Kalafatides says. For instance, Entryways’ handmade coir doormats incorporate sailboats, sea life, starfish, beach umbrellas and anchors.
The coir rugs include collaborations with the Victoria & Albert Museum in Williamsburg, Virginia, and Craft & Forge and American craftsmanship company. “A new doormat is like a fashion accessory,” Kalafatides says. “It can easily update your look depending on the season or the occasion.”
The same is true for pillows. “Customers like to think of them as wardrobe staples that can be swapped in and out,” she says.
Just add color
There’s a dichotomy in color schemes this year. Poirer notes a rush toward soothing sea hues, with navy being the only dark color her shop carries. Navy is a timeless go-to, particularly along the East Coast.
But there’s a move toward color that makes a bolder statement. “We are about to unleash corals and a marigold color that I’m in love with and is a warm yellow-orange — a sun kissed yellow,” McKernan says.
Turquoise is also on the scene. Along with the introduction of coral and marigold, tropical blues are appearing on outdoor pillows, linens and wall decor for the Carolina coasts and Florida. “Now I’m getting asked for these shades as far up North as New Jersey, New York, Maryland and Delaware,” she says. “People really want color.”
Sincere Surroundings’ deep-hued blue collection is taking off, says Abbey Grooters, marketing director of the wooden home decor and gift wholesaler. The company offers products ranging from coastal-themed magnets and coasters to Gift-A-Blocks that are wooden “cards you can keep.” Its largest pieces consist of magnetic message boards: a 24-by-24-inch canvas printed on galvanized steel with a textured feel.
As for color, Grooters adds that “bright and playful” is what customers are asking for. And there is a regionality to color requests. “We notice that the North Shore prefers deeper blues while the South gravitates toward brighter colors.”
Crisp white and navy are staples, emphasizes Tami Oltman, president, Sea Level Designs, a store in Bethany Beach, Delaware, that specializes in coastal home accents, furnishings and gifts. “We are also introducing coral as an accent or introducing a gray. We are seeing a lot of that.”
Beyond textiles, finishes and art, color is coming back in a glassy way. “This season, we are excited about the glass decor beads we introduced as an expansion of our best-selling Blue Sea collection,” says Lauren Brekke, vice president of merchandise for wholesale company Mud Pie. “The light blue and sea green beads are so versatile, and right now we’re loving the style on a bottleneck vase.”
Dish and tableware wholesale company Caskata is seeing a strong trend in colored glassware for the tabletop. Colors range from blues to soft gray-green, smoke and amber.
“All colors are reminiscent of worn sea glass or vintage glass buoys and are beautiful on the coastal table,” says Kate Heald, Caskata director of customer relationships. “We also introduced a citrine glassware, which offers a vibrant pop of complementary lemon-yellow color to our blue and white tableware.”
Mix and match
Combining motifs, shapes and patterns creates a whimsically appealing presentation.
“Customers want to have fun mixing and matching patterns on the tabletop,” Heald says.
Heald is seeing blue and white sea life and geometrics along with white-on-white stripes with netting. “That provides an apple opportunity to create the perfect nautical place setting,” she says. “Customers are mixing not only patterns in each place setting — a different pattern for each dinner, salad, mug and bowl — they might also choose several different place settings throughout the table. By keeping colors consistent, a one-of-a-kind tablescape is achieved.”
This year Caskata added several new coastal patterns to its collection: Beach Towel Stripe and Starfish, including a beach towel stripe dinner plate, a starfish salad plate and catch canapes.
As for materials, Poirer sees a resurging interest in concrete. Customers are going for tables that incorporate cement, she says. “Beautiful washed wood is always popular, and a lot of what we carry is reclaimed so it’s that rustic coastal look.”
Oltman notes, “Beadboard is really hot,” and Sea Level Designs is using the material for headboards.
Marine motifs
From sea animals to tropical, tiki and Nantucket, a range of coastal motifs are appealing for home decor.
“Decor and serveware pieces containing oyster shells and sand dollars reign supreme,” says Brekke of Mud Pie.
As for sea animals, Sincere Surroundings designs its wooden pieces to suit the region. “New England and Maryland is crabs while Florida is sea turtles,” Grooters says.
Oltman says herons and shorebirds are “always in,” as are starfish and shells. “The last couple of years has been really strong with turtle and octopus,” she says. “And I carry a big selection of metal sculptures so we do the huge, 9-foot size tuna chasing other fish — real statement pieces.”
McKernan points to “Turtles, turtles, turtles — they are just nonstop. People are just crazy over turtles. I listen to people when I design. They want something that pulls at the heart strings like the baby turtle migration.” This year’s new introductions will also include jellyfish blooms and octopus on outdoor pillows.
She adds, the tiki vibe has been popular in Florida, but now tiki boats are cruising around the back bays of New Jersey and Delaware. “Tiki vibes, outdoor gatherings, that’s other stuff I’ve been focusing on.”
She says searching for the tiny treasures refreshes the soul helps her escape from the daily grind and pressures of the world. It’s this idea of a coastal escape that draws so many people to nautical and seaside decor, whether they live on the water or a plane ride away from it.
Embracing the idea of peace, Tina Labadini Designs’ spring and summer catalogue has a love theme. “It is resonating with people because I think we are all so weary from COVID and worried about Ukraine and all, so love is a trend I am seeing,” says Tina Labadini, owner of the wholesale company. “We have love designs in nautical themes, and I am showing them on kitchen towels, our best-selling product.”
Overall, the seaside retailer community of stores and wholesale companies are seeing a lot of movement in coastal home decor. The category is ever evolving — just like the dynamic world we live in. “You have to be forward-thinking in this industry because it’s always changing,” Grooters says.
