The Complete Guide
Coastal Decorating, the Nantucket Way
The palette, the textures, and the room-by-room ideas that make a house feel like a summer on the island — every piece shoppable.
Five Rules That Make a Room Coastal
Start With Three Colors, Not Ten
Real coastal rooms are quieter than the catalog version. Choose a warm white for the walls and trim, one blue — hydrangea, harbor navy, or a soft seafoam — and one natural (jute, rattan, weathered oak). Everything else is texture, not color.
Texture Does the Work of Pattern
Linen slipcovers, a jute or seagrass rug, a lightship basket, a rattan pendant, a nubby cotton throw. When the palette is restrained, the room reads rich because your hand wants to touch everything in it.
Let the Light Be the Star
Coastal light is the whole point. Keep window treatments sheer or skip them, hang a mirror opposite the brightest window, and choose lamps with linen or rattan shades so the glow stays warm after sunset.
Nautical in Small Doses
One rope mirror, one whale, one striped pillow. The difference between a coastal home and a themed restaurant is restraint — if a guest can count more than three anchors, edit.
Always Something Growing
A hydrangea stem in a ginger jar, a bowl of lemons, a pot of rosemary by the door. Living things keep a blue-and-white room from feeling like a showroom.
Coastal Decorating, Room by Room
Shop the Coastal Living Room
Bedroom
Nautical Anchor & Rope Knot Stripe Comforter Set
Wide navy stripes with a cream rope knot and a red anchor tucked at the corner — a boy's room set that still looks handsome grown up, especially with a linen headboard and brass lamps.
Bedroom
Nautical Patchwork Sailboat & Compass Comforter Set
A patchwork of anchors, ship's wheels, compass roses, and seafoam chevrons — the charming quilt-look bedding I'd pair with a white beadboard wall and a little lighthouse lamp.
Baskets & Storage
Navy Anchor Canvas Storage Basket with Leather Handles
Collapsible waterproof canvas printed with white anchors and finished with tan leather handles — mine holds beach towels by the door all summer and blankets by the sofa all winter.
Lighting
Jonathan Y Rope Knot Nautical Table Lamp
A monkey's-fist rope knot on a driftwood base under a crisp white linen shade — the nightstand lamp that reads nautical without a single anchor on it.
Lighting
Kenroy Home Fishing Rod & Reel Table Lamp with Burlap Shade
An arched bronze fly rod with a working-looking reel and a burlap shade — the lamp that makes a boy's desk or a den corner feel like a fishing camp on the Cape.
Lighting
Jonathan Y Cobalt Blue Glass Rope-Wrapped Table Lamp
Deep sea-glass blue with a hank of jute rope at the neck and an oatmeal linen shade — I love a pair of these flanking a bed against white shiplap.
Home Decor
Embroidered NANTUCKET Anchor Grain-Sack Stripe Pillow (18x18)
A heavyweight woven grain-sack pillow with soft French-blue stripes and a hand-embroidered navy anchor above chunky block-letter NANTUCKET — the perfect coastal accent I'd toss onto a slipcovered white sofa beside a jug of blue hydrangeas and a stack of coffee-table books.
Bedroom
Pink Cabana Stripe Comforter Set with "C'est Très Juicy" Pillow
A playful pink-and-white cabana-stripe comforter set with a pleated blush accent pillow and a gold-embroidered "C'est Très Juicy" script pillow — the sassy It-Girl bedroom moment I'd style against a black four-poster with a sunburst mirror and a marble lamp for the coquette-meets-Palm-Beach look.
Shop the Coastal Table
Lighting
Jonathan Y Cobalt Blue Glass Rope-Wrapped Table Lamp
Deep sea-glass blue with a hank of jute rope at the neck and an oatmeal linen shade — I love a pair of these flanking a bed against white shiplap.
Home Decor
Hand-Carved NANTUCKET Wood Sign with Sailboats
A hand-carved crackle-white plank sign with deep black NANTUCKET lettering flanked by two painted sailboats — the timeless entryway piece I'd lean above a bench of Nantucket baskets or hang over a console with a brass ship lantern and a jar of sea glass.
Lighting
ROMIIE ZOI Hydrangea Scented Soy Candle in Botanical Gift Box (6oz)
A 100% natural soy candle in a frosted glass jar etched with line-drawn hydrangea blooms, tucked inside the prettiest botanical gift box — the little hostess offering I'd bring in a scalloped basket with a bunch of real blue hydrangeas, and the scent I burn on the kitchen counter all June.
Lighting
VIONAMI Ghost Orchid Luxury Scented Candle in Cut-Crystal Jar (14.8oz, 80-Hour Burn)
A rare-orchid fragrance poured into a diamond-cut glass apothecary jar with a gleaming gold finial lid and an 80-hour burn — the birthday-gift candle I'd set on a powder-room marble or a bedroom dressing table, where the empty vessel goes on to hold cotton rounds and hair pins for years.
Home Decor
Blue Lobster Hand-Block-Print Coastal Table Runner
A pure-cotton hand-block-print table runner in French-blue and white with a whimsical procession of lobsters and coral vines — the picnic-table hero I'd run down a weathered farmhouse table set with blue-and-white plates, hydrangea posies, and coupes of rosé.
Florals & Art
Cocktail Cheers Preppy Bar Print — Painterly Martini Art
A painterly cocktail-cheers art print with four bejeweled hands raising martinis, a mojito, and a coupe of rosé in sun-drenched pastels — the perfect preppy bar-cart moment I'd frame above a lacquered cart stacked with vintage decanters, monogrammed rocks glasses, and a silver ice bucket.
Florals & Art
Pink Cowgirl Boots & Rosé Wine Wall Art — Retro Girls'-Night Print
A retro painterly print of legs kicked up in pink cowboy boots while friends clink glasses of rosé — the cheeky girls'-night art moment I'd frame above a bar cart, a pink tufted headboard, or a powder-room console for that Nashville-meets-Nantucket coquette wink.
Bedroom
Pink Toile Ruffle Cotton Bedding Set — French Country Duvet
A soft blush pink-on-white pastoral toile duvet set with ruffled shams and a cascading white cotton bed ruffle — the French country coquette bedding I'd style with a scalloped headboard, a rattan lamp, and a bunch of white ranunculus in a milk-glass vase.
Shop the Porch & Garden
Bedroom
Nautical Navy Anchor & Stripe Cotton Sheet Set
A crisp white cotton sheet set printed with tiny navy anchors and thin ticking stripes — the cheeky nautical bedding I'd layer under a navy grosgrain-trimmed white quilt with a red-piped Nantucket lumbar and a hurricane lantern on the nightstand.
Home Decor
Hand-Carved NANTUCKET Wood Sign with Sailboats
A hand-carved crackle-white plank sign with deep black NANTUCKET lettering flanked by two painted sailboats — the timeless entryway piece I'd lean above a bench of Nantucket baskets or hang over a console with a brass ship lantern and a jar of sea glass.
Women's Apparel
Cattleya Sleeveless Blue & White Block-Print Tunic Dress
A sleeveless mandarin-collar tunic dress in a crisp cornflower-blue block print with clean white piping at the placket and hem — the effortless throw-on-and-go dress I'd wear from a morning walk to Bartlett's straight through to sunset drinks on the porch.
Women's Apparel
Coastal Lobster Satin Short Pajama Set — Ivory & Red
A silky satin camp-collar pajama set in ivory printed with cheeky red lobsters sipping martinis and trimmed in cherry-red piping — the summer sleep set I'd throw on for morning coffee on the porch with a bowl of blueberries and the Sunday paper.
Kitchen
Nautical Signal Flag Ceramic Coasters — Personalized Set
A personalized set of glossy ceramic coasters printed with international maritime signal flags — the sweetest hostess gift I'd wrap in navy grosgrain for a summer housewarming, or set out on the porch bar cart beside a pitcher of gin and tonics.
Kitchen
Ribbed Glass Ice Bucket with Gold Handle & Wood Lid
A vintage-inspired ribbed clear-glass ice bucket with a warm brushed-gold swing handle and natural wood lid — the piece I'd roll out on the bar cart for chilled rosé at sunset, or fill with ice and champagne splits for a Sunday brunch on the porch.
Kitchen & Table
Blue Hydrangea Round Tablecloth, 70"
Trailing blue-and-green hydrangea blooms printed on easy-care polyester, cut round for a 70" table — the cloth I'd throw over the porch table for a summer lunch and hose off after.
Home Decor
Blue & White Peony Chinoiserie Serving Tray with Handles (15.75" x 11.81")
A gold-rimmed rectangular tray printed edge to edge in blue peony chinoiserie — the piece I'd use for morning coffee in bed, for cocktails on the porch, and to corral perfume bottles on a bedroom vanity the other 360 days of the year.
The Coastal Cottage Styling Guide
A 12-page Nantucket-inspired playbook — hydrangea-blue rooms, weathered cedar curb appeal, and the pieces I'd buy again tomorrow. Plus the weekly Sunday finds. Free, no spam.
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