Beach Cottage Tips

 It's easy to change the look with white and naturals – you can add just about anything you fancy for a low price, or as I did no price and a totally new look.  I've had so many questions lately about how I do things on a budget and where I get them from (I'm so sorry if you've left me a message or sent me an email with a question and I haven't got back to you).  I am certainly no expert in style or budgeting but I thought seeing as I've got a bit of expertise in nesting but not splurging I'd note a few ways I've been able to achieve a beachy laid-back, easy, casual style in my bedroom without spending a fortune. 

 The Floor

I've always wanted wood underfoot, I love the feel of it and yes I know it can sometimes be cold.  But in the winter (it was cold in England) I rugged up.   Oh and wore slippers

Pull up your carpet and look for wood.  If you've got it, lucky you.  If you can afford it get a professioal sander (we got the whole of the Beach Cottage done in one hit).  If you can't afford it or are doing just one room, hire a sander and do it yourself.  We did this in our house in England.  It wasn't too difficult…

Gotta love a touch of coir matting for that natural outside/inside feel.  IKEA has a great range of matting and rugs.  If you don't have the wood floor option or are renting the large coir mats are great to cover up and give a neutral base.  I used these in our rental to add a relaxed feel and conceal the carpet.

Paint, Paper & Walls

I want always to keep the pallette neutral but I went against the advice of just about every designer I'd read and every home book I have (and baby that's alot), for pure brilliant white.  The main reason for this though was not because I have any trick up my sleeve or any belief that my way is better but rather because we were in a big hurry and all white, everywhere, meant no cutting-in and no fuss.  I'm more than pleased with how it turned out and in my opinion it doesn't look like we live in a hospital. 

But when we re-paint I will examine the many subtle and lovely shades of white there are out there…Oh and I go for mid-range paint, the cheap stuff really does mark easily.  I never though quite really understood paint snobbery and why some people have to have a label on their paint can. 

And I like paper, not that I've been brave enough to put it up yet, but there are some great neutrally/florally ones out there that on just one wall would be fab…

The Bed

I want my bed to feel wistful for a life I don't have, ya know?  I feel a a kinda nostalgic longing for a frenchy style bed that certainly wasn't part of my suburban childhood.  Which is why I hanker after white iron style beds.  I would have loved this one to be old, vintage and really solid but when you arrive in a foreign country with five beds to buy, and nothing to sleep on at night errr, the last thing you're gonna be doing is scouring around for a just-so antique delight. 

Which leads me to cheap reproduction metal beds, which I've bought before and this one we have at the moment and I would buy again.  You can pick them up for a great price if you do your homework and they don't look too budgety.  Save all your money for the mattress, we've always spent as much as, if not more than, we can afford and never regretted a single penny.

Furniture

Budget bedroom furniture, like that from IKEA, has never been a success for me. Bedroom wise I've always been disappointed in the cheap option.  I dunno about you but I want to feel sturdiness when I open a drawer or yank open a wardrobe in a rush to chuck some clothes on when someone's at the door. But it's very tempting to buy something cheap from one of these places to tide you over.  I've learnt from too many mistakes here, now I'd rather live with it in a box on the floor than buy a cheap set of drawers or bookcase…

For the Beach Cottage bedroom I hunted in thrift stores, garage sales and secondhand shops for old pieces I liked the shape of and then painted them white.   A much slower process than going into a shop and ordering what you fancy…but if you look for long enough, I'm sure you'll come across some beauties…

Linen

I want my bed to feel calm… somewhere to escape to, comforting and ready to be climbed into.  No pattern, no busy colours - I don't think white linen can fail to induce serenity when you're on your knees at the end of the day.

So I look out for good quality, luxury white linen when it is on sale, I more often than not get it for at least half price off, linen shops seem to always have a sale.  I scrimp in many areas of my life, and get away with it, but here I'd rather save up and spend well.

Vintage Linen – I am constantly on the lookout for old linen pieces, I love the lace and embroidery that's often been added and if you've used a white pallette for the main stuff you can add just about any pillowslip in and mix and match every time you change the bed.

Lamps 

 I adore the cosy glow of of lamps in the bedroom.  There's nothing like that feeling of switching on the lamp, when all those Beach Cottage kiddos have gone to bed and I know that all I have left to do is climb into bed and read.   I can never have enough lamps. 

Of course you don't need me to tell you where to shop for lamps but I have found that Target have a good selection at great prices that look like they cost a lot more than they actually do.

I've bought lamps at garage sales, auctions and thrift stores with great success.  I don't think you can go too wrong if you look out for a classic shaped lampbase and team it with a neutral shade. 

Drapes 

Sadly I don't have beautiful floor length sash windows that look out over the ocean and therefore do not need some form of embellishment.  It makes me chuckle when so often in home-style books you see it written 'oh no I so don't like anything at the windows'.  In a perfect world I'd also have undressed windows but here I have ugly aluminium windows in the new part of the cottage at the back that I need to conceal and old sash windows in the front that while would be nice left uncovered I like the ritual nightly repitition of drawing the curtains and shutting the world out to signal the end of the day.

I want to keep it simple, laid back and layered but 'undone', to be able to throw them in the wash and drape them on the floor - festooned drapes are never gonna work for me.  But I like a little more than just a single hanging curtain and the double layer look works quite well.  It kinda dresses the window but in a relaxed way and is very easily achieved by using IKEA's double pronged brackets.  I also like the IKEA finials.  Super cheap price but as they are pretty far away from the eye so don't look too oh-yeah-I've-been-to-IKEA. 

I would like nothing more than to say that I sourced my curtains from some little French market linen stall and then had them beautifully hand stitched…but most of my curtains in the Beach Cottage I've bought from IKEA (look for the most expensive ones in there, the really really cheap ones are awful) or made myself.  I'm no seamstress, I potter around with my sewing machine, but I can make a curtain and a tie-up blind without too much stress. 

Chairs

I like chairs around in the bedroom - I want to chuck my clothes on one at the end of the day when I simply cannot face yet another chore.  I like director's chairs covered in neutral putty linen or old rattan chairs painted white. 

What I'm really looking out for is an old wing-back chair that I can cover in white.  I haven't found it yet, but it's on the Beach Cottage Most Wanted List.

So there you go, if there really is anyone with anymore questions, leave them it in the comments and I'll edit and update the post.