OK, I have a lot of emails asking me what I would do with a room and how I decorate on a budget (and I love those emails and try to get back to everyone, keep em coming) but I only wish there were a little more time in the day to answer them a bit more comprehensively
…so at last I've got together some information to do a little series on what I've learnt with this old beach cottage, a bit ratty round the ears but looking oh-so-much better now. And if you subscribed for the tips (and thanks, a lot of you did), this is it and there'll be more next week which will be a bit more floors and wall focused…








Great hints for a beach themed room. All attainable for ‘real people’.
Thanks Sarah
Alison
Thanks for all the tips; I live 3 blocks from the Chesapeake Bay on the east coast of Virginia; just moved here a year ago, it’s my dream come true. I’ve been decorating from thrift stores for the past 8 years but I like the idea of using white to make it feel more beachy. Thanks again!
When I look at your rooms, my eyes go right to the flowers. They’re always there, always perfect….
Thanks Sarah! I have been reading your blog for a while now, and I am always inspired. I have already started using these tips, just from careful study of your pictures. It’s great to have all this info in one place.
Love all of your beachy ideas! For some reason I’ve been seeing all things in miniature lately!
LOVE this post and all your ideas rock. I was at a flea market yesterday and I’m hitting another one today and all the while I think of how they could look if I painted them. I’m trying to look at things through the eyes of Sara. : )
Happy Day to you.
Thanks for all the tips. Can’t wait ’til we move and I can get started…
Last sentence is most important…indeed!
Great post!
I dunno…maybe quilts don’t fit into the whole beachy theme??? Who in the world would want a $5000 couch? You’d be afraid to sit on it. Should be in a museum cordoned off where people just look at it and wonder how it feels to sit on it. And never know…
Brenda
Thank you for these fantastic tips! My creative side is whirring away now. We just moved down by the beach and I’d love to redecorate in a light, breezy beach feel. Without, like you say, getting too themed and gaudy.
GREAT tips!! I think you could use most if not all of your captions: Lose the clutter, Rug it up, Create a display, etc. for just about any decor (whether it be shabby, primitive, beachy, french, etc) by following your tips. Have a great day.
Toni
I’m so glad I found your site through The Inspired Room! I have a 100-year-old cottage about a block and a half from the beach. Right now, it’s decorated in more of a farmhouse style, but I’m looking for more of a ‘beachy’ feel – but still sophisticated. I love your style and look forward to poking around for ideas!
Great stuff! (especially the “finger down the throat theme”;)
m ^..^
love that yummy crackly cupboard thingy next to the chair. Have you shown it before? Would love a video stroll through the beach cottage sometime…
Love your work
Re expensive couches & deliberate nauticality,- i do drool over the video at Ralph Lauren Home website-Collections Archive-Hither Hills Studio… The stripe on that couch, the faded colors of the throw cushions, the guy’s shirt! Now there is a beach shack with a hundred thousand dollars worth of furnishings. Gorgeous, and not superior to yours.
I’m loving the commitment to beauty on a budget. Love the development of the eye, the awareness of negative space in a room, space & volume, the value of editing,- these we learn by trying…
We are so lucky to have freedom & time to express ourselves creatively. I’m thinking of the millions of mud huts in poor villages that get beautifully decorated with vegetable dye or dung, Or folks who work together to beautify inner city neighborhoods. And then there are millions living in poverty so extreme…
Not beachy thoughts, but definitely an aspect of a conversation about our human creativity, our impulse to make life beautiful, for ourselves and others. Making the best of what we have.
Making do, gloriously.
love your descriptions.. love your beachy ideas. can’t believe how similar our interests are. i have stacks of hessian coffee bags i’ve been going to make cushions and a notice board with.
my kids think i’m mad when i scour the roadside for throw outs in the upmarket eastern suburbs, but it is there that i’ve found my most treasured pieces of old furniture and beach house stuff. always painting things white and adding to my coastal collection..oh and i agree with sush about the ralph lauren home video!
Thank you Sara for being so generous in sharing your ideas with all of us. You are so inspiring and I’m translating your tips to my home which is far away from the beach! I like your easy/beachy/casual/natural and pretty look and I’m going for it but with less beach accessories and more pinecones!
Great ideas.
I am definitely in agreement with the “without spending much money and without going for that oh-so-nautical, finger-down-the-throat theme feel”.
Can’t wait to get back to our cottage and add some more of these ideas. When we bought it a few years ago, we just needed to get it furnished … now I have the time, energy and enthusiasm to add some more personal touches, and this is just the sort of shabby beach touch I am looking for.
Wonderful ideas, Sarah! You have done wonders with that beach cottage. I really think a magazine needs to come photograph all your vintage and thrifty finds in your rooms. It’s great!
Great tips and if those tips will help create a room like you do…fabulous! Have a wonderful week! The sitting room is great!
Thanks for the great ideas, Sarah. It really is such a fresh inviting look, and I love the burlap pillow. Linda
Very interesting post. Keep ‘em coming. I am having a major blogmance with your blog.
Thanks for the great hints and gorgeous images, Sarah!!
Yes, yes, yes! Your posts are 1000 X’s fab and this one’s another charmer! So Sarah, I know you’re brushing up on the culinary skills, but if you ever get an itch for street food you’ll have to sprint out for a PIE FLOATER! I ran across it in Wikipedia/Street Food/Australia and I’m still laughing! Please tell me you’ve never had the privilege!
Love these tips. Especially the clutter rule. I struggle with that one having a 3 year old but I try and keep on top of it.
Great tips Sarah.
You certainly know how to pull it all together for a beautiful beachy look.
Hugs ~ Kerryanne
Lovely
Cheri
http://www.itssoverycheri.blogspor.com
I always adore your beautiful use of white and soft lighting. gorgeous!
Your blog is a wonderful inspiration. I love your airy but so cosy home.
Thank you for sharing your tips with us.
Nadine
Those are wonderful tips!!
Where have you been in my life? I adore your blog! Now if I can just find 4 hours to read all your past posts.
Mind if I add your name to my blog roll?
As always, your photos make me take long, deep breaths. Always lovely.
Oh, I love you every time I come to visit. I just wish I could visit in real life!
Thanks for these tips!!! Your home is faboulous and you’re the right person for giving suggestions!
Have a nice day!
Vale
What a gorgeous blog – I just want to run away to it and hide! Beautiful pics and so inspiring – even if I do live literally hours from the coast.
Thanks Sarah
Always a good time when we get to visit your beach blog full of ideas on affordable beach chic.
Am off for a good taste of beach times this weekend, sun and fun at Bryon and can’t wait!
Gorgeous theme and love the way you’ve carried it through everywhere!
I wish I was neat enough for it but I do so love this look.
Oooooooh! It’s all so nice and clean!
Just imagine what 4 grandchildren would do to it and a messy husband.
Love your artistic ideas though. One day…….. *sigh*
Sarah, Your blog is such a delight to visit each day! Wonderful tips and I’ll see you at the beach!
hugs,
LuLu
I LOVE all the tips to make a fabulous beach home. I would LOVE to live in a cottagey, beachy style home and have the look you have….it is beautiful! I’m stuck with my ugly Spanish style (but perfect location for us) home and do the best I can with it! Oh, and I’m swooning over all the little pails on the ladder to the right in your sidebar!!!!!
Great Tips Sarah…your blog is always a delight to look at, I love your photography and that you actually shop on a budget, and make it all look so beautiful. See you at the beach! Tara
WooHoo, Sarah..you are becoming a decorating diva…your tips are perfect for beachy rooms. I wish I lived within 1000 miles of a beach…to pick up shells and stars and sea glass. Oh, well…I just bought some sea colored glass pebbles so I could add a touch of SARAH to my bath.
Thanks so much for all the great ideas…
xo bj
Morning!! Great tips indeed, love the photos, all the best,Chrissy
Bonjour,merci for your visit in my blog.Your post is fabulous.I love your state .My house is near the sea in france.Sorry for my english (is not good). Kiss de France Isabelle
I just love all the pics you show very inspiring!! I will be back for more
Love Malin
I love your ideas and your photos are so inspiring!
Oh, it’s always so much fun to read your blog and see your beautiful pictures. I must tell you how much I enjoyed this post! I don’t have a beachy thing in my house but I do love looking at your pretty photos and I do love my own pretty space. I used to buy magazines to see photos like yours and now I can see them every day. I have always loved white and some rustic things. They just add a nice comfortable feeling to any room.
I just found your blog through the Washington Post blog watch – what a beautiful blog you have! I am visiting my sister in DC right now, and she just sold her beach house and moved many of the beachy decor items to her urban house. It actually looks so beautiful with all of the coral and seaglass mixed into her decor!
I look forward to reading more of your blog.
What a beautiful blog you have!
Katherine
I am absolutly crazy about your website, I just came upon it by accident, I love the Idea’s, I am moving into my new home a week from monday and I love shabby chic, cottage, and french country, so many great Ideas, I will follow you forever on twitter, I also want to buy some slip covers, but I do not know where to get a good pair, I do not want a sloppy look or ones that fall apart, thanks so much, I look forward to chatting with you.
Kindly, Janice Power
SO CUTE!
…wow!…I am dizzy form reading about all your work!…thanks for the inspiration!