TABLETOP DECOR – In your coastal home, add natural and cost free items for additional seaside decoration.  Keep a collection of shells on your porch window sills or as an outline for your walkways, your guests will be enticed to make their own contributions.  Integrate basics like wicker baskets throughout for additional storage and casual and unbreakable appeal.  Add virtually indestructible items like decorative wrought iron lamps, wall sconces, and wine racks for a consistent theme with excellent durability.

WALL ART – Rather than investing in fragile framed prints under glass, select beach theme canvas art pieces or rod mounted tapestries.  These are much more resilient to beach house parties, accidental bumps, and the extreme temperate changes the beach seasonal rentals experience.  Winterization year after year leaves your home décor in extreme cold temperatures for extended periods of time.  In contrast, that same décor sustains high summer temps and intense sunshine.

If you are outfitting a furnished investment rental property at the beach or own a beach house where you’ll have LOTS of friends and family using it without you being there, you will need to shop completely differently than if it were your own private personal residence.  The key is to select functional yet decorative items featuring beach, coastal, nautical, or tropical themes, items that can sustain heavy usage by sometimes not so careful people, multiple washings, and strong sunshine.

There are a few rules of thumb that can be applied to multiple rooms of your beach house rental. 

•  The first is to buy many items in large quantities, typically an even dozen for even more for dinnerware, drinkware, placemats, kitchen towels, bath towels, etc.  This accommodates large groups and also allows for sufficient rotation to effectively reduce wear. 
• Another suggestion is to use the same basic color theme throughout your coastal house or waterfront condo.  Select a colorful and interesting coastal pattern, where nautical or tropical theme merchandise is readily available for multiple areas of your home.  Then build on that theme, room by room, with various neutral solids that can sustain lots of washing and lots of wear. 
• Lastly, purchase your basics like upholstered goods, comforters and spreads in textured solids that can be accented with fun, bright, and easily updated beachy, coastal, nautical, or tropical throw pillows, area rugs, wall art, tabletop décor, and paint. 
• Always keep in mind convenience, and that there will be multiple users, frequent use, and frequent cleaning. 
• Think of what you do when on beach or tropical vacation, staying in a water oriented villa or condo and not in a hotel room.  How many people are there?  What do you cook there?  Are you more lax with the kids and overall clean up?  If so, prepare assuming your guests will do similar things…

Outfitting a coastal rental unit or a highly used beach home can be fun, easy to do, and relatively inexpensive.  Every item can be highly functional and resilient, without losing any of the decorative beach, nautical, or tropical appeal.  The key is to be practical, consider durability and frequent cleaning before making your selections.  Be thorough, offer everything that you would need for a beach week or tropical vacation away from home. 

Watch for more ideas for specific rooms in your beach house in coming articles.

For more specific ideas on beach home decor, browse our online catalog.

Tags: beach home decor, beach house decorating, beach house rentals, beach investment properties, coastal decor, nautical home decor, tropical furnishings