Beach Art

If you want to transform your home into a New England beach cottage, think soft pastels. Let images of sand dunes, lighthouses, and sandcastles help bring you back to those breezy summer days. Selecting white-washed or distressed wood frames will heighten the effect.

Maybe a Caribbean lifestyle is your preference. Imagine prints with lively colors bringing memories of hot Jamaican nights spent sipping rum punch and dancing to reggae music. Display photos of vibrant island plants and houses, palm trees blowing in the wind, and beautiful beaches. Enclosed these images in a dark wooden or natural fiber frame to really make the colors shine.

Maybe you'd like your home to portray a cool, laid-back, Florida Keys type attitude. Show off images of long piers, calm bay waters, and deep-sea fishing boats. Bright and airy featuring the blues of the sky and ocean, these pictures might be best framed in a light-color natural wood frame. Then relax, put on some Jimmy Buffet music and enjoy a frozen Margarita, all without leaving your house.

If you're a beach bum who's always thinking of the next wave, why not turn your home into your own little surf shack with the help of vivid art featuring surfboards, woody cars and your beloved waves? You can choose to showcase your art in colored or natural wood frames or if you'd like to display them on your patio instead, weather-resistant tin sign versions of many of the images are available and you won't even need to frame those. Surf's up!

Another fantastic idea would be to put up rustic wooden signs with great beachy sayings like "Beach This Way" or "Gone Surfing" that tell the world just how much you love the beach.

Figuring out what style of tropical prints suits your home best is the hardest part. From there, finishing off your ideal coastal cottage decor should be as easy as a walk on the beach.