Steal These Vintage Beach Decor Ideas to Make Your Coastal Interior Design Feel UniquE
Adding Coastal Character With Vintage Beach Decor
I love coastal interior design- there’s something about a good, lived-in beach house that speaks to my soul. I could happily live in a cozy cottage near an ocean.
So when I got the opportunity to help design, furnish and style my family’s new construction beach house in the Florida Keys? I jumped at the opportunity.
After picking the base furnishings for each room, my #1 priority was giving the house a unique, lived-in feel.
In my experience as an interior stylist, the BEST way to infuse instant character into new builds is by telling a story through curated vintage decor. In this post I will share my exact strategy for sourcing great accessories for a coastal interior design project like this.
Even if you don’t live near water, every single one of these strategies still apply! These simple lessons can add BIG personality to any space.
Read on to learn where to look (and what to buy) for a space that feels warm and collected.
The Best Sources For Vintage Beach Decor
Online Sources
Because I designed this house remotely, sourcing vintage beach house decor was tricky. I was able to find good trinkets, books, and maps at local thrift stores and flea markets in Colorado, but some of the vintage coastal interior design pieces I was looking for were hard to come by.
This meant a lot of the vintage beach decor I sourced ended up coming from online sellers like ETSY and EBAY. These sites are amazing for finding one-of-a-kind items, but you have to sift through a lot of junk sometimes. Chairish has a more curated selection, but can be a little pricier.
If you live in a coastal area you will probably have great success shopping local Facebook Marketplace or Craigslist listings. I also love using online auction sites like AuctionNinja.
Still, even if you don’t live near a beach, you can find some cool vintage beach decor in your area. I found a vintage McGuire cane chair, rattan side tables, and tons of wall art close to home.
Local Retailers
If you can, look for a place to shop close to your beach house project.
Luckily, I found a really cool source for authentic Florida vintage beach decor online. Dolphin & Flamingo is near Miami (I made my parents drive up and pick up all my treasures!) but they ship all over. They source their inventory from estate sales in Florida and there are some absolutely amazing finds. I got a lot of unique lamps, this red Ming side table, and some other small decor from them- but I could have easily found something for every room in the house.
We also made multiple trips to the Habitat for Humanity in Marathon and found some absolute GEMS. Goodwill is another good place to look if there’s one in the area. Plus, shopping in these stores helps the local community and is way more sustainable than decorating everything new. Win-win!
How Do You Mix Vintage With Coastal Interior Design?
Focus On Accessories
My approach when it comes to using vintage is usually to incorporate it into each space in small doses- kind of like adding earrings or a great belt to finish an outfit.
That worked really well for this project because I was able to have the larger furnishings shipped and then focus on finding small accessories for surface styling – shelves, tables, wall art, etc. These are much easier to transport via USPS or a good old checked bag.
I wonder what the airport screeners thought about all the books, artwork and elephant head sculptures crammed into my luggage?
Tell A Story With Your Shelf Decor
In the photo below you can see foundational items that are new (media unit, stools, rug, coffee tables) mixed with lots of vintage books, estate sale cigar boxes, and the aforementioned marketplace chair.
Beach House Living Room Favorites
Add Character With Vintage Coastal Wall Art
Vintage Oil Paintings
The very first piece of vintage beach decor I sourced for the house was this lovely vintage coastal wall art. This oil painting, which I found on Ebay, set the tone for what I wanted the house to be. Subtle references to coastal decor by way of the watery abstract colors and organic texture, but with a unique story.
It’s one of my favorite things in the house.
Vintage Maps + Prints
Vintage maps and newsprints offer instant story and make for inexpensive vintage coastal wall art. I like choosing simple black frames for a timeless look or sourcing vintage frames.
Vintage Lighting
This bedroom gets a lot of it’s personality from a great set of textured bamboo lamps with new, inexpensive black shades.
New (but vintage beach decor inspired) furnishings pair well with a large set of framed coral prints we found at the ReStore.
Vintage Inspired Bedroom Accessories
Here’s another great vintage lamp from Dolphin & Flamingo. We topped it with a fresh pleated shade in a vibrant green for a new look.
Thrift Interesting Books
Want the best vintage styling trick? Place more modern items on a stack of thrifted books with linen covers in your color palette (dust jackets removed). It’s a nice way to add some age + patina! This works for vases, planters, speakers… anywhere you need to balance old with new.
Tip: I love the look of vintage fans, but the ones I’ve sourced in the past haven’t always operated well (you need it to actually WORK). A vintage look fan is a fun and functional addition to any beach house.
Casa Pilar Gallery
Beach House Tour
Get inspired by all the details in this unique beach house located on Duck Key near Marathon, FL.
Thrifting is absolutely my favorite part of decorating. Adding vintage beach decor to your next coastal interior design project is truly the best way to make it feel cozy, lived in and uniquely yours.
Want a room-by-room shopping checklist to take into your next thrift run? Grab my free one here →
If you enjoyed this post, you might like some of my other styling + design content, check out the links below for more home decor inspiration.
Now get out there and start thrifting. Happy hunting!
xoxo,
