Design a Dreamy Beach Bedroom for Less Than $100
Do you dream of waking up each morning enveloped in breezy, beach-inspired style? Transport yourself seaside without spending a fortune by designing a dreamy coastal bedroom retreat using budget-friendly DIY projects and secondhand scores. With some inspiration and elbow grease, you can craft handmade furnishings full of weathered, watery charm. Shop discounts and sales for affordable accents. Then use what you already own, like forgotten coastal relics stashed around the house, to pull your aesthetic together. Follow this guide to creating beach cottage bliss for less than $100.
Gather Inspiration from Beachy Spaces
The first step to designing any space is gathering inspiration. Spend time looking at images of beach cottages and seaside retreats. Note details that capture the casual, carefree essence of coastal life and could translate beautifully into a bedroom. Pay attention to elements like weathered, water-washed color palettes full of sea glass blues, sea foam greens, and warm, sun-bleached tans. Notice natural textures like whitewashed wood, woven rope, and linen in gentle patterns. The goal is to recreate the breezy, nostalgic style of a cherished family beach retreat right at home.
Curate a Mood Board for Your Bedroom
As you gather inspiring images, save them to an inspiration board or Pinterest page curated solely for your beach bedroom project. This allows you to capture a cohesive vision and refer back to it as you make design decisions. Try different combos of colors and textures until you find a direction that excites you. This mood board is the compass that will guide each choice as you create your coastal escape.
Shop Secondhand First for Furnishings
Outfitting an entire room can strain even the best of budgets. So before hitting retail stores, check out thrift shops, Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, and garage sales for secondhand steals. You may uncover weathered wood nightstands, wicker hampers, or whitewashed side tables for a fraction of regular prices. Even a simple wooden chair or dresser can get a beachy makeover with aqua paint.
Scout Your Local Buy & Sell Groups
Tap into hyperlocal buy and sell groups through Facebook or Nextdoor. Search using phrases like "beach cottage" or "coastal decor" and see what pops up. You might find someone redoing their bedrooms parting with perfect hand-me-downs. Or connect with sellers in seaside towns whose coastal castoffs could become your cottage gold.
Use What You Already Have at Home
Before running out to purchase new items, take stock of what you already own that could contribute to this makeover. Raid household closets, basements, attics, and storage units for coastal relics left behind from old beach vacations. Surprisingly perfect pieces get relegated to these areas, forgotten over time. You may uncover retro surfboards, weathered buoys, crusty oars, or even stunning seashell collections and neglected beach signage ready for a comeback.
Check the Kid's Rooms Too
Don't forget peeking into kids' rooms too. Younger family members tend to accumulate buckets of seashells, starfish trinkets, and little lighthouses from beach souvenir shops. Repurpose these sweet mementos into charming displays with big design impact in your space.
Create DIY Touches for Seaside Style
While secondhand shopping and raiding your home turn up ready-made treasures, half the fun of a beach cottage comes from infusing it with handmade touches. Driftwood, seashells, reclaimed wood, and natural textures all add water-washed warmth. And you can DIY most projects using affordable materials purchased on sale or even gathered for free.
Showcase Seashells & Driftwood
Start by displaying seashells collected on vacations or family beach trips. Use fishing line to hang them at different heights along a wall, creating intriguing shadowbox patterns when lit. Or decoupage them onto inexpensive picture frames from a craft store sale. For more visible displays, adhere them to old driftwood or weathered boards found on trips too. The worn, organic textures make perfect backdrops worthy of stellar shells.
Incorporate Woven and Weathered Textures
Coastal cottages rely heavily on natural woven textures and distressed, water-washed woods to create breezy style. Use cotton rope or jute to wrap nightstands, headboards, and ceilings for an artisanal allure. Bleach and wash linen bedding for a sun-soaked vibe. Weave sea grass or wicker baskets for storing towels and seaside essentials. And don't overlook driftwood's scruffy charm. Fashion DIY shelves or hanging rods from old pieces to display accent pieces with lots of character.
Paint Beach Landscapes and Uplifting Quotes
Infuse bare walls with seaside whimsy by painting your own beach landscapes, seashell studies, or ocean wave scenes. Use a sandy tan base coat then add white-capped waves and sea foam greens for tranquil vistas. Stencil in laurel wreaths, starfish, seashells or choose inspiring quotes like "Seaside Dreams" for coastal flair. Even painting a faux sand dollar cluster or lone life preserver makes an artistic statement.
Shop Store Sales & Discount Outlets for Accents
While handmade touches and secondhand scores create the room's foundation, don't underestimate the power small details bring. Placemaking accents that convey coastal living complete the vision. Just stick to serious sale shopping and discount outlets for the best deals.
Check dollar stores for nautically striped pillows, ceramic starfish, faux coral branches, and candles housed in glass floats. Their seasonal selections and special purchases mean big style for little money. Homegoods, TJMaxx, and Marshalls get overstock at deep discounts too, so watch for bamboo serving trays, woven baskets, and accent pillows here. Sign up for store emails and download apps to get coupons. And always price match between retailers using tools like ShopSavvy to save more.
Buy Paint & Stain Samples
When tackling DIY refinishing projects with driftwood displays, woven nightstands and found wood signs, save big bucks on supplies by only purchasing paint and stain samples or quarts instead of whole gallons. A little tan, sea glass turquoise or white paint goes a long way for small touches. Just make sure to use the same brand so the sheens match as you layer on accents.
Like seashells washed up along the shore, each detail layered into this breezy coastal makeover adds up to a cohesive vision. Secondhand finds, clever DIY projects, discounted accents and reused relics merge to create a light-filled, water-inspired bedroom retreat. Use the mood board that started it all as a guide, ensuring every choice moves you towards an essence of sun-soaked contentment. Then get ready to enjoy seaside reveries without setting foot in the sand.