Coastal Decorating Bring A Bit Of The Seashore Into Your Home With Fabrics And Wallpaper In Nautical Motifs

The shore is a favorite vacation spot, but at holiday’s end snapshots, seashells and sandy sneakers are often the only reminders of summer pleasures.

Now, there are rafts of decorative accessories with nautical motifs so summer salts may enjoy the sea year-round at home.

“Any number of companies are bringing out new home furnishings products that make use of nautical motifs and symbols,” Katherine Pearson, editor of Coastal Living Magazine in Birmingham, Ala., says.

With an emphasis on comfortable furniture and easy-care fabrics, coastal decorating is a variant of the country look.

“The biggest difference between the two is that coastal decorating is pared down and spare,” Pearson says.

Accessories and ornaments establish the mood. In addition to wallpaper, borders and fabric in nautical motifs, there are model ships and miniature lighthouses, seascapes suitable for framing and even furniture.

“Seashells are popular in almost all of our collections, particularly those targeted for use in the kitchen and bath,” Terri Feld says. Feld is a marketing manager for GenCorp Wallcovering in Hackensack, N.J., the corporate parent of Sanitas.

An appealing recent release in the genre, from the Sanitas Cross Country Collection for Village, is the Cape Cod scenic border. Between the ropes that edge it are white picket fences, lighthouses, the ocean and seagulls.

Several Imperial patterns feature sailboats. One pattern, white line drawings of boats on a blue ground, is from the For Men Only Collection. Another, from the J.G. Hook Collection, has gold anchors on crests and pennants in rope-edged squares.

For children, a pattern from the Marimekko Kids book features white life buoys with red lines on a marine blue ground. Another is a border of colorful tugboats.

The J.C. Penney summer catalog hit the high seas with numerous nautical accessories. A dinnerware pattern features lighthouses ringed with rope. There are tabletop models of sailboats and lighthouses, decorative pillows in a semaphore flag design, and framed artworks of sea scenes.

“Materials like seersucker, cotton ticking and duck cloth, all associated with the seaside, really define this season’s bedding and window treatments,” Pattie Shaw says. Shaw is home furnishings style director for Penney’s catalog in Dallas.

Crate & Barrel’s spring catalog offers model boats for $99 and a table lamp shaped like a lighthouse for $279. For a more extensive selection, look for mail-order companies such as Lighthouse Depot of Wells, Maine, and Preston’s of Ships & Sea of Greenport, N.Y. Each has a 48-page catalog with a wide range of home decorating items - from switch plates, coasters and shower curtains to plant stands and coffee tables.

Andrea Rowsom, a principal of S.P. Preston’s & Son, Inc., says anything related to the Titanic is popular with customers. So are lamps and nautical-motif coffee tables. One table is a ship’s wheel under glass with a brass lantern base. Another is a rectangular glass top with a bronze color resin base shaped like a mermaid.

Shaw has a few ideas for nautical decor without going overboard:

Display starfish and sea shells in shadow boxes, curio cabinets or large glass bowls.

Create a marina with model boats and miniature lighthouses on a mantel or shelf.

Scout antiques shops for decorative accents such as wicker creels and fishing lures and old rods and reels.

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: SOURCES J.C. Penney, (800) 222-6161 Crate & Barrel (800) 323-5461 Lighthouse Depot (800) 758-1444 Preston’s of Ships & Sea (800) 836-1165