Beautiful Window Treatments For Beach Homes
When you hear the words “beach home,” what do you think of? Open windows, sunshine, the sound of waves rolling in? Beach homes convey a mood more than almost any other style of home. They’re also some of the most beautiful and fun to design for; that’s why you often see beach houses featured on home design shows and shared all over Pinterest.
So let’s go offshore, dive into beach home design, and find out what types of window treatments work best in beach homes, from shutters to sheers and beyond.
Beach Home Style Design Basics
Unlike more historic home architecture styles that evolved slowly and primarily in one geographic area (like Tudor homes), beach homes can be somewhat diffuse in style and are seen across America, from New England to the Pacific Northwest to the Gulf Coast. Moreover, beach homes aren’t always necessarily on a beach. They can often be seen near other bodies of water such as lakes, and even pop up in suburbs around the country.
Even though there’s some variation, beach homes still share some commonalities in their design:
- Typically wood-shingle siding with a focus on light, breezy colors.
- White as a primary color, both inside and out.
- Free-flowing, open space rooms with large porches and boardwalk areas.
- A focus on natural lighting, with large, sometimes full-wall windows. Sunrooms with windows on every wall are also very common.
- Visible natural or distressed material both inside and out. This could include drift wood, distressed or reclaimed wood, wicker and sisal, and exposed beam work.
Choosing Window Treatments for a Beach Home
With those common themes of beach homes in mind, our top recommendations for beach home window treatments boil down to plantation shutters, woven shades, and a few choice minimal window treatments.
Why Plantation Shutters Work in Beach Homes
Just because a home has the word “beach” in the name doesn’t mean you’re always going to want your windows to be open. Plantation shutters walk the fine line of giving you lots of control over the lighting of your home while still fitting in naturally with a minimal beach home style. This is fantastic for sunrooms or for spaces with full wall windows that can sometimes receive way too much sunlight.
Two of the biggest issues with beach homes near the ocean are humidity and salt air. Both have a negative impact on most items, including wood and metal objects. That’s why Polywood® plantation shutters are a great window treatment. Polywood is an extruded material that isn’t affected by either humidity or salt air, and is available with stainless steel hinges to prevent rust. It’s waterproof too —you could even spray them down with a hose in the yard if you wanted to.
If your beach home is not near the ocean and a more distressed and natural material look is the mode du jour of your beach home, reclaimed wood shutters can extend that naturally distressed aesthetic.
Are Woven Shades Right For Your Beach Home?
Woven shades fit the light, breezy mood of beach homes like a glove. Their translucent texture and natural-looking color makes them perfect additions to smaller beach home windows, especially if you want a larger color palette to work with. Though they don’t offer the same light control that shutters do, shades can be a great addition to select windows of your house–though be mindful to look for weighted-bottom shades or shades with tie-downs that won’t blow in the wind when your windows are open.
Other Minimal Beach Home Window Treatments
Beach homes are one of the few types of homes where a creative, minimalistic window treatment can work well. If a window on the side of your house doesn’t get much sun at all throughout the day, you can accent it with a sheer curtain or light drapery, then tie it in a large, loose knot. It won’t offer much window coverage, but it can look sharp as a pure interest piece.
Find Window Treatments For Any Home Style
For more tips on finding beach home window treatments, or for help choosing Mediterranean home window treatments, Craftsman home window treatments, or for any other home style, call your local Sunburst Shutters store at 877-786-2877 today.
