What is the coastal grandma aesthetic, and how can it inform interior design?
There’s no single example of a “coastal grandma” to point to to give the uninitiated a better understanding of what exactly the term means, but once it has been explained to you, it’s hard not to realise you knew all along what the coastal grandma represents. A catch-all for a certain type of person with a certain type of enviable lifestyle, recently the term has become the latest aesthetic concept to grip understimulated teenagers on TikTok – remember cottagecore? – and multiple attempts have been made to define it on the platform.
So – here’s ours. Take as your starting point the sort of stylish woman who has lived in the same house in Highgate or Hampstead since the 1960s, but Americanise her, move her to the coast, and make her a lot richer: the coastal grandma is more likely to be found in a clapboard mansion on Cape Cod than browsing the antiques shops of north London. She is every one the characters played by Diane Keaton or Jane Fonda since 2005 – platonic examples of urbane, divorced women at the heads of high-achieving East Coast families. (The ultimate coastal grandma, of course, despite not canonically having any grandchildren, is Meryl Streep’s Jane Adler from It’s Complicated.) A coastal grandma is always a calming presence; she owns a series of cable-knit jumpers (bobble-free), but they are usually to be found tied almost preppily round her shoulders rather than worn traditionally, most likely over a plain white shirt. In her spare time, she sails, obviously.
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The coastal grandma is not really elite, as such – just comfortable, and approachable. And her home? It’s nautical minimalism writ large, in navies, blues, off-whites and the occasional foam greens. If anyone has come close to embodying everything the coastal grandma stands for, it has got to be Nancy Meyers, whose film sets deftly show the best examples of coastal grandma interiors. As it turns out, her house (featured just this weekend in Architectural Digest) is every bit the embodiment of the look.
The occasional piece of tasteful driftwood furniture dovetails nicely with modern pieces and antiques picked up locally. Her kitchen is a muted grey-blue with skylights, a bowl of lemons on the side and blueware displayed in a dresser. There’s a vast island in the kitchen, and copper pots on the shelves, plus white hydrangeas arranged prominently. The coastal grandma has a large garden, too, and at least a couple of spare bedrooms, all with views over a beach where it’s usually a little too cold to swim (which she does anyway). The vibe is linen and straw hats and Labradoodles.
Note, of course, that you don’t actually have to have grandchildren to mimic the aesthetic, just as you don’t have to own a cottage to indulge in cottagecore (though, of course, it helps). You just have to have the right eye, and a penchant for the lightly nautical. Here’s how to do it right, with the aid of designers from the House & Garden archive.
Ngoc Minh Ngo1/10Steven’s Labradoodle, Sailor, sits on a vintage Oushak rug from Eliko Rugs in his house in the Hamptons. The atmospheric ‘Winter Sky’ wallpaper is from Gracie. Italian blown-glass pendants with brass detailing hang from the ceiling and the striking vintage quartz table lamp is a Fifties design by Carole Stupell.
Tria Govan2/10Aerin Lauder inherited her 1930s Greek Revival house in Wainscott, USA, from her grandmother Estée. The main living room is furnished with antique armchairs and Chinese and Japanese porcelain that belonged to her grandmother, whose favorite combination of colours was blue and white. The sofas are covered in a Brunschwig & Fils fabric, the walls are painted in a custom mix created by Aerin and Donald Kaufman. The rug is by Stark.
Tria Govan3/10In the bright kitchen, the light fixtures are by Ann-Morris, the stools are vintage Frances Elkins, and the lithograph is by Ellsworth Kelly.
Owen Gale4/10Large French windows open out onto the sea view from the kitchen of this Georgian renovation in Cornwall.
Paul Massey5/10In the cool white attic bedroom of this old rectory in Sussex belonging to Emma Milne-Watson, a four-poster from The White Company was chosen for the bedroom.
Paul Massey6/10Outside, a wide deck with cane furniture by Hadeda was added to the back of the house a few years ago with the aim of making it appear more streamlined and symmetrical. The panelled ceiling and pillars are in ‘Down Pipe’ by Farrow & Ball.
Alexander James7/10In Emma Sims Hilditch’s 18th-century house, the Neptune kitchen is painted in Farrow & Ball’s ‘Lily’ and ‘Fog’ shades.
Alexander James8/10In the children’s bedroom, Ralph Lauren wallpaper in a nautical design and Neptune beds enhance the coastal grandma aesthetic.
Benjamin Edwards9/10Meanwhile, in Emma’s London home, rustic ‘Cranbrook Rough Boarding Shiplap’ from Neptune was used to give the sloping ceiling a false pitch. Curtains and cushions are in Rapture & Wright’s ‘Baya’ ochre linen. The ‘Castlefield’ stripe mustard throw and ‘George’ headboard are by Neptune.
Michael Sinclair10/10The living room in this family house in a Provençal village nods to coastal grandma in the muted colours, seahorse motifs on the wall, and a vintage armchair re-covered using a fabric from Kilim Nomade in Cotignac.
