A Guide to Hamptons Style Home Design
Chic Coastal Home Décor Essentials: What Is Hamptons Style?
Welcome to the Hamptons. Sip a craft cocktail as you admire the understated elegance of the luxury summer homes of the rich and famous. Feel the summer breeze as you watch the waves roll in from your Adirondack chair.
Who says you have to travel across the world to experience the Hamptons? Let’s import that chic coastal style! Classic Hamptons decor is the perfect fit for Australian homes and you can make it work on any budget.
Ready to create an elegant and cosy space? Here’s how to create Hamptons style in Australia.
What Is Hamptons Style?
Located on the east coast of Long Island, Southampton and East Hampton are a collection of chic hamlets called the Hamptons. This upscale New York neighbourhood is home to a collection of the most impressive summer homes on the planet.
Where Does Hampton Style Come From?
Transport yourself for a moment to the streets of New York City. Think back to Sex and City or A Rainy Day in New York. The cosmopolitan streets of New York City are famous for their cool yet gritty appeal.
As even the most diehard New Yorker will admit, the Big Apple is anything but clean and fresh. Of course, this precisely why anyone who is anyone has a beach home in the Hamptons. A seaside escape to a Hamptons mansion is the peak of luxury and the perfect way to get a breath of fresh air away from The City That Never Ever Sleeps.
What Does Hampton Style Look Like?
When New Yorkers finally get to their summer home, they are craving a fresh and open space that stands in stark contrast to the often cramped and ageing spaces of even the most elegant NYC properties. Far from the blinding lights and non-stop traffic, the Hamptons is a place for cosy elegance. While New Yorkers are always on the bleeding edge of trends, the Hamptons is a place to embrace traditional timeless beauty. Conventional living spaces with a focus on comfort is fundamental.
What’s the Difference Between Hamptons Style and Coastal Style?
Hamptons style and Coastal style are two of the hottest Australian interior design trends. While both certainly take a few cues from American-inspired style, the trend makes itself perfectly at home in Australia.
The defining principles of both Hamptons style and Coastal style are embracing the outdoors and creating comfortable (and usable!) spaces for living. Hamptons and Coastal style alike embrace modern, bright, and clean space. Fussy design touches are gone in favour of simple, uncluttered spaces.
Types of American Coastal Style
What defines coastal style is an underlying easy laissez faire design approach. You’ll find variations of coastal decor like Palm Beach style. This Florida-inspired design is all about creating a playful, vibrant atmosphere. Meanwhile, California-inspired design centres around laidback cool simplicity.
Hamptons style is inspired by the elegance and luxury of East Coast style. While coastal style heavily embraces rattan furniture and driftwood, Hampton decor focuses more on elegance. You’ll definitely see those coastal touches like natural wood and rattan, but the focus is heavily on quality materials with classic elegant touches. Think marble and ageless wooden furniture. While a coastal home is filled with succulent plants or even cactus, a Hamptons rose garden is the defining feature of a perfect East Coast yard.
What Colours Are Hampton Style?
You can almost feel the summer breeze just looking at Hamptons homes. That breezy, light feeling is central to the design. To establish that Hamptons style, keep in mind that your goal is to create a crisp and clean aesthetic with a touch of underlying elegance. A cool, classic New York style meets a casual beach house. Create a foundation of white and blue to create that characteristic nautical feeling that defines so many impressive East Coast American homes.
The Hampton colour palette is designed to complement natural textures like marble, stone, and unfinished wooden furniture. Blue and white is standard and the decor tends to use a warm colour palette. Ultramarine blue brings in rich violet undertones while warm creamy warms and beige creates that clean and fresh feeling without feeling too stark.
At the same time, if you love that cool modern grey decor trend, you can bring in duck egg blue or other grey shades of blue. Feel free to play around with the Hamptons colour scheme. Remember, creating Hamptons style isn’t just about copy and pasting what you see in a magazine or online. The ultimate interior design goal is to take those bits and pieces that you love and make them your own.
Designer tip: The Hamptons colour palette is very much about white, white, and more white. Be careful here! It’s all too easy for designs to fall flat if you’re working with a monochrome style. To add interest and create an expensive-looking style, play with texture. Balance soft furnishings with structured touches like leather pillows and glass accents. Add baskets and jute materials to soften spaces with a lot of hard surfaces.
How to Create Hamptons Style
While the average house in the Hamptons goes for anywhere from $1 million to $145 million (!), you don’t have to break the bank or do a complete overhaul to get Hamptons style at home. There are a few simple accents to create the Hampton style.
Quick & Easy DIY Weekend Makeover with Paint
Want a quick and easy way to refresh your home decor? You don’t need to do a total remodel to capture some of that Hamptons style! An easy and affordable home makeover is as simple as a coat of paint. Freshen up your existing colours to make them more vibrant or go for a fresh Hampton colour scheme. From walls to bookshelves to woodwork, a fresh coat of paint always helps.
Keep in mind that Hamptons Style is focused on an outdoorsy lifestyle so don’t forget about the exterior of your home. Freshen up the porch or deck with a coat of paint. If your exterior has a lot of dark tones, consider white window frames to light up and modernise the style.
If you have a swimming pool, make the most of it. Hampton style gardens centre around having outdoor living space for family and friends. Create a yard area made for leisurely dinners and evening talks that go well into the night. Focus on natural decor and well-manicured gardens with elegant arrangements of flowers.
Even if you are just working with a small patio space, invest in soft furnishings and an Adirondack chair for everyone. Look into options for an outdoor fireplace and outdoor carpet to create a truly livable outdoor space.
Upgrade to Hamptons Lighting
Light fixtures are a fundamental but often overlooked aspect of home decor. Add Hamptons elegance with wall sconces to create a warm feeling in any room. If you have a high ceiling, pendant lights are a must, especially in the kitchen. Hamptons style kitchen pendant lights over the sink or island is an easy but powerful home upgrade.
Adding Simple Hamptons Touches
In many cases, you can do a style overhaul with just a few simple touches. If your home already has a lot of soft neutral tones and white, add pops of nautical blue and ultramarine with simple things like cushion covers, photo frames, and candles. Of course, anything sea-inspired like unique pieces of coral or shells will create a year-round summer feeling.
Designer Secret: Avoca completely embodies the Hamptons style and it’s a perfect place to shop for classic home decor touches. Simple things like elegant gold candle holders or blue and white tea towels go a long way. This place is a one-stop-shop for anyone who loves classic Hamptons elegance.
How to Style a Hamptons Luxury Bedroom
Remodeling your bedroom often only takes a few simple steps. Start with the goal of creating a bright space. Replace dark bedding with light colour or classic white for a fresh start. Rather than heavy drapes, consider adding plantation shutters. These are a Hamptons home staple and they’re perfect for bedrooms. They allow the light to pour in while also providing a blackout effect for sleeping.
Designer Tip: If you aren’t lucky enough to have sweeping beach views or a gorgeous garden outside of the window, plantation shutters are a perfect fix. They draw attention away from a not-so-great view while creating a simple elegance.
To create a summer home vibe, bring in natural texture and brightness. Create a coastal feeling with modern baskets and rattan elements or add a touch of elegance with an aquamarine glass vase and gold candle holders.
How to Design a Luxury Hamptons Bathroom
Less is more in a Hamptons bathroom. Focus on that simple Hamptons colour scheme of white and creamy shades. Opt for understated hardware in black or nickel. Even if you aren’t doing a complete remodel, changing the faucet and draw handles will freshen up your style fast.
Upgrade your storage and focus on keeping beautiful pieces around the sink. If you have things you don’t want to be tucked away, store them in baskets or jars. Avoid clutter as much as possible.
Add sconce lighting beside the mirror to create a soft lighting effect. For a bigger overhaul, look to shaker bathroom cabinets and marble countertops along with subway tiles.
Hamptons style bathrooms tend to be minimalist and chic, but don’t be shy to show your personality here. Add a pop of color with bright hand towels or quirky storage boxes.
How to Create a Hampton Style Kitchen on Any Budget
In Hamptons homes, the kitchen is often at the heart of everything. Focus on creating a bright sun-soaked environment. Use a white colour palette and warm it up with touches of soft grey shades.
Like Hamptons bathrooms, shaker cabinetry is the gold standard in the Hamptons. Add in a few glass front cabinets to breathe life and modernity into this classic style. If you already have white cupboards that don’t need replacing, consider upgrading the hardware to a matt black. Contrasting handles instantly modernise your kitchen and create an elegant look. To go one step further, add a matt black tap.
To avoid creating a space that’s too cold, incorporate natural accents. Timber trays and wooden furniture along with storage baskets and rattan accessories are easy upgrades. Enhance the natural feeling with sea blue candle holders, fruit bowls, and bold sapphire glass accents.
If you are doing a full Hamptons kitchen remodel, look for a butlers sink or farmhouse-style sinks. Forgot the stainless steel and stick with all white appliances. Of course, marble countertops are the standard and, if you have space, add in that quintessential Hamptons kitchen island.
Designer secret: Not sure you want to splurge on marble? Focus on ultra-thick and sturdy materials. The stone doesn’t have to be expensive to feel expensive. Look for options that feel substantial and timeless.
To contrast with the white cabinets and walls, look at dark wood floors or natural timber flooring. The high contrast will bring out the beauty in both aspects of your design.
Tips for Creating a Hamptons Style Living Room
For the perfect Hamptons style living room, start with your standard white foundation and find ways to create that light and airy feeling. Windows are one of the most important features to a Hamptons living room so consider all of your options.
Bay windows are a dream and well worth the investment. If you want to work with what you’ve got, utilise sheer light coloured curtains to soften and brighten the space. Again, plantation shutters are a gorgeous option anywhere you can incorporate them.
When it comes to furniture, go big! Oversized sofas, statement floor lamps, and study tables feel expensive. Avoid anything fussy or flimsy and stick with the classics.
Once you have the foundational pieces, add accents to firmly establish a Hamptons feel. Coastal colours like soft blues and green are lovely while more dramatic aquamarine Nautical accents create a sense of refinement.
If you crave that timeless, old-money feeling, play with patterns. Mix and match florals with geometric shapes. To go the other direction and focus more on the seaside element, embrace natural elements like raw timber and rattan.
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