Subtle Coastal Christmas Family Room

When we returned from a beautiful family vacation in Costa Rica, I felt compelled to include a little of the relaxed beachy, tropical decor in our home this Christmas. That’s how I came up with the Christmas decor for our family room and the idea for this post, Subtle Coastal Christmas Family Room. Here in Ottawa, Canada, we live far from anything beachy or tropical. Therefore, I wanted to keep the warm-vibe elements subtle. The result is a mix of traditional Christmas elements and coastal tropical touches. You can easily dial up the beach factor if that suits your style a little more.

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Subtle Coastal Christmas Family Room

Inspiration

It was our first visit to Costa Rica and we fell in love with the gorgeous landscape of tropical forests, mountains, and beaches. In addition, the people were so warm and friendly, there was lots to do, and the food was amazing.

Overall Colour Scheme

I chose a pale palette of cream, beige, and grey-blue with lots of touches of greenery. The existing wall and fireplace colours and the gallery wall of sea fans behind the couch made a watery blue and neutral colour scheme an easy idea to carry off.

The greenery really pops against our pale grey-blue fireplace.

Christmas Tree

I used a faux green tree for our family room decor as I wanted to avoid anything frosted, flocked or snow themed. For the colour scheme, I carried the cream-beige-pale blue colours over to the tree. To do this, I decorated it with blue mercury glass and white glass ornaments. I included a few subtle beach-themed ornaments. These included the handmade ticking stripe ornaments and the rope balls that I make and sell in my Etsy shop. I topped the tree with a starfish instead of a star. Finally, I placed the tree in a seagrass and rope basket. This 4.5′ tree is the perfect size for this spot beside the sofa.

Textiles

Even though the theming of this room is a subtle coastal Christmas family room, our home is in Canada and blankets are a necessary addition in winter. I chose neutral-toned, highly textured cotton blankets to adorn the couch. I also placed baskets of blankets around the house, so there’s always a blanket within arm’s reach.

For the pillows, I kept it simple with textural beige pillows, striped, and ticking stripe pillows.

Ottoman Styling

Thanks to my sister-in-law, I was able to obtain a beautiful hand-carved Guanacaste wood bowl made in neighbouring Nicaragua. I filled it with my handmade rope balls and styled it on the ottoman with a few holiday favourite decor items. Whenever I travel, I like to purchase some locally crafted items to remind me of the trip once I’m back home.

Fireplace Mantlescape

The mantle is the focal point of the room and I started with the mantle-top decor. I used a large arched gold mirror for some sparkle. Then, I added a “deck the palms” print that sums up a lovely festive holiday feeling and a tree print. Next, I added a pitcher of Monstera leaves trimmed from my monstrously large Monstera plant. Monstera is native to Costa Rica and we saw it everywhere we went. Finally, I added a rope tree, a sand dollar and a pretty shell.

For the mantle garland, I used a faux evergreen garland layered with a eucalyptus garland and some light strings. I added beige velvet bows to each end.

Summary

What do you think of my Subtle Coastal Christmas Family Room? You could easily ramp up the beach factor by including more beach-themed ornaments like shells on the tree. Alternatively, you could include more tropical plants in the room or fun beach-themed pillows.