The best beach house paint colors
When I think of beach houses, I think of blues, greens, blue/greens, coral and other fun sunny colors. A beach house is one place where you absolutely should not be afraid of color. Every room should greet you with a fun color, and should remind you of the natural beauty that lives just outside your four walls.
Here are my top picks for beach house paint colors, plus tips on picking the right one for your space!
The best beach house paint colors
Note: Most of these colors will say not for exterior use, but don’t let that scare you if you’re picking a color specifically to use on your exterior. You simply tell them the color you’d like to use and ask them to mix it into an exterior grade paint product.
Benjamin Moore Fan Coral
Coral is the quintessential beach color, and can be used both for interiors and exteriors. Coral goes nicely with true blue, and blue/green hues, fitting in quite nicely for a beach house paint color palette.
Be sure to pair Coral with a shade of true white paint, free of undertones. Check out my post on best white paint colors for your home if you need some help picking the right white.
Sherwin Williams Debonair
This is a great medium-toned blue that isn’t too light and isn’t too dark, perfect for when you want something middle of the road. Debonair also doesn’t go blue/green on you, so if you just want a blue with medium depth, check this one out.
Benjamin Moore Mount Saint Anne
This tranquil hue is perfect for a beach house, reminiscent of the blue/green waters, Mount Saint Anne is one of my favorite green blue colors. Definitely more blue than green, this color will shift as the day progresses and depending on the natural light available in the room.
Sherwin Williams Stardew
A paler blue, Stardew is really stunning. While this color is definitely a blue, it very much reminds me of a lot of blue grey paint paint colors, as it’s got just a hint of a grey undertone. Stardew looks stunning when combined with gold lighting and hardware, just to note.
Benjamin Moore Avalon
Avalon is a strong hue, not one that I recommend to frequently because it is pretty saturated, but it’s really perfect for a beach house. I can see this beautifully adorning a wall in a powder bath or bedroom at a beach house.
Avalon is another blue green hue, that is on the darker side, and has just about equal parts blue and green. Depending on your decor, the color will pull either more blue or more green. This color reminds me a lot of the 2021 color of the year, Ben Moore Aegean Teal.
Sherwin Williams Cascade Green
This green reminds me of all of the moss you’d see on the trees in Savannah. Cascade Green is a soft, medium-depth green hue that’s perfect for a beach house looking going for more of a reserved vibe.
If you like the vibe of Cascade Green, check out my super popular post on other gray green paint colors.
Benjamin Moore Kensington Blue
You typically see me recommend dark navy paint colors, but because we are talking about beach colors, I’m not going to go quite as dark with my recommendation for Kensington Blue.
This is a really even deep blue paint color that stays pretty blue and doesn’t get too much into the navy territory. This color would be beautiful on the exterior (and interior) with crisp white trim like Ben Moore Chantilly Lace.
Sherwin Williams Studio Blue Green
When you think of the ocean, you think of blue and green hues, so it’s no surprise that most of the colors on this list are members of the teal color family.
Sherwin Williams Studio Blue Green is a also a member of the teal family, but it’s approach to teal is different than a lot of this colors on the list in the fact that while this color is a mixture of blue and green, it’s definitely got more green than blue, and it also has a good bit of depth to it, as well.
Benjamin Moore Quiet Moments
Quiet Moments doesn’t have quite the popularity as other seafoam-esq hues like Palladian Blue, but I’m not quiet sure why not, as it’s really breathtaking.
This lovely light blue green mix up is not too blue and not too green, but rather stands right in the middle of the two beachy hues. Sometimes I think this color has a hint of gray in it, as well.
Benjamin Moore Wickham Gray
If you need a neutral that speaks to blues, blue greens or greens, Ben Moore Wickham Gray is your winner. This versatile gray works so well for beach homes as it has a blue/green undertone to it, making it easy to pair with all of the hues on this list.
You’ll notice more of one color over the other based on the decor in the room, but this is a bit of a chaemelon of a color, as it will appear different as the sunlight moves throughout the day.
Sherwin Williams Heron Plume
Another neutral paint color that isn’t quite as cold as Wickham Gray, but still has a green undertone, making it work really nicely with a lot of the colors on this list. Technically Heron Plume is a griege paint color with a green undertone.
Read more: What color is greige plus my favorite greige paint options
Tips for picking out the right coastal paint colors
You should never go off of a small paint chip when testing out colors for your home; especially when you’re selecting a color for your beach home’s exterior. Colors will always look 2 times brighter outside, so keep this in mind when you’re viewing colors indoors.
I recommend getting a peel and stick sample from Samplize attaching it to a sheet of white poster board (so that your current exterior color won’t influence the new color you’re considering) and putting the color board outside to have a look. You may find that the color isn’t dark enough or gets too washed out in the sun.
Make a mood board to start designing each room and then plan your paint color around that. Far too many people start with a paint color, instead of finishing the room by adding paint. The correct way to go about designing a room is to design it fully and then pick your paint color.
You want paint to enhance your decor, not be an afterthought. For example, if you want to paint your room blue, you better have a good bit of blue decor in your room to carry the blue.
All white walls are very “in” right now, but here’s a couple quick tips about doing this at your beach house.
I tend to recommend off white paint colors for wall colors rather than true white colors, as the stark white tends to come off as too cold. Ben Moore White Dove is one of the most versatile soft white colors and is beautiful if you don’t know where to start.
You really need a lot of white furniture/decor in a room, to pull off the white walls, as white walls on their own can look out of place if the color isn’t repeated within the room in various sizes/elements.
A great way to add in some white paint but still bring some color in is to do trim work halfway up the wall (using either shiplap, or board and batten, etc) and paint the trim work white and still pick a vibrant color for the rest of the wall.
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