Design Inspiration

World Water Day: Interior Design Inspired by Coastal Living

By Shannon Willey
• March 22, 2017

World Water Day 2017

Today is World Water Day, “a day to celebrate water and to think about the 650 million people without access to clean safe water” to quote Water Aid Australia. This seemed like a perfect day to veer from the interior design related posts into a post that’s more about what inspires my interior design. Living in the coastal town of Southampton, I am grateful that the bay and the ocean are just a few short miles away.

One of our village beaches, Coopers Beach was voted, the #1 beach in the US a few years ago. I was lucky enough to walk the dog there yesterday and captured this video of the waves gently rolling in. The textures of the beach grasses and sand dunes influence the textiles and wall coverings in almost every room I design, while the blues and greens of the water make their way into every interior I do, whether it’s a transitional style home or a country cottage.

This is the master bedroom of a home on the water I designed a few years ago. You can see the project here

This is the living room in that same Westhampton home. I created the textured wall finish myself. The Restoration Hardware Billiard Table with it’s sea foam felt is perfect with the neutrals in the space. I added a bit of blue, too.

This master bedroom from a more modern home we designed in East Hampton has lots of elements of the ocean with the sea fan and coral accents. You can see more of this project here.

This living room was a fun project many years back in East Hampton. You can clearly see the influence of the ocean on the design in the aqua sofa fabric, texture of the reclaimed wood console, art work, and overall color scheme. For more of this project, click here.

How grateful would you be to live on the ocean here?

But, world water day isn’t just about celebrating the beaches. This day is also about drinking water, and there again, as residents of the Hamptons (or anywhere in Suffolk County Long Island) we’re so fortunate for the Pine Barrens which according to Wickepedia is “Long Island’s largest natural area and its last remaining wilderness.” The Pine Barrens recharges the aquifer that provides Long Islands drinking water. Which makes it a pretty special place since all of Long Island’s drinking water comes from ground wells.

The Long Island Pine Barrens Society, http://www.pinebarrens.org/cleanwater.asp states it perfectly “Tackling the issue of water quality is one of Long Island’s biggest environmental challenges. We need everyone to take notice and call for action. After all, there’s nothing more important than clean water – to drink, swim in or fish from – it defines life here on Long Island”

If you fortunate enough to be surrounded by clean beaches or lakes and do not struggle to find clean water to drink, perhaps this post inspired a moment of gratitude.

If you are looking for more information on the topic, I recommend checking out http://www.peconicbaykeeper.org/ if you live on the East End of Long Island.

http://www.unwater.org/campaigns/world-water-day/en/ or http://www.who.int/water_sanitation_health/news-events/world-water-day-2017/en/ for a more global view

Did you know there was a World Water Day? Let me know if you did anything to celebrate World Water Day 2017? I’d love to hear from you.

Best,

Shannon