Nina Huang is a lifestyle writer focusing on beauty, fashion, entertainment, home, and food. You'll find her work on People, InStyle, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, Travel + Leisure, Food & Wine, and other Meredith publications.
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You know the scene: A woman sits on a cream-colored sofa, surrounded by gray knit blankets and sea-colored plush pillows, her pedicure in a sophisticated mauve pink as polished as the beige cashmere wrap cardigan and white turtleneck she's cocooned in while lounging under a lush glow of afternoon sun. Her hair frames her cheekbones just so, and she's wearing clear-framed glasses that she pulls over her head when her children finally pull up to the driveway for a weekend visit. Light fills her airy living room, where sea glass vases dot tabletops while hardcover books—volumes of them—line the walls from floor to ceiling.
It's the picture-perfect example of aesthetics from Nancy Meyer movies, specifically iconic romantic comedies like Something's Gotta Give, The Parent Trap, The Holiday, and It's Complicated, where actors like Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton, Kate Winslet, Natasha Richardson, and Cameron Diaz fall in and out of love in beach houses, countryside cottages, or Napa Valley wineries. It's also a scene that can lead to pangs of envy for the mood that it exudes, one of sophistication, effortless stylishness, and that unhurried leisure that many of us yearn for when summer comes around.
Perhaps that's the reason social media has fallen hard in recent weeks for this home decor and fashion style, which has been coined the "Coastal Grandmother" trend and even has the approval of Keaton herself. Accomplishing this look isn't as hard as you'd think, and there's even a Coastal Style hub on Amazon to help you channel your inner Meyers heroine. From navy linen pillows to rattan lamps to woven wicker baskets, this storefront on Amazon is a veritable treasure trove for decking out your own home à la the classic coastal grandma.
The trick to putting together a coastal-style home is to go with light colors contrasted against deep blue shades. Think: a beige accent chair with blue pinstripes, wicker baskets from which soft throw blankets are overflowing, pale wood serving bowls to hold tangerines you've picked up from local farmer's market, and nautical-style rugs that match your accent pillows.
Also essential? Geometric cut-out or rattan table lamps that will blend seamlessly with your white drawers and shelves, next to your collection of seashells, picture frames, and reed diffusers. They all create a calming, relaxing environment that is a must in the coastal grandmother aesthetic, perfect for inviting large families over for a weekend as often happens in Meyers' movies.
Our picks from Amazon's Coastal Style hub start at just $15, so you can easily add touches of the trend to your home at the same cost as a movie ticket to a re-showing of Something's Gotta Give. We might not all be able to fall in love with Jack Nicholson (or let's be honest, Keanu Reeves' Dr. Julian Mercer), but we can at least wrap ourselves up in coastal grandmother decor as characters in a Meyer film would with the perfect cashmere shawl.
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