After painting and buying sofas, the next step would be critical for nailing a cozy family room: incorporating Coastal French textures. A coastal color palette is limited — basically blues and neutrals. Those shades are calming, but can easily veer into boring. What makes them interesting is TEXTURE, and tons of it.

Coastal Textures

• sailcloth
• knits
• burlap
• rope
• wood
• flora/fauna

French Textures

• brocade
• silk
• velvet
• linen
• lace
• scrollwork
• florals

Some rooms in our overhauled Dutch Colonial lean more French. Others lean more Coastal. (A full listing is here). We wanted our family room to be cozy above all — obviously because it’s where the most time is spent actively reclining. Coastal is naturally casual, so this room ended up more Coastal. The fussiness of French decor really recedes here, except for the legs on one of our end tables and in summer, some brocade pillows in a coral hue I love for its satisfying pop (and contrast with blue).

What anchors the cozy in this room is the oversize chunky knit rug. It is visually (and to the touch) soft, stretching underneath the simple, sailcloth-colored couches like an oversized blanket. (I’ll be honest, though, lying on it for long periods of time isn’t the best. The gauge is so large it starts to hurt a little!)

Throw pillows are the fun part when piling on Coastal French textures, and you can’t have enough if the goal is cozy! I don’t go crazy spending on these — you can find great deals on quality ones at stores like Homegoods.

We plan to add some rough-hewn ceiling beams, which you see in French Country homes, and below deck in a ship. Since we don’t have crown molding, they’ll be the perfect lid to this room. Subscribe here or at the bottom of the page, so you’re sure to see it when it happens.

Now that we’ve covered Coastal French colors and textures, let’s look at the shiny objects … Coastal French Metals, Hardware and Finishes!