Hamptons Style Beach House Design Ideas for Gardens, Furniture and Interiors

White weatherboard, clipped box hedges, hydrangeas, striped umbrellas, white cabanas and heavy natural linen — the complete Hamptons design language. Hamptons style is often reduced to white paint and blue cushions, which is why so many versions of it look thin. The real language is a set of proportions and materials from American east coast summer houses: wide weatherboard, deep shaded verandahs, tall windows with genuine glazing bars, standing seam or shingled roofs, and gardens whose formality is softened by very generous flowering planting. The garden is the half of the style most people skip, and it is the half that makes it convincing. Clipped box or similar hedging to hold the geometry, hydrangeas in blocks along the shaded side of the house, gravel or bluestone paths with crisp edges, standard trees in pots either side of the door, and lawn kept as a clean shape rather than a leftover. Formality in the structure, abundance in the flowering layer — that contrast is the whole idea. Outdoor furniture should be substantial and pale. Deep seated white or grey painted timber lounges with heavy linen cushions, a long dining table with woven or slatted chairs, oversized striped umbrellas rather than small...

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Fire Pit and Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas and Photos

Seating circles, clearances, materials, flues and gas versus wood — how to build a fire zone that gets used through autumn and winter.

Fire is what extends outdoor living past summer. It gives a garden a destination in the cold months and it changes how people behave — they sit longer, closer, and later. The two options behave very differently. A fire pit is social and circular, with everyone facing in; an outdoor fireplace is directional and architectural, anchoring one end of a terrace like a hearth indoors.

Layout is mostly about seating geometry. Around a fire pit, allow roughly a metre from the fire edge to the front of the seats for comfort and safety, and build the circle from a continuous low wall, bench or a mix of built-in seating and movable chairs. Sunken fire pit lounges work brilliantly because they get people below the wind line and out of the view across the garden. For a fireplace, arrange seating in an L or facing pair rather than a semicircle.

Materials and clearances are non negotiable. A fire brick or steel liner, non combustible surrounds in stone, block, rendered masonry or corten steel, a paved non combustible zone extending well beyond the fire, and generous distance to fences, eaves, pergola timbers and planting. Any covered or partly enclosed fireplace needs a properly sized flue with the correct height above the roofline, or it will smoke back into the seating area every time the wind shifts.

Outdoor Living design ideas photo from the Fire Pit and Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas and Photos feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

Then choose the fuel honestly. Wood gives the smell, sound and radiant heat people really want, but it needs storage, ash removal and legal wood burning in the area. Gas lights instantly, has no smoke and suits a courtyard or a covered terrace, and it is the sensible choice where fires are used spontaneously on a weeknight. Either way, add a woodstore or a hidden gas bottle enclosure, low soft lighting nearby, and a place to put a drink within reach of every seat.

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Modern House Design Ideas with Rendered White Walls and Timber Warmth

Rendered white walls, blackbutt timber screens and deep shaded openings — how the most photographed modern home style is actually put together.

The rendered white house has become the default modern home for one simple reason: it photographs beautifully in any light, and it lets every other material in the palette do the talking. A flat white wall turns sunlight into a canvas, so a single timber screen, a stone plinth or the shadow of an eave becomes the feature. The style fails when the white is left to work alone, which is why the best examples pair render with only two or three companion materials, repeated everywhere.

Timber is the companion that makes the difference. Blackbutt, cedar or thermally modified pine used as vertical battens, a garage door, an entry soffit or a screen over west facing glass introduces warmth and grain against the flatness of render. Keep the sections generous and the spacing consistent, and carry the same timber inside the front door so the house reads as one idea rather than a facade with a different interior bolted behind it.

Openings decide whether the house looks expensive. Deep reveals, recessed windows and generous eaves throw shadow lines that give a plain wall depth, and they also do the practical work of keeping summer sun off the glass. Where a large opening faces west, a fixed batten screen or a sliding shutter panel is worth far more than internal blinds. Frames should be one colour only — black, bronze or charcoal — used on every window and door on the property.

Modern Homes design ideas photo from the Modern House Design Ideas with Rendered White Walls and Timber Warmth feature. this image created by www.homedesign-photos.com

The landscape completes it. Rendered walls need planting with structure and movement: clipped hedging to hold a line at the base of the wall, ornamental grasses for softness, one sculptural tree to cast shadow across the render, and pale paving that reflects light back into the rooms. Charcoal accents in the letterbox, fencing and downpipes tie the garden to the architecture, and low warm lighting grazing the wall at night turns the whole elevation into the best photograph of the house.

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Hamptons Style Beach House Design Ideas for Gardens, Furniture and Interiors

Fire Pit and Outdoor Fireplace Design Ideas and Photos

More feature articles

Modern House Design Ideas with Rendered White Walls and Timber Warmth