Decorating a beach house for Christmas

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, so get in the spirit with these ideas to decorate your home with a coastal twist.

Punch up your palette with color or keep it white and delicate. Fresh green sprigs will always add that holiday touch.

Adding some sparkling silver will make a festive statement.

Decorate a Christmas tree outside.

Make your own Christmas Wreath with treasures from the beach.

A smart, sophisticated apartment remodel

The last time the century-old apartment in the heart of downtown Chicago had been updated was in the 1970s. "It wasn't exactly a dump, but it needed a lot of work," says interior designer Eva Quateman, Read more about this remodel in Traditional Home Magazine.

Dining room before:

Dining room after:

Kitchen before:

Kitchen after:

Breakfast room before:

Breakfast room after:

Master bedroom before:

Master bedroom after:

Make it flow.

That's Eva's No. 1 rule in decorating. "One room should flow into the next unobtrusively. The design should sing the same song as it progresses along from space to space," she insists. Even houses with a lot of different colors in the palette should have continuity. "If green and orange are in one room, then maybe it's green and red in the next. The idea is that some elements of color should segue from one room to the next so the spaces flow."

Photos and information from Tradtional Home Magazine.

A Traditional Home kitchen remodel

Creating an eat-in kitchen was Joan Pluck’s main impetus for renovating her family’s New Canaan, Connecticut, home, but there were other issues. She wanted more light, more space and a more comfortable and inviting gathering area. Joan Pluck consulted an architectural designer with one-of-a-kind insights into the family’s needs—her sister, Louise Brooks. Together they created this traditional dream kitchen.

Read more about the remodel in Traditional Home.

White - minimalist, magical or a little of both?

Is white a real color or not? Some designers wouldn't think of creating a room without colors. Others use it as a foolproof mechanism for sophistication. In bedrooms, white and variations of it create a restful space. Dining rooms with white as their palettes sing in refinement and class. Teamed with black, and high-glass elements, the color reads glamorous and seductive. White is also the perfect backdrop for a shabby chic room. Whatever your taste, white can be the color to choose.

Enjoy these colorless treats from showhouses across the country. Photos from Traditional Homes, Coastal Living and Architectural Digest.