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

Hamptons style is a garden of structure rather than colour. Clipped hedges, symmetry, gravel and white painted timber do the work, and flowers are used sparingly as accents. Get the bones right — hedge lines, a white pergola, a defined path — and the garden looks expensive even before a single hydrangea goes in.

The pool, cabana and hedge wall

The classic Hamptons pool is a simple rectangle in pale limestone paving, enclosed by a tall clipped hedge so the whole area reads as an outdoor room. A white cabana with linen curtains gives shade, storage and somewhere to sit out of the sun — and it does far more for the look than any decorative planting.

Outdoor furniture choices that read as Hamptons

• Materials: whitewashed or grey-weathered timber, woven rattan and powder-coated white aluminium.
• Fabrics: heavy natural linen in white, oatmeal and navy, with stripe used on cushions rather than on everything.
• Scale: go long. A ten to twelve seat table under a pergola is the single most Hamptons piece you can own.
• Lighting: black or bronze lanterns, never bright chrome.

Interior cues for the Hamptons theme

Inside, the look is built from panelling and light: shiplap or VJ boards, coffered or beamed ceilings, wide French doors and a palette of white, sand and deep navy. Layer in rattan, a sisal rug and ceramic lamps, then stop. Hamptons interiors succeed through restraint and repetition of a few materials, not through variety.

Exterior and kerb appeal

The front yard is where the theme is announced. Symmetry either side of the entry, a low white picket or hedge boundary, crushed shell or pale gravel driveway, and a pair of lanterns flanking the door. Paint the weatherboards a warm white, the shutters and door a deep navy or charcoal, and the whole house reads Hamptons from the street.