If blue and white are the colors of a coastal room, natural fiber is the texture. Jute, rattan, seagrass and cane all look like they came from somewhere warm and salty, and they soften a room the way sand softens a beach.

Rugs are the biggest piece. Lulu and Georgia's Avalos and Bushra rugs are handwoven jute, earthy and relaxed. Annie Selke's jute rug in seaglass has a faint blue-green tint, the most coastal of the group, and Jenni Kayne's Wilder rug has a diamond weave that looks beautiful under a white sofa.

For seating, Corrigan Studio's Shayleah counter stools have cane backs and swivel, lovely at a kitchen island, and Urban Outfitters' Nesta rattan stool works as a side table, a plant stand or an extra seat when friends drop by.

Storage can do this job too. McGee & Co.'s Evelyn seagrass hamper and Anthropologie's handwoven rattan laundry basket are the kind of practical piece that looks good out in the open.

A note on jute: it is wonderful underfoot, but it can feel a little rough to sit on and it does not love spills. Put it in a living room or bedroom rather than a dining room, and layer a small soft rug on top if you want somewhere cozy for bare feet.

Mix the fibers. A jute rug, a rattan stool and a seagrass basket in the same room look collected, like things gathered over several summers. Everything in one material looks like a catalog.

Blue and white ceramics are the finishing touch. They have always looked at home by the sea, and they bring the color into a room in small, easy doses.

McGee & Co.'s blue and white orchid pot is lovely with a real or faux orchid on a side table, and their blue and white bowls come as a pair for the kitchen counter or a console. The Vivian chinoiserie table lamp is the biggest piece here, and it looks wonderful on a nightstand next to that striped linen. Anthropologie's indigo floral footed planter is small, only four inches, a sweet thing for a windowsill with a little succulent in it.

Group ceramics in odd numbers, and mix sizes. Three pieces of blue and white on a shelf look collected. One on its own can look lonely.

Light is the other half of coastal style. Keep windows as bare as you can, with sheer linen curtains or simple shades, and let the room fill with daylight. White or pale walls help too, because they bounce that light around the way sand does on a sunny day.

What I would skip: anything that spells out a word. Beach, Lake, Salt, Coastal. And anything with a rope knot, an anchor or a lighthouse printed on it. A room that feels like the coast does not need to announce it. If you want a nod to the sea, choose a single piece of real driftwood or a bowl of shells you collected yourself.

I think the best coastal rooms could sit a hundred miles from the ocean and still feel like summer. It is the washed color, the natural texture and the light that do the work, not the souvenirs.

If you take one thing away, let it be this: decorate with the materials of the beach, not pictures of it. Faded blue stripes, linen, jute and rattan, and a few pieces of blue and white. Keep the windows bare and the walls pale. And leave the anchors at the marina, where they belong. Your living room will feel more like the coast without them, not less.