What are the Home Upgrades that Make Coastal Living Less Annoying?

You might already know that coastal living is right for you; there’s just a totally different pace to life, and it also helps that you’re just a small walk away from the coast. Besides, here, you really need to keep in mind that salt air has a way of making everything feel a little more high-maintenance than it looked in the brochure. The beachy life is lovely, of course, but then there’s the sand in the entryway, the damp towels over random chairs, the garage that smells a bit too humid, and the outdoor areas that look freshly cleaned for about twelve minutes. 

Living near the coast is gorgeous, yeah, but it also asks a lot from a house. So, to a degree here, coastal living comes with a lot of annoyances, so it’s really all about cutting those down, and there are a few home upgrades that can help.

It’s Time to Give the Entryway a Fighting Chance

So, depending on where you’re living on the coast, there’s a super high chance here that the front door area gets absolutely bullied in a coastal home. How? Well, sand comes in on shoes, wet flip-flops get kicked off wherever, and it’s like half the outdoors comes inside. So ideally here, a proper entryway setup can save so much irritation, especially when it’s built around real life instead of some perfect little magazine version of a home.

Literally, it’s super easy, how most people do theirs: a bench (ideally one that has shoe storage), some hooks for bags and towels, and maybe a hand vacuum in the area to help prevent sand from spreading. But really, it’s as simple as that here. 

Make the Garage Less Damp 

A good chunk of the time here, the garage is pretty damp. But generally speaking here, they’re hot, humid, salty, dusty, and somehow always one forgotten cardboard box away from smelling questionable. So, if the garage is used for storage, bikes, tools, surfboards, pool gear, or laundry overflow, then the floor and walls can’t be treated like an afterthought. Well, the walls shouldn’t either, honestly. 

You need a structure that can handle moisture and all that humidity (especially when it’s hot). A lot of homeowners tend to use epoxy flooring since it can handle moisture, heavy foot traffic, and even stains.

Those Outdoor Areas won’t Clean Themselves

Do you have a porch? Deck? Pool area? Patio? Have an outdoor path? Walkway? Driveway? Well, any of those areas need to be cleaned. Imagine how your interior gets on a day you were at the beach; well, it’s a lot worse outside of your home. While you don’t need to have a pristine outdoor area, sweeping it and keeping on top of things can help a lot in not tracking sand or dirt into your home. Also, it could help to have a welcome mat outside the door, too.

Do You Have Proper Storage?

Well, a coastal home usually has a very specific kind of mess, and it’s not always inside the main living space. It’s pool toys near the back door, beach chairs leaning against walls, fishing gear in the garage, towels in weird piles, and sunscreen bottles that migrate around the outside area. Be it shelves in your garage, a mudroom, or a storage box for cushions around your outdoor living space, you just need something to take care of all of this.