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Decorating with driftwood in your coastal or lake decor
If you love the beach, searching for beach treasures, or decorating with coastal decor, I'm looking for YOU!
Let's talk about driftwood. I am completely obsessed with, and love decorating with it, along with my signs.
But I also love visiting places to just see it and photograph it!
We have several beaches around Amelia Island that are state parks where you can't take the driftwood with you, especially because some of it is too big to carry, but also because it's a protected natural area and illegal to take!
We love taking visitors to see Boneyard Beach, just over the bridge off the south end of Amelia Island, on Talbot Island. It's a bit of a hike to get down to see it but once you do it is beautiful.
As for the driftwood you can take home from other beaches, I never know when I'm going to find it, some days the beach is full of small pretty pieces and sometimes it is bare. This is one thing I love about the ocean though, how it is ever changing with the waves. This makes it new and different every time!
I love driftwood because of the lightweight, smooth texture and feeling that makes it different from other wood pieces.
Just like ourselves, the wood has been changed by the path its taken and even when it's full of holes and battered by the waves, it emerges beautiful and useful.
I love putting it in jars, baskets, bowls, or simply laying it on a shelf. On occasion I'll craft with it for myself or make items like Christmas trees from it to sell.
Let me know if you love driftwood too and follow along for more.
How to Decorate with Driftwood at Home
Driftwood is one of those rare decor elements that looks beautiful no matter how you use it. It doesn't need to be arranged perfectly or styled with anything fancy. Its natural shape, texture, and color do all the work. Here are some of my favorite ways to use it at home:
- In a glass jar or lantern. Fill a tall clear glass jar or a lantern with small driftwood pieces for an instant coastal centerpiece. The varying shapes and tones of the wood look stunning through glass or framed by a lantern, and you can tuck in a starfish or shell for extra charm.
- In a dough bowl centerpiece. A long wooden dough bowl is one of the most beautiful vessels for a coastal centerpiece. Fill it with driftwood pieces, sea glass floats, coral, starfish, and greenery, then nestle a small sign right in the middle. It works on a dining table, coffee table, or console.
- In a bowl with sand and shells. Add a layer of sand to the bottom of a bowl, then nestle in a few pieces of driftwood alongside a starfish, a sea glass float, and a shell or two. Simple and beautiful.
- As a riser or prop for a sign. Bundle a few pieces of driftwood together and rest a small sign against them. The driftwood acts as a natural stand and adds texture and height to a tiered tray or shelf display.
- In a vintage box or crate. An old cigar box, wooden crate, or market box filled with driftwood and a starfish makes a gorgeous base for a small sign.
- In a tiered tray. Scatter driftwood pieces among your shells and signs in a tiered tray for a natural, collected look that feels like it came straight from the shore.
- On a mantle or shelf vignette. Group a sign, a lantern filled with driftwood, sea glass floats, a starfish, and a coastal vase together for a full mantle display.
- As a Christmas tree. Stack driftwood pieces into a tree shape and add small ornaments or lights for the most coastal Christmas display you've ever seen.
The key with driftwood is to let it be imperfect. The holes, the weathering, the irregular shapes, that's exactly what makes it beautiful. Don't overthink it. Just bring it home and let it settle in.
Styling Driftwood with Handmade Signs
One of my favorite things to do is pair driftwood with my handmade signs. Here are some of my favorite real-life examples.
Driftwood fills a glass jar alongside our Lighthouse Sign, with more driftwood tucked into a bowl of sand with a starfish and sea glass float.
A bundle of driftwood acts as a natural riser for our Small Sun Sign inside a tiered tray, styled alongside a sand dollar, coral, and shells. The Sunshine Sign hangs in the background.
Shop the Small Sun Sign | Shop the Sunshine Sign
Our Anchor Sign on a mantle display with driftwood tucked inside a black lantern, surrounded by sea glass floats, a starfish vase, and coastal accents.
The same Anchor Sign in a vintage cigar box with a piece of driftwood and a starfish, with dried hydrangeas in a blue vase behind it. One of the easiest coastal vignettes to put together and it works on a nightstand, bookshelf, or side table.
Our Small Beach Sign nestled in a long wooden dough bowl filled with driftwood pieces, sea glass floats, coral, starfish, and greenery. This is one of my favorite centerpiece ideas because the dough bowl holds everything together beautifully and the driftwood gives it that natural, collected-from-the-shore feel.
