Wide horizons for salt-air rooms

Why coastal art

Beach house walls take more light and more humidity than most rooms

Glare, salt air and pale timber all change how a picture reads, so choose for the room's light before the subject.

Coastal rooms are mostly window. In a house with glass on two or three sides, reflective glazing bounces light straight back and half the picture disappears by mid-morning. Canvas has no glass over it, so it holds its image from any angle — one reason it has always suited beach houses. It also copes better with the humidity that makes paper prints cockle and ripple behind a frame.

Go bigger than feels right. Beach houses run to open plan, raked ceilings and long uninterrupted walls, and a 60cm print on a three-metre wall looks stranded. Measure the sofa or bed and aim for roughly two-thirds of its width, in one piece or a matched pair. On palette, if your timber is already warm and your linen is white, one strong note — deep ocean blue, a burnt sunset — does more than three washed-out pastels.

How your print is made

1. Choose the size and finishPick a size, then stretched ready to hang or framed. The size guide on every print shows it to scale.
2. Printed to orderYour print is made on canvas in Melbourne once you order, at the size you choose.
3. Stretched, framed, checkedStretched or framed in Melbourne, then checked before it leaves.
4. Delivered free, Australia-wideMade to order in 10 to 14 days, then tracked to your door. Thirty-day money-back guarantee if it isn't what you hoped.