Beach Life: Interiors, recipes, and reflections that bottle the easy, restorative magic of coastal living.

by Lauren Liess

Beach Life is the fourth design book from bestselling author Lauren Liess—costar of HGTV’s Best House on the Block —exploring the beauty and culture of coastal living.

In Beach Life , Lauren Liess picks up where Feels Like Home left off to explore the feelings associated with living that coastal life. Casual, soulful, thoughtful, nostalgic, inspiring, relaxing—Liess shows how you can bring these vibes into your home to experience a little beach getaway wherever you are.

Full of interior design advice, radiant photography, memorable stories, lifestyle moments, seasonal recipes, and coastal culture, this book will give readers an escape into nature, sunshine, and sand. With case studies of five different homes, from a cottage in Martha’s Vineyard to a dune house to a charming beach cabin, it’s the perfect guide to creating your haven on the beach. It’s an exploration and a savoring of the joy, tranquility, and peace we universally feel at the beach, urging you to wander, rethink, and recalibrate along the shore.

Inspired by the mood and mindset of our beach selves, Beach Life urges us to not only live beautifully but give in to the demands of the ocean and live as freely as we live on vacation all the time!

Genres: Nonfiction, Interior Design, Design

288 pages, Hardcover

Published May 21, 2024

Reviews

[Teres · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Sky above, sand below, peace within." Yup. 🏖

[Relyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lauren Liess is the kind of writer who makes you wish you knew her and Dave in person. I enjoyed this book so much - amazing images and a soulful story.

[Michelle Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

The most beautiful “coffee table” book that upon reading you immediately feel your heart beating slower. Shot in the outer banks it reminds me of our annual visits to Hilton Head. Part interior design, part poetry, reflections and gratefulness and a call to minimalism. The photographs are simply lovely.

Thalassophile - noun. A lover of the sea, someone who loves and is magnetically attracted to the sea, ocean.

What’s your impossible? Your dream?

“The thing about a dream, an impossible goal, is that somewhere deep down, you really do believe it’s possible or it wouldn’t have come to you. Underneath the mayhem and rush of modern life, we are being guided by an inner knowing that speaks in dreams, in visions of impossible goals. Beach life opens us up to hearing those dreams. It’s about living soulfully, which the ocean demands of everyone who visits, if they listen for it.”

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a beautiful book. Beautiful photos, some great recipes. Most of all, the author has a beautiful method of describing beach life. She really should write a novel. I enjoyed her minimalist design and how it functioned for her family. I got some great ideas for living the beach life for myself, as well. For the one star off, the book is a bit self serving to her business of remodeling and designing interiors of homes. It felt slightly self serving and advertising. However, I might do the same thing if I were in her position.

This is a great coffee table book that your guests will love to pick up and enjoy the photos and recipes. If they have more time, read the chapters with her beautiful words.

[Debra · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautiful and mindful book (and possibly demure.) 🙂

Liess opens the book with a story about her young daughter, returning to the beach and stating, “I can feel my summer spirit” (11). Liess is in love with the beach, the vibes, and the spirit of beach towns. She spent her formative summers at the beach (specifically Corolla in the Outer Banks) and meets her future husband there. She married this guy and is raising her five children to love the beach life as much as she does.

The photographs in the book are amazing. (She even shares pictures from her youth) and beachy aphorisms abound.

Some might find this book a little hippy-dippy as Liess goes into discussion at length of the ion effect and how seawater, salt air, the sound of waves, sunshine and experiencing awe resets one’s soul. It makes sense though.

Chapter 2, “Summer Spirit,” is the design chapter. She gives tips on the coastal palette, obtaining an easy, breezy vibe and displaying collections from the sea (and art from the locals). Again, the photos are stellar and would be very helpful when decorating your own beachy home.

Just know that the rest of the book contains more tips on rediscovering and healing at the beach. I really enjoyed the family’s quest to find their own beach property. (We’re trying to find a lake property as well.) Their “Surf Shack” should have been a tear down, but they turned it into “The Lost Cottage.” Liess and her husband had to have vision to see the 800 square foot house as an option for their family of seven. Luckily, she includes a mantra for minimalism in living small and being intentional.

Besides the Surf Shack/Lost Cottage, there’s also photos of Hill Cottage (a larger property the refurbished with partners to rent), the Beach Cabin, a much older island property, and Dune House (a five bedroom ocean front home). The interior of each of these four properties are vastly different but they all retain the charm, serenity, and calm of a good beach house.

The final part of the book is “beach eats.” Liess maintains that dinner at the beach can be a premade salad or a charcuterie/veggie board. No fuss-no muss meal prep. I whole-heartedly concur. But, she does include recipes for avocado-cucumber bites, seafood boil, raw basil oysters, shaved fennel salad, clam linguine, clam chowder, and salmon w/dill sauce. The dill sauce is simplicity at its best: may, a “whole bunch of fresh dill,” black pepper, garlic, and lemon.

Besides adapting the beach life to lake life, I had a few other reasons for previewing and reviewing this book. My best friend loves the beach so I thought this would be a great Christmas gift for her. My SiL and BiL just bought a beach house in North Carolina and I knew this would be a great coffee table book for their guests to read while they unwound.

I did order the book for the sister-in-law. I’m still a bit undecided about the best friend gift. Like I said earlier, Beach Life can be a bit hippy-dippy at times and I’m not sure she would appreciate that kind of wisdom. But again, the book in its entirety was all about listening to nature, getting in touch with self, and enjoying life. If that’s hippy-dippy then we all need to listen

I’m ordering it for her too.

[Annette · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful book... I just skimmed but it was worth looking over.

All very natural and definitely for someone who loves the beach style. Although a bit costly to do, Lauren Liess's ideas are all very natural and calming (and I love stealing ideas from someone so creative).

A great book to look through with a cup of tea and an ocean breeze!

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this but it seemed like a big departure from previous books. The design parts were interesting but hard to connect to the personal sections and buying four beach houses to sell. Already knew that from social so was hoping this was more about design process and livability with sand and salt air.

If you’re less looking for inspiration and more for a personal story about what the beach means to the author, then you might enjoy it more.

[Pamela Arrowood · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect balance of beautiful OBX photography, memoirs, thoughtful advice, and coastal home remodeling/decor vibes...all in a coffee table book. I don't buy many books secondary to space, but I started reading a library copy only to promptly order because I enjoyed it so much. Some passages I'll refer back to frequently. I MIGHT be a bit biased since I love OBX, but I completely relate to the influences the beach life (Outer Banks) can have on one's life perspective. Well done!!

[Georgetowner · Rating 5 out of 5]

I stumbled on this lovely book on display at the library and there aren’t words for how much I loved it! I read it from cover to cover in a few days and never wanted to put it down. Beach Life is beautiful in style and in content. Already, I’ve bought a copy to give as a gift and plan to buy more! A real gem!

[Mary Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

This designer’s personal aesthetic really suits the subject and I found that I enjoyed her style in this setting more than in others. Three stars because a lot of the book is just meditation on the topic of living near the beach and those photos and text not terribly informative or interesting.

[Lauren Trank · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you love the beach, this is a must read book.

I love the honest peek into Lauren's family life when there spending time at the beach. The interior design and recipe ideas were a wonderful surprise.

[Wendy Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Beautiful photography!

[Kayley Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gorgeous

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is beautiful nod to the healing power of nature and the joy of finding a place that makes you happy.