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Ciel Bleu at Cinnamon Shore

A Blue and White Beach House on Mustang Island

Ciel Bleu sits at Cinnamon Shore, on Mustang Island off the Texas coast. It is a vacation home, and it is also an active rental, which is the fact that shaped almost every decision in it.

The owners asked for blue and white throughout. That is the easy part of the brief. The harder part is that a house full of white slipcovers and pale floors has to survive a summer of renters arriving with sand on their feet, and still look like this on the next changeover.

So the blue and white is real, and so is the performance fabric under it. White shiplap runs through the whole house. Details matter, and on a rental they have to be details that hold up.

  • A dining table laid with blue plates on woven chargers, scalloped napkins printed with a blue lobster, rattan wrapped glasses and a blue striped runner, with white faux bamboo chairs and a white staircase behind.
  • A living room seen past a slipcovered chair in blue dotted fabric, looking toward a cream sectional layered with blue block print pillows, a burl wood coffee table on a seagrass rug, and a pale blue retro refrigerator in the kitchen beyond.
  • Built in white bunks set into a shiplap alcove, dressed in blue patterned quilts and navy blankets, with a fixed ladder, a small reading light and drawers built in underneath.
  • A bunk room corner with a white bunk bed over a trundle drawer, a striped blue and cream rug, a white wavy edged mirror, and a glazed door onto a porch.
  • A bedroom seen from the foot of the bed, with a dark blue patterned accent wall behind a white headboard, a clear acrylic bench topped in blue velvet, and a jute rug worked with a blue geometric pattern.
  • An entry of white shiplap with a white staircase and turned balusters, a gilt framed mirror, two pale blue upholstered drum stools and a straw hat resting on one of them.
  • A white console cabinet with woven cane door fronts and slim brass pulls, topped with driftwood, coral books and pale blue candlesticks, beside a rattan shade floor lamp, with a burl wood coffee table and a seagrass rug in the foreground.

Slipcovers, Because Everything Here Gets Used

The sectional and the chairs are Lee, and every cover on them comes off. That is the whole reason they are here. A rental house cannot have upholstery that has to be apologized for, and a slipcover can go in the wash between guests.

The rest of the room keeps the same logic while staying casual and beachy: a seagrass rug underfoot, a rattan console, and a burl coffee table with baskets tucked under it. The pattern arrives in the pillows, in blue block print and dots, which are the cheapest thing in the room to change and the easiest to change the mood with.

An open plan living room with a cream slipcovered sectional layered in blue and white pillows, a burl wood coffee table holding coral and baskets, a seagrass rug, woven pendant lights and a kitchen with a pale blue refrigerator beyond.

Bamboo Chairs in a Fabric That Can Take It

The dining chairs are Universal's bamboo frame, custom upholstered locally in Peter Dunham outdoor performance fabric. Outdoor fabric on an indoor dining chair is not a compromise here, it is the point: this seat will hold a wet swimsuit at some stage of its life.

The dining room, kitchen and living room are all open to one another, so the blue reads as one continuous idea rather than a series of decorated rooms. Woven pendants, a white pedestal table and a pale blue refrigerator carry the same note through the kitchen.

A white pedestal dining table set for four with blue plates and rattan wrapped glasses, surrounded by pale faux bamboo chairs cushioned in a blue and white star print, under two large woven pendant lights, with a pale blue retro refrigerator in the white kitchen behind.

A Hallway That Sleeps

Upstairs, the landing does not go to waste. Bunks are built into the wall along its length, so the hallway itself becomes somewhere to sleep, which is how a beach house takes a crowd without needing another bedroom.

A custom striped runner in performance fabric runs the length of it. The quilts are French blue and all match, with custom pillows on top. Built in shelving and drawers under the bunks give renters somewhere to put a suitcase, which is the difference between a hallway that works and one that fills up with luggage by Saturday.

An upstairs landing lined with built in white bunks dressed in blue patterned bedding, brass swing arm sconces on the shelving, a collection of glazed plates on the shiplap wall, and a blue and white striped runner on pale wood floors.

Grasscloth, and One Wall of Pattern

The master bedroom keeps the white bedding and the white ceiling, then gives one wall over entirely to a Serena Dugan grasscloth. One papered wall is enough. It sets the room without asking anything else in it to compete.

At the foot of the bed is a clear acrylic bench upholstered locally in performance velvet, which is a piece that reads as light in photographs and behaves as furniture in a rental. A jute rug worked in blue keeps a thread of natural texture running underneath the color.

A bedroom with a dark blue patterned accent wall behind a white bed made up in white quilting, a blue lumbar pillow and a blue throw, a clear acrylic bench topped in bright blue velvet at its foot, and a blue tiled bathroom visible through the doorway.

Blue Square Tile and a Soaking Tub

The master bath is the one room that stops being casual. Blue square tile runs around the walls to sill height, a soaking tub sits under two windows, and a natural beaded chandelier hangs over it.

The hardware is brass. It is a room built for the end of a day at the beach, which on Mustang Island is most days.

A bathroom with blue square tile to sill height, a white freestanding soaking tub under two windows in linen roman shades, a wooden bath caddy holding an open book and a candle, and a beaded chandelier with a rope tassel above.

A Bunk Room That Sleeps More Than It Looks Like

The bunk room has a trundle that pulls out from under the lower bed, so the room quietly sleeps more guests than its footprint suggests. White bunks against white walls keep it feeling airy rather than crowded.

Rattan lamps and a curved coral mirror bring the beach in without anything nautical or themed. The rug is performance again, for the same reason as everywhere else, and the lumbar pillows were made for the room by Studio Four.

A white bunk bed with a fixed ladder and a trundle drawer beneath the lower bunk, made up in white quilting with a blue block print pillow and a navy blanket, beside a tall white built in bookcase and a blue striped rug.
  • A covered porch in white shiplap with two white rattan bistro chairs, blue ombre pillows, a pale blue drum side table and a lantern sconce beside the window.
  • A navy pillow printed with white dots beside a blue and cream floral pillow on a cream slipcovered sofa, with a cable knit throw over the arm.
  • A pale blue hardback book on coastal decorating lying on a burl wood table, with a branch of white coral and a small green glass votive resting on top of it.
  • A small brass crane figurine with raised wings on a white shelf, beside a blue and white porcelain cup and two stacked books in pale blue.
  • A dining table laid with a charcuterie board of cheese, grapes and cherries, a white bubble vase of pink peonies and white hydrangeas, rattan wrapped glasses and blue plates on a blue striped runner.
  • A bedroom with a dark blue patterned accent wall under a white shiplap ceiling, a white bed in white quilting with a blue lumbar pillow, twin white lamps, a gilt framed mirror and a blue velvet acrylic bench on a blue and jute rug.
  • A bathroom vanity detail with a rattan framed oval mirror on a blue grasscloth wall, a slim metal faucet, a white marble counter and a pink peony in a pale blue glazed vase.
  • A shiplap stairwell with a white staircase and a linen roman shade over the landing window, seen past a blue swivel chair with a blue and green star print pillow and a set dining table in the foreground.
  • A white staircase with turned balusters against a white shiplap wall, a linen roman shade over the window behind it, and a blue chair with a blue and green star print pillow in the foreground.
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