WATER-THEMED MOTIFS ADD A SPLASH OF GENTLE BEAUTY

Summer for many of us means reconnecting with water — lakeside hikes, paddles in the sea, luxuriant floats in some relaxing pool. And that connection isn’t confined just to the outdoors, either. Watery hues and motifs are all over home decor. “Water imagery adds a beautiful dimension to a room,” says designer Ohara Gaetano-Davies of Laguna Beach, Calif. Her projects include beachfront homes in Southern California and Cape Cod. In a seaside home in Laguna Beach’s Emerald Bay area, she painted the interior of some open cabinetry a serene pale blue, evoking beach glass. A collection of white coral sits on the shelves. A large painting of a woman diving fills one white wall. “The gradation of colour and tone adds beautiful dimension and movement to a relatively small space,” she says. “Your eye focuses on the movement of the pattern and not the scale of the room.”