For a lot of DC-area families, the Delaware beaches are about a two-and-a-half to three-hour drive across the Bay Bridge, and the house there is a second home they visit when they can. Debbi Porter Interiors is an interior design studio based in Northern Virginia that designs and furnishes beach homes from Lewes and Rehoboth Beach down to Fenwick Island. Start with a complimentary discovery call by phone or Zoom.
Designing a beach house you aren't living in yet
Beach house projects usually start with an owner who is somewhere else: at home in McLean or Bethesda, at work in DC, sometimes in another state. You don't need to be at the house for the project. We handle the ordering, receiving, inspection and installation, and we schedule the painters, paperhangers and installers, so you can arrive on a Friday to a house that's finished, with the beds made and the art on the walls.
Many of our clients have second and third homes. A beach house should feel easy to live in, and we also want it to feel like yours rather than a furnished rental, with your collections, your colors and pieces that make sense next to the water. Our second home design service is built for exactly this kind of project.
Fabrics and finishes for sand, sun and guests
A beach house works harder than a house in town. Strong sun fades fabric, sand gets into everything, wet towels land on upholstery and a full house of guests is part of the plan every summer. We choose materials the way Debbi would choose fabric for a resort collection, for how they feel and how they hold up.
We love color, and beach houses can carry more of it than people expect, from sea-glass greens to coral and sand tones, or something with no nautical reference at all.
- Performance and solution-dyed fabrics that resist fading and wash well
- Slipcovers on the pieces that see wet swimsuits
- Durable rugs that can handle sand by the door
- Bunk rooms and guest rooms that sleep a crowd without looking like a dorm
- Outdoor furniture for porches and decks chosen with the same care as the living room
Planning a project in Delaware Beaches? Start with a complimentary discovery call.
Old cottages and new coastal builds
The housing along this stretch of coast varies a lot. Lewes has a historic district with Victorian houses in Queen Anne and Second Empire styles, and older colonials just off Second Street. Bethany Beach still has a handful of cottages from the town's first years in the early 1900s. Rehoboth Beach has quiet residential streets of beach cottages a few blocks from the boardwalk. Inland, communities like Bear Trap Dunes in Ocean View and Plantation Lakes and The Peninsula in Millsboro have newer homes built around golf courses and water.
An older cottage calls for a lighter touch, keeping the character of the porch, the original woodwork and the small rooms. A new build is a blank canvas, and we can work alongside the builder on selections for tile, lighting and finishes before it's finished, then furnish it top to bottom.
Planning around the season
Beach houses have a calendar that city houses don't. Owners want the house ready for the first warm weekend, guests arrive in waves through the summer and the off-season is the easiest time for deliveries and installation, with lighter traffic on Route 1 and fewer rentals to work around. If you have a date in mind, like a family reunion or the first rental of the summer, tell us on the discovery call so the order of work is planned around it. Custom furniture and fabrics have lead times, and starting early gives you the most choices.
A Parade of Homes condo in Millsboro
One of our clients in Millsboro, Fred M., wrote that the condo we designed for him was selected for a Parade of Homes event, and that the builder now uses his house to show the quality and potential of their homes. In his words, they knew the style they wanted, and Debbi took their ideas and added to them. That's how we like to work everywhere, and it's especially useful on the coast, where a new build can look generic until someone gives it a point of view.
