Pacific Northwest Home Decor That Actually Comes From the Pacific Northwest
Bridge at Sunset by Christina Carlsen
If you've spent any time searching for Pacific Northwest home decor online, you've probably noticed something strange. A lot of it doesn't look like the Pacific Northwest at all. Generic coastline prints, mass-produced on demand, shipped from warehouses in states that don't have a Sitka spruce within a thousand miles.
We noticed it too. It's part of why we started Carlsen Studio.
What Pacific Northwest decor actually looks like
There's a specific quality of light here that doesn't photograph well from a tourist overlook on a sunny August afternoon. It's the blue-grey of an overcast morning at Boardman State Park when the sea stacks are barely visible through the mist. It's the way Silver Falls looks in November, when the moss is so green it almost glows. It's the texture of dune grass along the coast road just before a storm rolls in.
Jake has been photographing the Pacific Northwest for years, and the images that feel most true to this place are rarely the obvious ones. They're the quiet moments, the ones that require patience and familiarity. That's not something you can replicate on a weekend visit.
Heron in the Surf , captured at Nye Beach by Jake Carlsen
Two mediums, one landscape
The thing that makes a Pacific Northwest home feel cohesive isn't matching furniture. It's a consistent sense of place. The colors of the coast, the subjects that feel native, the textures that echo the landscape outside.
Christina's watercolor paintings work in Pacific Northwest interiors because the palette is pulled directly from what she sees here. The deep indigo of the ocean at dusk. The coral blush of a scallop shell. The warm tawny brown of a harbor seal on the beach. These aren't invented colors. They're the colors outside the studio window in Newport.
Mixing photography and watercolor in the same home sounds like it shouldn't work, but it usually does. Photography brings in the landscape itself. Watercolor brings in the creatures that live there. Together they tell a more complete story of the place.
The Light Keeper by Christina Carlsen
A few things that work well together
If you're decorating a Pacific Northwest home and want to build around our work, here's what we've seen work well for people.
Black and white photography for the big statement piece. Jake's landscape prints in black and white work well as a larger anchor piece in a living room or hallway. The monochrome palette plays well with almost any wall color, and the Pacific Northwest landscapes read as timeless rather than trendy.
Christina's watercolors for warmth and personality. A watercolor whale or heron on a gallery wall brings in color and life without competing with the landscape photography. They're designed to coexist, not shout.
Smaller prints in groupings. A collection of three or four small fine art prints in matching frames is one of the easiest ways to fill a wall with Pacific Northwest character without committing to a large single piece. Our 5x7 and 8x10 prints work well for this.
The short version
Most Pacific Northwest home decor is made far from the Pacific Northwest. Ours is made here, in Newport, by two people who walk these beaches, watch these animals, and photograph and paint this coastline year-round, and we think you can feel it in the work.
If you want art that brings the real Pacific Northwest into your home, this is where it comes from.
Browse Pacific Northwest art prints and original paintings
-- Jake & Christina
New to our work? Read more about Jake and Christina or visit the Journal for more on our process, inspiration, and the stories behind the art.
