Coastal Creations — How This Imaginative Soul Found a New Canvas in Home Decor

Shannon Solt’s personal style has come a long way from prairie dresses and braids, but that’s certainly where it began.

“I have always loved historical fashion,” says Solt, who began sewing at age 10, “because I essentially wanted to be Laura Ingalls Wilder.”

Solt lives in her hometown of Perrysburg, Ohio, in a self-renovated Cape Cod with her husband and two children. After earning a business degree at Miami University of Ohio, she pursued fashion school and has since made her mark as an Instagram influencer (@shannonsolt). 

Ultimately, Solt is anchored to coastal living, and it informs her dress, decor and designs. 

“I grew up going on family vacations to Maumee Bay State Park and day trips to Put-In-Bay,” she says of her summers spent along the shore in Ohio. “I’ve always been around the Lake Erie lifestyle.” 

In fact, Solt has lived along several coasts in the south and northeast but boomeranged back to Ohio, where she now stays home with her 2- and 5-year-old children, imparting both her love of the lake and her handmade touch. 

The Solt crew often heads to the lake for hiking, bird watching and ransacking the playground. Every summer, Solt plans day trips to destinations on Lake Erie they’ve never experienced, including new beaches, lighthouses, wineries, parks and museums. 

“I always pick up something for our home on these travels,” she says. 

She uses Instagram to showcase her finds and deliver footage of home projects like white-washing a fireplace and turning shells they collected into homemade art.

“These little mementos from our trips are always coastal inspired and a reminder of how close we live to one of the Great Lakes,” Solt says of her art, vases, mugs, blankets, coasters and more. 

As for her aesthetic, Solt calls it colorful, classic coastal. Personally, “I wear a lot of stripes,” she says, professing a preference for Lily Pulitzer’s vibrant patterns, too. 

At home, it’s blues, whites, stripes and nautical accents all the way. 

Here, she explains the evolution of their three-bedroom home into a coastal family retreat that functions for family.

Coastal Colors. “Choose colors that you associate with the lake … blues, greens, tans, whites,” she advises. Paint was the first step in her quest to transform a dated, dark look into a lake-inspired home. The master bedroom is washed in Seawall by Nautica, and the living spaces are coated in Valspar’s All-Weather White. 

Always More. The new paint only called attention to the rest of the room. “I needed to paint the fireplace. It looked so sad.” 

Home Hangups. “We collect seashells every time we go to a beach ... we took each collection, placed them in shadow boxes and framed them.”

Naturally Beachy. Baskets, cord, roping, rattan. These textures speak to the beach, and there are simple ways to incorporate them into the home without overspending. Solt recently painted a coffee table white and swapped out the boring drawer knobs with rattan ones from Amazon.  

Telling a Story. Solt likes to surround herself with pieces that mean something, including work from local artist Michelle Brunner. “I have connected with so many artists and creators,” she says. Other local faves include Erie & Anchor, Coastal Cleveland and Leisurely Lakeside.

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