I have a beach facing room, and I use warm white LED strip lights myself - and they work perfectly. The reason they work so well is that they are concealed, and give off very diffuse light, so they create a perfect mood and atmosphere.

Fairly lights are perfect for beach houses. You can put them up either inside or outside the windows, and they look lovely 😉

Oil lamps are fantastic, you can get really good clean ones these days, including some on spikes.

If you living room has large windows then I would recommend solar lights. You can get some beautiful solar lamp posts and solar bollards so they will be tall enough to see from the window.