Creating a Nautically Themed Nursery
A nautically-themed nursery is a soothing choice for an infant’s room, and creating one is as much fun as enjoying the finished project. The traditional navy, red and white nautical theme is perfect for a little boy’s room while a pastel or beach-themed room works well for a girl or for a more neutral nursery. This theme also saves parents from having to redecorate the room when the baby gets older because your child will not outgrow the nautical theme.
Paint Color
Paint the walls a color that is reminiscent of the ocean. Choose a pastel blue or green for a relaxing nursery or use both colors by painting three walls in one color and using the other as an accent wall. For a starker contrast between the walls and the bedding, paint the walls navy blue. Focus on pastel green, yellow and sand paint colors if the room is for a girl or if the baby’s gender is unknown. Adding striped wallpaper to one wall will evoke the nautical theme on the accent wall.
Bedding
Choose bedding that is a solid red or blue or has a simple-striped print for a simple nautically-themed room. For a more detailed room, choose bedding with a nautical or fish print. Tiddliwinks’ Under the Sea crib bedding offers babyish turtles and fish in pastel blue and green. For the traditional nautical room, Bedtime Originals offers the Red, White, Navy and Blue Sail Away bedding which contains pictures of boats and lighthouses on a light blue background with a Navy border containing white anchors. Lambs & Ivy’s Under the Sea bedding offers colorful fish of different sizes on a light blue background. Nautica Kids offers multiple prints for a nautically-themed room.
Furniture
Scour antique stores and beachside shops for unique nautical decorations to add to the nursery. Hang a wooden anchor on the wall and surround it with pictures of boats and water. If you have pictures from your own trips to the beach, frame those in nautical-themed frames and hang them to add a personalize touch to the room. For a unique touch, hang plastic sand shovels from the wall. Drawer pulls in the shape of anchors or boats, found a local craft or hardware stores, add a unique touch to a dresser. Add striped or solid color curtains that complement the bedding.
Accessories
Purchase unfinished dressers and shelving units and paint them in colors to match the room’s theme. Use stencils from a local craft store to add seashell, boat and anchor shapes. Use the same stencils to add the shapes to a plain-colored lampshade or to stencil a border around the room or to add accents around a door or window frame. Instead of plastic storage containers and baskets to hold baby toiletries, place plastic or tin beach pails on bookshelves and use them to store lotions, shampoos and other baby items. To add to the nautical theme, place a CD player in the room and play a CD of soothing ocean sounds, seagulls and foghorns which create a relaxing atmosphere and help lull the baby to sleep.
