We absolutely love seeing the ocean and spending time around beaches. We’ve visited the beaches of North Carolina 20+ times. When we visit, we always rent a beach house, and we love the nautical decor they always have. That is why we decided to bring some of that nautical look to our own home back in the Midwest.
Most rooms in our house have some nautical decorations. There are some items that we have that were not originally intended to be decorations, but we have turned them into nautical decor. This is a list of the 6 different items that you can use in your house to give it a more beachy look.
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1. Nautical Window Valence
Instead of using a typical curtain rod and valence, we decided to use a boat oar with a fish net draped over it.
It is connected to the window trim by short pieces of wood and bolts. The fish net covers up the bolts pretty well. Then we hung some glass floats that we bought in North Carolina.
This is a great idea for a valence if you have blinds or shades on your windows. It would not work well with a curtain since it would be hard to have a curtain rod up as well.
You can use a natural wood oar or a painted oar. Either way, it looks pretty nautical.
2. Nautical Towel Rack
We also used a boat oar in our main bathroom. It is larger than the ones we used for valences. It is screwed into pieces of wood that are screwed into a long flat piece of wood.
What is nice about using an oar for a towel rack is that it looks nautical and it holds a lot of towels.
You will want to make sure that the wood is coated so that it doesn’t get gross from the water.
3. Nautical Wainscoting
In order to give this room a tropical look, we used beach mats around the room to create wainscoting. The mats are nailed to the wall all the way around the room. We cut out spots for the outlets, but other than that, you don’t have to cut them. You can buy similar ones here.
We also placed a border above them to add to the decoration. You probably can’t tell but we didn’t even have to paint underneath the beach mats because you can’t see the wall.
4. Nautical Headboard
Above this twin bed, we screwed a boogie board into the wall since it doesn’t have a headboard. The pillows hide the bottom of the board, so you can’t see the gap between the board and the bed.
There are lots of different boogie board designs, so it is easy to find one that will match your room.
Make sure you decide exactly where the bed is going to be placed since you will be screwing the board into the wall.
5. Nautical Wall Decorations
If you visit the beach a lot, then you probably find items on the beach like shells, sharks’ teeth, sand dollars, etc. We decided to frame some of the sharks’ teeth we have found.
You can just use a frame that is a little thicker in depth. Then, you can glue your items to a piece of mat board. It is an easy way to display your treasures without having to dust them!
Related: Make Your Own Pushpin Travel Map
6. Nautical Displays
Besides framing your beach treasures, you can also display them in jars. We bought all of these jars used to save money, but you can also buy them brand new if you want more of them to match.
We filled our jars with sharks’ teeth, sea glass, and stones from the beach. We also have bottles filled with sand from different beaches. Seashells would also work well in a jar as long as you are careful placing them in it. You can also add other decorations to the shelves as well.
Related: 5 Cheap Souvenirs to Collect
Related: 7 More Souvenir Ideas When You’re On a Budget
