Have a deep fascination with mermaids or enjoy lounging on the beach on sweltering summer days? If you love the briny sea, you probably wish you could live on the coast. But that isn’t possible for everyone.
Even if coastal living is an outlandish dream, don’t give up just yet. Incorporating coastal and nautical touches to your home can make every day feel like a beach day, even when you’re surrounded by nothing but land and air.
Here are some tips for giving your home a nautical makeover so you can live out your beachside fantasy.
Use Beachy Hues
A new coat of paint can transform your home from dull and earthy to beachy. Stick to shades that remind you of the ocean and beach. Tranquil blues that match the ocean and sky, beige to represent the sand, green and brown for swaying palm and coconut trees, pink for seashells, bright reds for hibiscus, and white for pesky, food-stealing seagulls.
You can mix and match these colors to your liking. But remember that blues go well with green, pink is a close friend of red, and neutral browns, beiges, and off-whites pair with just about anything.
Seashells on the Seashore
The next tip for giving your home a nautical makeover is to decorate—not just with seashells, but with other beachy décor. It wouldn’t be a nautical paradise without scattered seashells and other coastal decorations. When choosing décor, look for pieces with ocean-related motifs. Seashells, mermaids, fish, palm trees, coconuts, anchors, ships, and toucans all relate to beaches and the ocean.
However, we don’t recommend incorporating every last one of these things into your design. Instead, choose one or two motifs for your home and stick to those. For example, you can have a seashell and mermaid theme or an anchor and ship theme that encompasses everything pirate.
Incorporate Paneling
Consider wood paneling as a perfect addition to your nautical, land-bound home. You might have heard of shiplap before, which is a kind of wood paneling traditionally used to waterproof ships. Nowadays, it spruces up homes.
You can use shiplap on the walls or fireplace. You can even try it on cabinets, bookshelves, and other furniture items. However, shiplap can be expensive. Luckily, you can find plenty of inexpensive shiplap look-alikes. Tongue and groove paneling is a great option—it’s inexpensive and a breeze to install. It also looks incredible, and to the average eye, it’s indistinguishable from shiplap.
