Even if you’re land-locked, you can feel like you live by the sea
Nautical interior design creates a seaside feel in your home using marine colors like navy, blue, and white paired with striped textiles and coastal decor.
Your nautical-inspired space benefits from natural light through large windows or warm LED lighting that mimics the glow of coastal sunshine.
You can transform any room by adding a navy accent wall, maritime wallpaper, or subtle decor like seashells and driftwood to bring the coast indoors.
Hiring a local interior decorating professional helps you balance nautical elements with your existing style, creating a cohesive look that feels authentically coastal.
You don’t need to live on the coast to enjoy the perks of nautical interior design. Filling your home with maritime home decor like seashells, stripes, and plenty of blue and white colors will make you feel like you’re by the sea—even if you’re in the middle of Kansas.
Use this guide to learn all the ways you can incorporate nautical decor into your abode.
Nautical interior design is inspired by all things involving the sea, sailing, and coastal life. Nautically-designed homes first began to appear in the 1980s and originally relied heavily on over-the-top maritime decor. Model boats and ship accessories made frequent appearances, as well as an abundance of upholstered, striped furniture, and floor-to-ceiling marine-patterned wallpaper.
As nautical design has begun to make a comeback, these more dated trends have taken a backseat to sleek approaches, like gold finishes to hint at the swashbuckling, treasure-hunting adventures that are so associated with life on the sea.
When trying to design a home in a nautical-inspired way, meeting these five essential criteria will help you achieve the look you’re going for.
Aside from the occasional shade of red or yellow, it’s rare to find bright, warm colors in nautical design. Instead, this style relies heavily on a palette of blues (especially navy), whites, and sand-toned beiges. In many instances, these light and dark tones are paired to create contrast.
You can’t have a seaside-inspired home without decor straight from the coast. Though nautical design of years past had a preference for objects like model boats, ship parts, anchors, ropes, and the like, modern approaches favor subtle references to the maritime style—think: wallpaper with a delicate seashell pattern or driftwood that’s been upcycled into a chic coffee table.
In order to truly create the feeling of being on the coast, ample natural light is essential to nautical interior design. When natural light isn’t possible, warm LED mood and accent lighting is used to spotlight unique decor pieces and create the feeling of bathing in the warm, coastal sunshine.
Along with being a cottagecore design favorite, striped and gingham textiles are a key aspect of nautical design as well. This style makes use of these patterns throughout plenty of fabric-based home decor, including everything from upholstered chairs to area rugs.
Another defining trait of nautical design is the way it brings the outside world indoors. Floor-to-ceiling windows, French and bifold doors, and sunrooms are all common in coastal-inspired homes because they do a lot to blur the line between your home and your backyard.
Now that you know a bit about the basics of nautical home decor, here’s how to start using it in your own interior design.
Though nautical homes are primarily light and airy with mostly white, cream, or beige walls, adding a big splash of blue is a quick and easy way to immerse your home in the marine style. Though navy gets the most attention, other shades of blue, like baby blue, aquamarine, and periwinkle, will all help you achieve the look just as well.
Love the idea of adding blue to your home but not sure if you’re ready to take the plunge with an accent wall? Opt for a delicately-patterned, lightly colored wallpaper instead. Choose blue or another color, but make sure that the pattern you pick hints at your nautical endeavors. Think: thinly drawn anchor, seashell, or boat-printed wallpaper.
If you don’t have the kind of natural light that nautical design demands, all hope is not lost. For a cost-effective solution that helps set the mood, consider making the switch to LED lights. They’re easy to control, come in a range of color temperatures, and last far longer than traditional light bulbs, to boot.
Use cove and drop ceiling lighting to create a space that’s bright throughout, and use chic pendant lights to bring attention to your most prized decor items, like the boat in a bottle you made yourself.
Seashells, ship parts (like the hull and anchor), ropes, and driftwood are all decorations that are commonly used in interior design. Keep things sleek without going overboard (pun intended) by using marine-inspired decor that doesn’t make you feel like you’re literally on a boat. Everything from paintings of lighthouses or seascapes to lightly patterned curtains to coastal coffee table books will help you use the style in a subtle way.
Add depth to your nautical-themed home by incorporating metal features that you’d find out on the open sea, like brass and gold. Use everything from gold-finished picture frames and mirrors to brass doorknobs and sink faucets to imbue your whole home with that sense of seafaring.
Instead of using a rod or cord to hang your curtains, consider using rope instead to create a truly nautical-inspired home.
It’s rare to find furnishings in a nautical-themed home that aren’t wood or upholstered. Even flooring is almost strictly hardwood, with just some exceptions for carpet. In general, using this approach along with one or two of the other tips will start to make your home feel like a marine haven in no time.
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