When we found out our second son was on the way, we broke the internet searching Pinterest to find a theme for his nursery. We wanted something preppy, classic, clean, and calming, so the nautical nursery theme won us over. In The Sweet Suburban, the room originally had beige carpet, beige walls, and absolutely no personality. We had already removed all the carpet and replaced it with a dark-wood laminate plank floor. We complemented the dark flooring by using a color pallet of white, gray, and navy, with natural elements thrown in for warmth and texture. We threw on our DIY hats and added the following elements to get this nautical nursery afloat (pun intended):
- Shiplap on the bottom half of the walls. We used a DIY method to get the shiplap look at a much lower cost by cutting strips of thin plywood. Future blog post on that process coming soon.
- Added taller, custom 10-inch baseboards.
- Added two-piece crown molding.
- Painted the upper part of the walls matte Benjamin Moore Classic Gray.
- Painted the ceiling with white Behr Ceiling Paint.
- Added recessed lighting.
- Installed a rope pendant light.
- Installed a closet organization system.
The shiplap installation took much longer than planned – the process was tedious since we used both construction adhesive and finish nails to adhere it to the wall, and alignment is EVERYTHING when dealing with shiplap. The painting also took longer that we thought – everything had to be primed before the two coats of paint could be applied. We spent long nights getting this room ready for our little man, but it paid off in the end! Check out the before and after pictures below, and the links to some of the products we used.
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