I am so excited to finally be sharing Jacob’s nautical nursery! When we found out we were having a baby boy, I couldn’t wait to create a fun and boyish yet tasteful space for our little man.
It was 100% a joint effort between Marcus and I, and also my mom and dad. My mom helped me with the vision for the room, and did a lot of the shopping. My dad and Marcus built a lot of what’s in the room, and I love the personal touch it added.
Inspiration for the Nautical Nursery
The idea for the room started with an inspiration piece. We found a piece of artwork at Hobby Lobby with the scripture “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you.” Isaiah 43:2. I knew right away this needed to be part of his room.
This piece of God’s word is exactly what we want Jacob to know deep down in his soul as he walks through life. As long as he has a relationship with the Lord, even through the tough times, he will never be alone. It’s a beautiful reminder to me as a mother as well, and I get to see it a lot with how many diaper changes we are doing lately!
Marcus and I both love the deep blue in this piece, and it led us right into a nautical nursery theme!
More Inspiration
Repurpose Where Possible
One thing that was really important to me was to try and utilize Adeline’s baby furniture. I challenged myself to really watch my spending and find ways to save money through the process. Repurposing was one of the easiest ways to really get the most bang for my buck, so that’s where I started.
I purposely chose the sea foam green color for Adeline’s glider, because I knew I’d be able to use that if we had a boy next. Her furniture was an off white, and worked well in the room too. I think sometimes it seems like white furniture is only for girls, but I disagree! It all depends on how you style it.
We made just two small tweaks to the dresser to update it for Jacob’s room. We changed out the floral knobs I had on for Adeline with these adorable whale drawer pulls from Home Port Studio. I found them on Etsy and knew they would completely change the look of the dresser. Unfortunately, they are not available anymore but I found some similar options.
Thank you to Home Port Studio for gifting us the precious whale knobs!
Marcus also repainted the changing pad holder to a royal blue to better fit Jacob’s room. I opted for this changing pad and these changing pad covers for their additional length. The boat basket on top was a HomeGoods find that actually came in a set of three. It’s great for hiding the wipe warmer, diaper cream, etc.
The mirror is another HomeGoods find and gives it a little bit of a porthole, nautical feel. The mobile was a craft project of my mom’s. She got the wheel and fish from Hobby Lobby and the bobbers from Academy. She even painted the fish in bright colors to make it even more fun for Jacob to look at. He’s already enjoying it!
The crib just got a cute “Private Dock” sign from Hobby Lobby and a new bed skirt and sheets. We hung the Private Dock sign with command strips, so we didn’t damage the crib at all.
Home Projects
Marcus and my dad did quite a few projects for the room! They built and installed the barn doors over the closet. They also installed crown molding in the room and built the big shiplap sign over his crib.
The room itself is not very big, so replacing the traditional swing doors with the barn doors helps the room feel a little bit bigger. We got the silver hardware from Amazon, and they built the doors based on a couple inspiration photos. I love how they turned out!
The shiplap sign was another garage project for the boys. We stenciled his name on the boards after he came home with white craft paint, a small foam roller and these stencils.
The fish netting was actually something a neighbor listed in a Facebook “Beg, Barter, Buy” group. It was $5 and I figured it would be a fun addition to the nautical nursery. It already had some of the shells attached to it, and I added some starfish that we already had as well..
The rug is from HomeGoods and is actually one we already had in the room before turning it into a nursery. The light color helps keep the room bright, and its neutral colors and pattern make it very versatile.
The curtain itself was actually gifted to me from by a friend who no longer needed it. We used an actual oar (painted by my dad to look just like this other decorative oar hanging on the wall) as the curtain rod. We laced rope through the grommets to give it a little more length.
Pro Tip: Take your curtains all the way up to the ceiling to give the room more height.
Marcus also built me the nautical inspired shelf after I saw a similar one on Etsy. It’s perfect for the room.
The Details
The No Wake Zone sign was an Etsy find. I originally wanted to put it on the door, but it’s made of real wood and pretty heavy. We ended up putting it on the shelf instead. The whale marquee light was a gift that just happened to work perfectly in his nautical nursery. My picture frames are from HomeGoods.
The table next to the glider is actually a storage unit (always a good thing to have!) that my mom recovered in burlap to match the room. The top of the table is actually a tray that just happened to fit the storage round perfectly. The takeaway here is to be open to thinking outside the box when it comes to furniture. This wasn’t necessarily meant to be a table, but that doesn’t mean it can’t act as one! Both of those pieces and the rope lamp are from HomeGoods.
The baby age blocks are from Etsy (something I had from when Adeline was a baby), and the personalized life preserver on the door was made by my mom for our hospital room door. I love that we are getting to reuse it at home!
How We Saved Money
We were able to repurpose a lot of items including the crib, dresser, glider, rug, changing pad, diaper pail, and hamper. Two of the more expensive projects (the barn doors and crown molding) were actually improvements to the house. These will stay put even when we transition this room to something else in the future.
We mostly shopped at HomeGoods and Hobby Lobby, which are both very reasonably priced in my opinion. Hobby Lobby basically has half their store 50% off anytime you go in there, and it switches to the other half of the store the following week.
I really love how Jacob’s nautical nursery turned out. It’s probably my favorite room in the house right now! I am so thankful for a creative mom who helped me dream it up and bring it to life, and for a handy husband and father who didn’t flinch about making my various requests a reality.
Putting a nursery together is such an exciting time planning for a new family member. I’m so happy to have a place to document our process and hopefully inspire a few others in the process!
Professional photography by Alyse French Photography. See Jacob’s hospital newborn photos and studio newborn photos, too!
