Kid’s DIY Beach Theme Bedroom

I was strolling down memory lane and came across some old photos of my son’s beach-themed bedroom from years ago.

So, I thought I’d share some of my thoughts about creating this room with you.

My youngest son used to share this room with his older brother but now, it was all his! In the past, the room was made to look like a castle and I had already painted the ceiling to look like sky with clouds.

I decided to keep the sky which would cut down on the number of times I’d have to climb a ladder. Whew!

The sky spilled onto the walls which made it even easier to transition.

Back in the castle days, to create the sky, I painted the ceiling and half of the walls light blue. Then used a brush and a rag to smear the brush strokes into wispy-looking clouds. Very easy (except for the up and down the ladder part.)

The bottom half of the wall is a "sandy" tan. A blend of greens and blues the rest of the way to the sky level was the ocean. As in nature, there are a myriad of blues and greens if you look closely.

When the majority was ready, I asked my son to stand in the center of the room and tell me where his eyes met the wall. I then used a navy Sharpie marker to mark that as the horizon line.

If you were to kneel down to his height, you’d get a sense of standing on a beach and looking out onto the ocean. Try it sometime, next time you’re on a beach.

The desktop got a new bright turquoise paint. Then, a sheet of glass for two reasons. One is to protect the painted surface from pen and pencil marks. And two, to add the feeling of water to the room.

We painted the bookcases on either side of the window. They would hold matching surfboard lamps with woven grass shades. This was important because the pitched ceiling had no electrical in it.

The Roman shades were homemade, and the valance was a couple of grass skirts I purchased from Oriental Trading Company.

My son insisted on the lava lamp which seemed like a great idea! The desk chair came from Pier One Imports. All these items add a lot of texture to the room without competing with the beach-themed colors.

My upholsterer made the cushion for the bench in the center to complete the feeling of a window seat. I chose an outdoor fabric made of solution-dyed acrylic. This means that the yarns start from liquid acrylic and are colored all the way through. It's difficult to stain this type of fabric so it was perfect for small kids.

I found the shutter doors out front at a neighbor's. My husband attached some homemade quarter circles for shelves. We painted them to match the bookcases. This lent a feeling of privacy ("fort" in boy-speak) but still allowed for the ocean view.

The bedspread and coverlet helped to repeat the color scheme and also added a relaxed, beach-house feeling.

I hope you enjoyed my little blast from the past. Let me know what you’re working on!