Albert Blog: Real Life Rooms: Decorating Cori’s Nautical Nook

Hey there Remodelaholic readers! Dawn here, from AD Aesthetic, and I’m back this month with another reader question mockup to hopefully inspire some creative ideas for your space. If you’ve missed any of my previous reader question mockups, you can always see all my posts here.

If you follow Remodelaholic on Facebook, you’ve probably seen several of the reader questions that are submitted every month. Well each month here on Remodelaholic, I choose one reader submitted photo to offer my two cents on, and I create a Photoshop mock up of what I would do if I were in your shoes! (Pssssst— you can submit your reader questions by messaging Remodelaholic on Facebook!)

Many homes have those potentially awkward alcoves that are tricky to decorate. Try these creative nook decorating ideas plus tips for a nautical nook.

First though, my standard disclaimer: While I can recommend ideas that I think look nice, I have never seen this house in real life and don’t have accurate measurements. I am also not an architect or landscaper and do not know the planting recommendations for your area- I just like to make things look nice. I can’t guarantee that any of the items I put in my ‘virtual’ design will actually work in real life (or that they’ll fit your design style for that matter), and this is not intended to be a professional design consultation. So think of this as a just-for-fun rendering that hopefully gets your wheels turning and provides some inspiration!

On to the fun!

READER QUESTION from Cori —
Any advice or suggestion for this space?
I’m thinking about two options:
1. A deep wall covered in mirror. Green real plants, rocks, and a thin flat standing fountain. Kind of like my own little garden, zen spot in the family room.
2. White or wood panels, to place nautical decor and pictures.
Thank you for your useful, kind, and respectful advice!

(You can see other readers’ suggestions for Cori here on Facebook.)

Many homes have those potentially awkward alcoves that are tricky to decorate. Try these creative nook decorating ideas plus tips for a nautical nook.

Odd little nooks like this can be super fun, but they can also be super frustrating. I love them, because they give a room character and interest, but they can be tough to decorate without it looking odd or out of place. For Cori’s nook, I started by browsing for inspiration online. Here are a few photos I found with some great ideas for decorating nook spaces:

Ideas for Decorating a Nook

Image Source: City Farmhouse | Photo Credit: Jennifer O'Brien

Image Source: My Vintage Porch | Photo Credit: Natalie Kolter

Image Source: Metricon

Image Source: Wayfair

Image Source: Gray House Studio

Image Source: LivinKing

Found via Apartment Therapy, Original Source Unknown

Since Cori laid out a few options they were considering, I had an idea of where I wanted to take this little nook as soon as I saw it. Here’s what I came up with:

Many homes have those potentially awkward alcoves that are tricky to decorate. Try these creative nook decorating ideas plus tips for a nautical nook.

Sources:

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Baskets | Blanket | Similar Pillows

Coffee Table | Wallpaper

Decorating a Nautical Nook with Shelves and a Storage Bench

To start with, you may notice that I didn’t exactly follow either of Cori’s thoughts for the nook. While I think they were both creative, I couldn’t quite picture a fully mirrored plant garden, and a nautical theme sounded fun, but I wanted to take it a bit softer.

To pull off my soft nautical look, I started with wallpaper on the back wall. The one shown here is regular traditional wallpaper, but if you’re not quite certain what you want, or, like me, are just a bit indecisive, I’d recommend trying out removable wallpaper on a small space like this. I love this stuff, because it’s super easy to install and to remove if you ever change your mind (not that that ever happens!). Plus it comes in approximately one million designs, so you’re sure to find one you love.

Something I really wanted to incorporate here was added storage. You can tell from the original photo, that, like most busy families, keeping everything in its place can sometimes be a challenge. Having decorative baskets stashed all over the house to corral toys, tech, or blankets and pillows is an easy trick that I love to use. If someone is coming over, just throw everything into a basket and presto, the room is clean! So to that end, I made sure to add a couple shelves for display purposes, but also a few large baskets to house whatever needs to be contained.

I positioned these under a padded bench, which I think is a great fit for a family room. It softens things up and provides extra seating in a pinch. Using a rustic wood on the bench and shelves gives the feeling of driftwood, and brings a beachy texture to the room.

Finally, you can’t have a nautical theme without incorporating blue somewhere in the decor. I absolutely LOVE indigo mud-cloth, and it works so perfectly in this space because the watery, blurred texture gives off a natural nautical vibe. Adding in a few different pillow variations, a cozy throw blanket, and some plant life to brighten up the space, completed the room.

So what do you think? What would you do if this were your home?

Many homes have those potentially awkward alcoves that are tricky to decorate. Try these creative nook decorating ideas plus tips for a nautical nook.

As always, thank you to Cassity and the Remodelaholic team for having me back each month. If you like this post, and have a design dilemma you’d like me to mock up some ideas for, you can ask your questions by sending Remodelaholic a message over on Facebook, or checkout my mockup design services over on my site adaesthetic.com. And be sure to follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram and say hello! Have a great day, friends!

-Dawn