It took me months to design our small master bedroom. I love nautical themed bedrooms but didn’t want to ‘force’ the look as that often gets tacky. Designing any room is difficult when you are not a professional designer and have a limited budget. So I hope my bedroom and the other master bedroom photos included in this post makes it a little easier to create your own personal paradise.

In this post, I’ll first walk you through my mater bedroom – where I got key pieces and why I placed things where they are to maximize the small space. When you first walk through the door, the below photo is what you see. My favorite nautical wall art is right in front of the door, it ties in the navy, beige and mint colors in a beautiful water color octopus.

One of the best design tips I’ve discovered is to find one or two pieces you absolutely love and then build everything else around it. For my master bedroom, the octopus wall art and the herringbone accent wall were my ‘starting pieces’ that I absolutely knew I wanted in my master bedroom. The white ‘worn’ frame tied in perfectly with the white of the herringbone wall. I was nervous at first that the original color of the room (which is a Almond Cookie cream color paint) would clash with the white but the wood accent wall made it possible to tie it all together.

I found this wall art at A.C. Moore but since the store is closing down, here is a similar piece you can purchase. I also really liked this vintage octopus frame.

Disclaimer: I am an Amazon affiliate – if you purchase the item from Amazon I receive a small commission from Amazon at no additional cost to you.

I try to carry a piece of each room’s theme into other parts of the house. The distressed ‘worn’ wood look is something I have in almost every room.

Talking about wood, this herringbone mixed wood accent wall MADE this bedroom. It’s actually adjustable cloth wall paper. I originally bought it on Etsy but they also sell on Amazon. (Check price both places as sometimes they have sales on one but not the other.) Be care of ordering ‘just enough’ as the design doesn’t always line up the way you want – the plant on top of the drawers is actually blocking 2 foot space where the cut is not matching up. It was easy enough to apply to the wall (would have been easier if I didn’t have to play tetris with those last few pieces…which could have been avoided if I just bought more). Only thing is the pieces seemed slightly off so I had just a tiny gap in between each chevron stripe. I just filled it in with a permanent market (but honestly no one would be able to tell unless they were inspecting it up close).

The beautiful ‘wood’ accent wall cost around $250 and took 3 hrs to do. It’s not running all the way down, why pay for more when furniture covers it. I didn’t even put it behind the headboard! (shhh it’s our little secret.) I bought paper thin boards that I stained dark brown to match the dresser set to create a nice boarder.

I originally got the idea to do a wood accent wall from my sister’s house, see the home tour here, where they had nautical motifs throughout their master bedroom décor, like a curved mixed wood ceiling that gives the appearance of a boat hull and a port window.

The mixed wood in the accent wall also tied in the various brown colors in the room. The master bedroom would not be the same without this gorgeous headboard from Birch Lane (currently unavailable). Usually I would say it’s absurd to spend $500 on such an ‘unused’ pieced of furniture but after months of trying to find a cheaper one like that it I decided to splurge. The quality is spectacular and I’ve never regretted the purchase. I use it more than I realize, especially when nursing the baby. It was also the only headboard I liked that would cover the space in back that didn’t have wallpaper.

I found the duvet at Bed Bath & Beyond. They no longer sell it so here is one similar. I also think this one would be a good replacement. The blue in the duvet matched perfectly with these navy blue sheets we got from California Design Den. These are the only 400 thread count cotton sheets that have lasted several years – most just shred at our feet (we’re tough on our sheets). Since we don’t always make our bed (and even when we do you can still see the fitted sheet at the foot of the bed) it was important to us that our sheets looked cozy and classy with the design.

Both the mint fish on the left and the white coral holding the Himalayan lamp on the right were purchased from The Christmas Tree Shops. I DIY’d the nail and art anchor. It was very simple to do – I just outlined an anchor I liked (you can even print it out to the size you want. Place nails about a half inch apart to line the anchor. Take a piece of rope and wind it throughout as you tie the string (the kind you buy for cross stitch) from one nail to the other in a zig zag design. Once the blue inside was done, I took white string and outlined the anchor. At the end I tied the excess rope into a monkey knot and secure it on a nail in the corner.

On the right side of the room, where I had to mish mash the wall paper, I purchased a skinny drawer set from Home Goods. Our bathroom is small so this holds a lot of the extra items we don’t need on a day to day basis.

On the dresser, the nautical themed played out in a candle with shells, a sailboat and pottery.

We moved the curtain rod to the top and purchased a new one with broken glass orbs on the side to tie in the mint/turquoise color. The extra long curtains also made the room look bigger and more majestic.

One of my favorite DIY projects in the room is this hidden jewelry frame behind the door.

All you need is some nails to hold the jewelry, hinges for the frame, and a frame that has about an inch of empty space inside. I also took two magnets from old fridge magnets and glue it to the wall and frame to keep it shut.

The turquoise/mint colors are tied together in the small master bathroom attached to the bedroom. We just redid it and I tried choosing flooring and a vanity that looked like a sandy beach to me.

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And that’s it! I kept about half of the room open as we use it to do night time exercises and often find ourselves playing with the kids on the floor. Now, on to some other small master bedroom ideas from fellow bloggers! ⬇

Photo by Nesting with Grace

Love this cozy small bedroom from Nesting with Grace. They utilized plants and hanging lights to bring about a cozy feel to the room.

By Debbie from HomeTalk

I really wanted to do this sliding barndoor from HomeTalk but since our closet and bathroom are right next to eachother it just didn’t work out. I love how she added a mirror to the door to optimize the space and even have it sliding behind a small dresser (brilliant!).

This photo featuring wall art from Etsy store Minty Salvage is a perfect addition to this small master bedroom. I really love the cream/wood/white look  and the wooden wall art above the lamps.

Also on Etsy by WhitepinkArt is this sleepy dreamland. The pinky beige and the dark grey wall perfectly compliment each other and the wheat sticks in the corner really tie the room together.

FunkGypsy has a gorgeous Always Kiss Me Goodnight sign that looks amazing on this easy to DIY accent wall. I’ve always love chandeliers in master bedrooms (but my husband loves his ceiling fan…).

Having an accent wall in your master bedroom can make it feel bigger. You can buy full pieces of wall paper now with designs like this one.

If you can, built in storage can really help optimize your space in a small bedroom. Chris Ebert of Normandy Remodeling created this space.

Do you feel inspired? Take out a pen and paper and start doodling what you want your master bedroom to look like! Check out my Pinterest for more ideas!