Earlier this summer, we got the bright idea to move our newly-one-year-old into his four-year-old older brother’s room. We live in a three-bedroom rental, and I desperately wanted my office/craft room/library back, and the boys initially loved sharing a room with each other — I loved hearing them giggle together in the morning. Sadly, we have since moved the baby back to his own room because they were both waking each other up at night and my sleep-deprived brain couldn’t handle it — BUT, all of this bedroom switching did motivate me to finally get their room decorated!
I decided to go with a beachy, ocean theme with a modern twist (my husband forbade me from using baby blue and taupe, saying this should be a “cool surfer room” and not an “old lady beach house,” ha) — and I did it without breaking the bank. Here are a couple of the ways we decided to decorate on a budget:
Boys Bedroom Decor: Beach & Ocean-Themed Room Ideas
At the beginning of the summer, our local Home Goods (I LOVE that store!!) was having a sale on beachy decor, so I picked up a bunch of frames. I especially love that driftwood-esque one in the top left corner. My overall color scheme is gray, navy and turquoise, so these frames fit perfectly. I printed off a few of my favorite pictures of the boys from my computer but knew I wanted to incorporate some of my Instagram photos too. There are excellent online companies like Printstagram and Artifact Uprising that will print your Instagram photos beautifully, but I just made this collage myself — I downloaded my feed using Instaport, collected my favorites of the two boys together, arranged them the way I wanted in Photoshop, and printed it off at Costco. Less than $10 for the whole project, frame included!
I also printed and framed some photos we’ve taken on our travels the past few years — a palm tree in Hawaii and a surfer in Venice Beach. I put some of our favorite beachy books up on the shelf (we have a lot, my son is obsessed with ocean creatures these days) along with a beach painting I found at a yard sale for $1.
Boys Bedroom Decor: Beach & Ocean-Themed Personalized Wall Decals
I knew I wanted to add a few playful elements to the room — it IS for little kids, after all — so I ordered these cute fish wall decals from Wee Decor. I know there are plenty of places to order vinyl wall stickers out there, but these are the BEST I’ve found by far. The illustrations are cute and modern (and affordable), they come in a variety of colors (there were four different colorways to choose from with the fish, or you can custom design your own color scheme) and they’re removable! That’s important when you have a four-year-old who likes to rearrange his wall art. 🙂 They were easy to put on the wall, no air bubbles or tears or any problems.
Even though the boys don’t share that bedroom anymore, they still get a lot of playtime in there — and I’m always so happy to look around and see a bit of our personalized touch, especially because it didn’t cost us a ton of money.
What are your best tips for decorating on a budget?
Great idea!!!
I like this theme for either a boys or girls room. Get an aquarium ffor them too!
I love the fishes on the wall. My son would love a tropical themed room with different fishes all over the walls.
I love this design idea! I bet my son would love to have an ocean inspired bedroom
Haha, love your husbands “suggestion” about the colors! Very cute idea. We live in a small log cabin so there isn’t a whole lot of indoor decorating going on but we hope to move soon and I just love this idea.
I like those ideas! Those fish are adorable. I liketo do themed rooms whenever I can.
Very cool decorating idea. I love the picture frames. The different colours of the wood frames are great.
Love the decals!! Such a great idea. I would use the fishies in the bathroom! 🙂
This is beyond adorable! I love the lime green frames!
Those are really cute! My toddler would love thee, he loves fish!
Oh so cute. I love themed room designs, especially when they are easy to change.
I love everything in that room. My favorite, though, is the fish. Too cute!
Those fish on the walls are adorable! I also really love the framed beach pictures. Very creative
That is so cute… we have an ocean themed bathroom and the kids love it… i love adding themes to rooms… 🙂
I love the look! The colors blend well and it’s not too bright or overpowering. And those fish are just so darn cute! I love it.
This is so cute. I love all the colors!
I love the ocean so I would be fine with a beach themed room for me. My best decorating tip is wait for sales! Get the look for less. 🙂
I love how the theme isn’t overwhelming and a mix of kid and classic touches! Beautifully done!
we did a whole batman themed room for my son for very little. my husband is handy, but really a lot of smart shopping and creative thinking goes a lONG way
Wow I can’t believe how affordable this transformation was! Having a themed room for little kids is great for the imagination!
Great idea for a kids room, hey, I’d love one too. The ocean calms me, something that would be welcome in a bedroom!
How cute! My daughter would love those fish on her wall. So adorable.
These are great ideas. I love the colors of those frames, and the stick-on fish are adorable.
What a cute idea. I love the fish appliques on the wall. Very pretty.
I love the ocean theme. The room came out super cute, and perfect for a little boy.
That is a cute idea for little boys. Mine each have cowboy themed rooms.