For a seafaring island nation, the romance of the sea runs deep. Britain's history is written in its ports and its ships, and the imagery of the coast has decorated our homes for centuries: the sailing boat, the anchor, the compass rose, the shell, the lighthouse, from grand maritime paintings down to the humblest seaside cottage. The sea speaks to something restless and hopeful in us, of voyages and horizons, and at the same time it speaks of holidays and happiness, of childhood summers and the simple joy of the coast.
Few styles come loaded with such uncomplicated pleasure. To hang a nautical wallpaper is to bring a little of that holiday feeling home for good. Here is where the look comes from, and the designs on the site that carry it best.
"To bring the sea indoors is to bring a little of the holiday feeling home for good."
An Island's Oldest Romance
The finest maritime designs tend to be the ones drawn by someone who has actually looked at the water. FitzRoy in Finisterre, by Linwood, is a scatter of simple white boats on deep teal, and its name carries a whole story: Robert FitzRoy captained the Beagle on Darwin's voyage and founded what became the Met Office, and in 2002 the shipping forecast renamed the sea area Finisterre after him. The design and the colourway are the same stretch of Atlantic under both its names. Coastal Boats in Langham White, by Sophie Allport, is the North Norfolk coast hand drawn in sailboats, lighthouses and sea birds, pale enough to paper a whole hallway. And Marée Haute, from L'Île aux Oiseaux by Casamance, gives up the boats altogether for the water itself, wave after breaking wave with dot work standing in for the foam.
FitzRoy, Finisterre by Linwood
Coastal Boats, Langham White by Sophie Allport
Marée Haute by Casamance
Fresh, Crisp and Forever in Style
The nautical look has a wonderful, enduring freshness. Its palette of crisp navy and white, sun bleached blues, sand and rope feels clean and calm and never dates, which is why the coastal style has been quietly fashionable for decades and shows no sign of stopping. It can be smart and tailored, all sharp stripes and shipshape order: Multi Stripe in Green & Blue, by Joules, sets bands of navy and green on warm cream and borrows the discipline of a ticking stripe, which is the reason it looks tailored rather than seaside. Or it can be soft and relaxed, all faded blues and driftwood ease, as in Coral in Osney Blue, from Portfolio 2 by Josephine Munsey, a fine branching pattern that reads for all the world like coral though she drew it from antique botanical prints and hand painted it in her own matte emulsion colours.
Multi Stripe, Green & Blue by Joules
Coral, Osney Blue by Josephine Munsey
"Crisp navy and white, sand and rope: the nautical palette is fresh and never dates."
How and Where to Use It
Nautical designs suit the bright, breezy rooms best. A crisp stripe or a smart maritime print brings a fresh, tailored feel to a bathroom, a cloakroom or a boot room, and a small room is where a bolder one earns its keep: Jelly Fish in Coral & Turquoise, from Summer House by Thibaut, drifts turquoise jellyfish across a hot coral ground and turns a cloakroom into the most cheerful room in the house. A softer, deeper coastal design makes a calm and rather magical backdrop in a bedroom or a sitting room, especially one that catches good light. Atlantide in Abyss Blue, from Voyage Onirique by Casadeco, sends jellyfish, giant turtles and whales through iridescent coral as though they were performing a ballet, and the dark ground makes the whole thing glow by lamplight. And for a child's room, or simply for anyone who remembers rock pools, Name The Plaice in Coast Blue, by Joules, scatters delicately drawn fish across cream in a single blue, and yes, the joke is theirs: name the plaice, and a plaice is one of the fish on it.
Jelly Fish, Coral & Turquoise by Thibaut
Name The Plaice, Coast Blue by Joules
Atlantide, Abyss Blue by Casadeco
It is a natural choice for a coastal home or a holiday let, and it brings a welcome breath of the seaside to a landlocked town house just as happily. Keep the palette light and the mood uncluttered, and pair it with natural materials: rope, linen, weathered wood. Look to Ralph Lauren, Sanderson and Mulberry Home for coastal designs with genuine charm, and order a sample first to see the blues truly in your own light.
We are never far from the sea in these islands, and never far from wanting to be beside it. Nautical wallpaper keeps the coast close, whatever the view from the window.
The last word goes to Calico Shell in Cobalt Blue, from V&A Decorative Papers II by 1838 Wallcoverings, which is drawn from the Victoria and Albert Museum's archive and reads like a document rather than a modern print: a finely worked scallop shell set in a trellis, inky blue against soft taupe. Papered around a dark rolltop bath on a chequered floor, it is the whole argument of this post in one small room.
Calico Shell, Cobalt Blue by 1838 Wallcoverings
Ready to Bring the Sea Indoors?
Browse the full Nautical collection, or narrow it down in Striped, Blue and Bathroom.
