I normally don't answer these questions because I'm not good at this, but when I opened the post and saw you wanted a pirate room with this bedding, my immediate thought was to paint the bottom third of the wall tan to mimic to wood of a boat and the top a blue similar to but not matching the blue in the pillows to mimic the sky and ocean. I don't think you have to make his furniture stand out from the wall. Alternatively if you do the beadboard, I'd paint it a crisp white with sky blue walls again it will give a nautical feel to the room. Cute bedding.

Sky

Good idea Sky! Or the bottom half of the wall could be painted white instead of going to the trouble of beadboard and then the sky blue on top. I also think a neutral khaki would be nice since the bedding is pretty bold.

What is the flooring in the room? Does he have a bedskirt in blue? Because really when I look at the the comforter, I don't see blue walls as being too much blue. He has light maple furniture, and I am sure that you will be finding colorful prints or items for the walls, etc.

However, I would be tempted to perhaps do the wall where the head of the bed will be in a dark blue, and then do the tan that is in the bedding on the rest of the walls.

I like the idea of either a khaki or blue. I also like the idea of bead board. We had that in our twin boys room with blue above it and I loved the look. If you decide to go white for the beadboard, I'd surely use blue above it, I'm thinking a navy to keep it nautical but that might be too dark?

There is tan carpeting in there now, but if I have my way they'll be replaced with wood soon! The bedskirt is just plain white. I will get up there and take a picture asap.

My first thought when seeing the bedding was that a sand/sky would be great with it... tan on the bottom, and blue on the upper side and ceiling, and you could put a chair rail to separate the two.

The first color that jumped into my head was a warm light (but substantial) gold, like SW Blonde, or Duron (which can be mixed by SW, I think) Tobacco Road. I have both in my house and I think they'd be great, especially the Tobacco Road. There's another thread active right now on the color - just do a quick search and I think you'll find lots of photos. Good luck.

Thanks so much for all of the ideas! I think I am between the gold/tan and light blue. Lowe's has a paint color called Pony Tail which would match the tan/gold in the quilt perfectly.

Here are some pics of the room as it is now - very messy which I apologize for!! I also need to figure out how to arrange the furniture better. I have a bigger fishing net for the wall, a couple of prints and a really cool pirate clock from Timeworks (LOVE them) for the walls. I also want to get some wall words saying "Yo Ho, Yo Ho, A pirate's life for me!" and some type of jolly roger wall decor just for fun.

Just so you can see what the furniture looks like and what the layout is...

walking into the room this is what you see... two windows on the north wall..

this is where the bed is, pushed back tho not out in the middle of nowhere like it is in the pic...

this is the wall with the door into his room....

the giant wall of closets!!!!

There you have it!! Any other thoughts for me???

I wonder if you could think of the bed (or room) as his pirate ship and do the bottom half of the room water and the top sky. Maybe a few wave crests and ripples, maybe even some fishies in the sea :) Some clouds in the sky (even a few stormy ones, maybe a faint rainbow beginning to appear), sunlight, a couple seagulls .... hmmm, a treasure chest under water!

Here's a sampling of stencils in the ocean/pirate theme. There's even a pirate ship or lighthouse in the distance.

Here is a link that might be useful: Stencil Samples

Is it possible to turn the bed so the head is on the wall where the bed is pushed against now? It doesn't have to be centered, it could be more to the right with the nightstand on the right of the bed, perhaps against the wall. Add a lamp either there or on the wall. Another lamp on the dresser. Then put the Ethan chair in the left corner on the bed wall.

I would take the bulletin boards I think I see on the wall and turn the vertically and hang on that little wall between the closets. Then use that wall space where they were to hang some bookshelves, or put a taller bookcase, which can house his books and other knick-knacks.

Not sure how those huge speakers fit in the room, since they are not really placed for best listening. Could those be replaced with little wall-hung speakers, or the whole thing replaced with a shelf-type sound system?

Can't wait to see the room all done, whatever you chose to do. It will be fun!

Or, if it's a good-sized room, maybe the bed can be kind of in the middle of the room like his ship. Playing room to each side.

Or away from the walls, maybe even angled out of a corner. (Can't really see the room, maybe because it's too small! :)

How about beadboard wallpaper? I just put paintable wallpaper up in two bathroom with walls in dreadful condition. (And I think there was a thread on beadboard wallpaper here recently.) Anyway, the stuff I put up is supposed to be very easy to strip. It goes up white and then you paint it any color you want, and can repaint it too. I might not use it elsewhere in the house, but for a kids room...hey...

My first question - how old is your son? I think the sand/sea idea could be cute, but worry that the might grow out of it quickly. To make it more of a grow with him room, I love bead board up the wall about 4.5 ft. and then either blue or red above it. At the top of the bead board I would do a little lip shelf with (if the glass isn't an age problem) little old looking bottles with rolled paper in them, a cool treasure map painted onto a canvas, plastic pirates sword, any words you want to spell, etc. I see the bed facing out on the wall opposite the closets with a Jolly Roger Hung above it (I think this on red would be awesome) The dresser would be on the wall with the door right around the end of the bed. I like the bulletin boards on the wall between the windows with black frames to match the Jolly Roger.

Baseboards really aren't hard to remove, and if you are careful they can go right back up over the beadboard. I've done it several times!! The beadboard wall paper may be just the thing for you for a kids room though!

Someone on here used Pony Tail in their house and just loved it.

Laurie

Just typed a long post and lost it! Anyway, how 'bout a wood plank wallpaper or a faux treatment or stencil on the lower wall instead of white beadboard? I think that could be cool! Here is anexample of a wallpaper, but I'm sure you could find a stencil that works as well if you didn't want to go the wallpaper route. I also think age is a consideration here and the wood plank could grow with your DS and morph into a different look down the road.
{{!gwi}}

Here is a picture I had saved with some of the same colors as your quilt. I don't think blue on the walls will be too much! It looks nice here!
{{!gwi}}

I just returned room Costco and they have the most adorable pirate ship bed. You really should take a look at it, it is to die for. It is a pirates of the Caribbean theme.