Most coastal bedroom advice runs to the same handful of platitudes — "go soft and serene", "blue and white never fails", "match the colour of the sea". These are not wrong, exactly. They are just not specific enough to be useful when you are standing in front of an empty wall above your bed at nine o'clock on a Sunday morning trying to decide what to actually buy.
So this is the specific version of that advice. Twelve coastal canvas prints, all from Salt and Sol, that genuinely work above a bed in an Australian bedroom — and a short note on each about why it works, what size to choose, and what kind of room it goes into.
One thing to know upfront: the wall above a bed in Australia is almost always the longest unbroken sightline in the bedroom. It is what you see first when you walk in, what you face when you sit up, and what your eye returns to when the room is at rest. So the print has to do quiet, long-game work — not call attention to itself, but earn its place over five years rather than five minutes. The pieces below all pass that test.
1. Boat at the Beach
Boat at the Beach is the first one I usually suggest to anyone starting a coastal bedroom from scratch. It is a soft mid-tone composition with enough subject matter to be interesting but not enough to dominate. The boat and the figures sit far enough into the frame that the room can breathe around them. In a king bed setup, a Large (60 x 90cm) sits perfectly above the headboard. Above a queen, Medium works better.
It pairs especially well with linen bedding in oat or natural tones, brass pendant lights, and a timber bedside table. Less so with grey upholstered headboards — the print's warmth fights with cool grey. If you want a warmer accent in that mix, the red art prints collection adds depth without overheating the palette.
2. The Silent Sea I, II or III
The Silent Sea I, Silent Sea II and Silent Sea III by Deborah Revell work best as a single statement piece in Large or X-Large, or as a pair (I and II) above a king bed. The palette is muted blue-green with a soft horizon line — close to abstract but with just enough subject matter that the eye knows what it is looking at.
This series is one of the most reliable choices for bedrooms where you want the wall art to disappear into the mood rather than draw the eye. If you are someone who reads in bed, this is the print that does not interrupt that.
3. Turquoise Bay I, II or III
The Turquoise Bay trio is a different proposition — more colour, more directly tropical. Turquoise Bay II in particular has that exact shade of Indian Ocean turquoise that you only get on the WA coast or up the Queensland tropics.
This one works above a bed when the rest of the room is restrained — pale walls, white bedding, raw timber floors. The print does the heavy lifting on colour, so the room does not need to.
4. Coastal Moonlight Diptych
The Coastal Moonlight Diptych is a quiet, contemplative pair. Two square canvases hung side by side give the bed a symmetrical anchor, and the moonlit palette is genuinely bedroom-appropriate in a way that bright midday prints rarely are. If you find most coastal art too cheerful for a bedroom, this is the answer.
It sits especially well in a south-facing bedroom that does not get strong morning sun, because the print holds up beautifully in cooler ambient light.
5. Midnight Jellyfish I, II, III or IV
The Midnight Jellyfish collection is one of Salt and Sol's strongest bedroom-specific pieces. Deep navy ground, soft gold highlights, white forms — it reads as luxurious but not formal, atmospheric but not heavy. Midnight Jellyfish I hung as a single Large above a queen bed is one of the easiest "this looks designed" wins available.
The Midnight Jellyfish Triptych works above a king if you have the wall width — you want at least 1.8m of clear wall.
6. Sea Shore I and II
Sea Shore I and Sea Shore II hung as a pair above a bed gives the same diptych energy as the Moonlight pair, but with more warmth — paler sand tones, softer water. This works well in bedrooms with timber-and-linen styling that have a slight Hamptons lean without going full Hamptons. The pair as Mediums gives you about 1m of horizontal coverage, which suits a queen bed well.
7. Palm Tree Sepia I & II – Square Photographic Diptych
The Palm Tree Sepia diptych is the one I suggest when someone wants coastal-but-not-blue. Two square sepia photographs of palm trees, hung side by side above a bed, give the room a slightly travel-poster mood without being clichéd. They are quiet but they have presence — sepia tones photograph as more sophisticated than their colour equivalents.
Especially good in bedrooms with creamy white walls and a slight 1970s warm-natural lean. If you like that nostalgic note, take a look at retro beach prints — the colour palettes pair particularly well with cane and rattan.
8. Cottesloe Views
The Salt and Sol Australian beach photography is genuinely a separate proposition from the imported coastal art, and Cottesloe Views is a strong bedroom pick if you have any Perth connection or like west-coast sunset light. The composition is wide-format, which means it suits the long horizontal sightline above a bed naturally — buy Large or X-Large and it becomes the focal point of the entire room.
If you are choosing between Cottesloe and a Bondi/east-coast print for the bedroom, refer back to our earlier note on east vs west-facing coastal light — the choice is partly about which orientation matches your room.
9. Sunrise Swim
Sunrise Swim is a soft photographic piece that works best in bedrooms with east-facing windows. The morning palette in the print finds the morning light in the room and they extend each other. It is also quietly cinematic — a figure swimming in dawn water, no horizon drama, no big sky moment. The intimacy is the point.
Best at Medium or Large above a queen, or in a Large above a single bed.
10. Tides and Waves Triptych I or II
Alan Majchrowicz's Tides and Waves Triptych I or Tides and Waves Triptych II works above a king bed when you have generous wall space and want a single dramatic gesture across the room's main wall. Three panels of long-exposure wave photography read as one continuous image. Choose Triptych I for cooler blue tones, II for slightly warmer ones.
11. Ocean Prints I & II Square Coastal Diptych
The Ocean Prints I & II Square Diptych is a more abstract option — two square canvases with painterly ocean surfaces. Works above almost any bed in a contemporary coastal room. Pairs well with rattan bedheads, oversized linen pillows, and washed timber floors. Less so with anything overtly Hamptons. For the abstract route, a large abstract ocean piece is the most direct option.
12. Morning Marine Layer I & II – Abstract Coastal Diptych
Morning Marine Layer I & II is the one I send people to when they have already tried two coastal prints and neither of them quite worked. It is so soft and atmospheric — pale grey-blue, hint of warm horizon — that it gets out of the way completely. It does coastal mood without coastal content. For bedrooms that already have a lot of texture (linen, rattan, timber), this lets the texture be the star without losing the coastal feel.
How to Size Coastal Wall Art Above a Bed
Quick rule of thumb that gets it right 90% of the time:
Above a queen bed (152cm wide): aim for 90 to 120cm of print width. That is a single Large piece or two Mediums side by side.
Above a king bed (183cm wide): aim for 120 to 150cm of print width. That is an X-Large single piece or a Large diptych pair.
Above a single bed (92cm wide): a single Medium (around 46 x 69cm) is right. Anything larger overwhelms the wall.
The print should be visibly narrower than the bed — never as wide as the bed and never wider. Most bedroom mistakes come from people choosing prints that are too small, not too large. If you are torn between two sizes, the larger one is almost always right. For a deeper breakdown, see our room-by-room size guide.
How to Hang Coastal Wall Art Above a Bed
Hang the centre of the print at 145–150cm from the floor. The bottom of the print should sit about 15–25cm above the top of the headboard — not touching, not too high. If you have a tall canopy bed, this rule shifts up. A pair or diptych goes about 5–10cm apart, not more. Three pieces in a triptych go 3–5cm apart, treated as a single image.
For more on the geometry of hanging, our scale and spacing guide walks through it with measurements.
What to Avoid Above a Bed
Photographs with bright midday sky. Bedrooms are evening rooms, and bright sky reads as too daytime once you are trying to sleep. The colours fight the wind-down.
Anything with a single strong off-centre subject — like a single figure or boat near one edge. The asymmetry feels unresolved when you are lying directly underneath it. Centred or symmetrical compositions read more restful.
Loud nautical motifs — anchors, ropes, life rings — unless the rest of the room is genuinely a captain's quarters. In most contemporary coastal bedrooms, these read as themed rather than coastal. For a less literal nautical take, the broader Nautical Wall Art collection has subtler options.
Strong red or pink prints — they sit oddly in a bedroom palette that the rest of the room is asking to be calm.
Pairing Coastal Bedroom Art With the Rest of the Room
If the print is muted (Marine Layer, Silent Sea, Coastal Moonlight): you can be slightly bolder with bedding texture, throw cushions, bedside lamps. The art will absorb the rest of the room without contest.
If the print is colour-forward (Turquoise Bay, Midnight Jellyfish, Cottesloe Views): keep bedding restrained — white, oat, pale linen — and let the print run the colour story.
If you are using a diptych or triptych: the bedside lamps want to be visually quiet. Two matching small lamps work better than two larger statement lamps because the print is already doing the symmetry job.
The Long-Game Test
For a bedroom print, the real question is not "do I like this on the wall right now" but "will I still like this after 600 nights of looking at it before I fall asleep". The pieces above all pass that test because they were chosen for atmosphere first, decoration second. Coastal art works in a bedroom when it gives you a small piece of coastline to come home to, every night, without ever feeling like decoration.
If you would rather have one of our team help you choose, we are easy to reach. And if you want to keep reading, the post on choosing the right blue for coastal homes is the natural next step once you have picked your piece.
Continue Reading
Once you have the above-bed wall sorted, the next questions usually become frames, the room next door, and how the rest of the house should answer it.
- Framing Coastal Prints: Oak vs Black vs No Frame
- Coral Reef Wall Art: Why It Works in Bathrooms and Not Bedrooms
- 5 Coastal Triptych Compositions That Anchor a Living-Room Wall
- The Difference Between Coastal, Hamptons and Boho Beach Style