The development of water-based coating strategies has led to safe and affordable techniques with applications in various fields, whereas the design of water based superhydrophobic coatings still needs to be improved to facilitate their large-scale production and widespread adoption. Herein, we report a novel water-based strategy that can endow smooth surfaces with superhydrophobicity by designing a multifunctional polymer and incorporating a hydrophobic nanomaterial and a selective solvent. The superhydrophobic coatings show outstanding flexibility and can be made in various colors using both hydrophobic and hydrophilic dyes. The fabrication process is scalable, and it might open up many possibilities for the preparation of water-based coatings using hydrophobic nanomaterials.