To the beach house!

 

Beach houses, we love them right? 

   I always love that they have sand right out the door and are usually overlooking some beautiful beach where you can hear the waves of the ocean crashing along the shore.  You can go on romantic walks and enjoy the thick salty air blowing against your face while you watch the sunset.

   Some would rather stay indoors and enjoy their beach house in the warm dry environment and watch the waves from the big bay windows. 

   Either way you prefer, these houses are usually decorated in a beach and ocean themed decor.  I love looking at different beach houses to see what kind of creative ways they have decorated.



   If I ever have a beach house, I would do each room in a different style of beach themed decor.  It would go something like the following;

   The living room and kitchen areas would be simple and clean with some artistic looking beach decor such as a neat looking chunk of driftwood, maybe some glass floats, and some beautiful pictures of sunsets, sea creatures, etc.

   The master bedroom would be the tropical paradise.  I would find an old wood boat that would fit a queen bed and rig it so the bed would sit inside the boat.  I would paint the walls in a bright sky blue, and have a tan color at the bottom to emulate sand.  I would hang a beautiful wind chime in the corner, and also add some live tropical looking plants for that tropical look.  Not to mention the poster sized pictures of tropical scenes to hang inside old wood windows, inside the room.  This would give the illusion that you are looking out a window to the beach, or tropical paradise.  Ahhhhh..... So relaxing....

   The second bedroom would be a pirate theme, just because they can be very fun, especially if you have boys.

  I would start by hanging a pirate flag on the outside of the door, so you know you are headed into new territory.  Boy territory, where there is no telling what awaits you once inside. 

   I would paint the inside of the room blue, the same color as it would be if you were sailing the ocean.  I would find another boat, as I did in the master bedroom, that would fit a twin bed, and I would rig it with some masts, a parrot, and a pirate flag, of course.  (I am a DIY girl)  On the wall, you could hang some old pictures of ships and pirates, such as "Black Beard, Captain Hook, Calico Jack", etc.  Don't forget to hang a picture of an old pirate map!  These are pretty cool to look at, and can be obtained online, and blown up to a larger size or purchased in a wall paper for an entire wall.

   On the shelf be sure to have a ship, maybe a letter in an old bottle, some books such as Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson , Pirateology: The Pirate Hunter's Companion (Ologies) by Captain William Lubber and Dugald A. Steer,  How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.  There are some other great ones as well, and they make some great decorations, and reads for different age groups. 

   On to the main bathroom.  There are so many options here.  Some people go with shells, some go with anything beach, some stick with glass, and others go with creatures.  I would probably go with something somewhat simple and clean looking.  So I would just add accessories, and not change the paint, flooring, etc.  I personally like my bathroom walls the blue/grey color they are, especially with the slate floor.  It looks amazing, and I would just decorate around what I already have. 

   I would start with the small table.  (I am fond of a small table in a bathroom, when there is room.)  I would find a neat small table made from drift wood and I would put an old fishing net over it like a table cloth and then place my rolled guest towels, and amenities on top of it.  Maybe with a glass ball float next to them, if the table is large enough.

   I would be sure to get a thick blue glass hand soap dispenser for next to the sink, along with matching toothbrush holders etc.  Whatever you would use.

   I think a fun sign should hung in the bathroom as well.  Something like, "If you are lucky enough to live at the beach, then you are lucky enough."  It looks best when these are scrawled onto an old chunk of wood.  The more clever, the better!

   I would also incorporate a really neat shell nightlight, such as the ones you can find online at American Aquarium Products.  They also have several shell baskets, wind chimes, star fish, giant shells, and other decorative items.  Be sure to stop in there as your first stop.  I found their prices low, and their shipping lightning fast!

   To top it off, I would add either a big tropical plant, or a small accent plant somewhere.  (I have a thing for live plants...)
 
  I am sure you can think of a bunch of fun ideas to incorporate into your beach home or room. 

What was your favorite idea here?

Ocean Wedding.... Inland!

 

   Planning a wedding is always a stressful thing to do, and you always want everything to be perfect.  Here, I will give you some great, simple ideas for an ocean themed wedding.  Hopefully, if this is a theme you are going for, I can make your planning a bit easier! 

   I think the ocean theme is a great one!  Some simple center pieces for your tables could be sand buckets with sand poured onto the table.  (Half in the bucket and half on the table.)  You can adorn the sand with starfish, shells, sand dollars, and even a sand shovel. 

  You can decorate the walk way with old recycled fish nets with shells, glass floaters, sand and starfish as well.  You can hang beautiful shell wind chimes throughout your venue as well as giving small windchimes away as a favor.  They are beautiful, useful, and inexpensive!  Your attendees will cherish them. 

  Don't stop at the venue!  Do your invitations in ocean theme.  Add a smidge of sand to them with a picture of a beautiful sunset over the ocean to tell them of your special day!  When the day arrives, decorate your directional signs as well!  Lets get these folks excited for your wedding!  You don't even have to write on the signs!  Just have big pictures of sunsets and beautiful beach paradises with arrows to follow.  Trust me, they will follow!



   When your guests arrive, lei them and give them a flower for their hair, or shirt pocket.  They can then mingle with others and talk about how nice it is to be in your tropical paradise!  When they are ready, they can find their spot by the creative name tags you have placed on the tables! 

   Some ideas would be to write everyones name in elmers glue on the name tags, and pour sand on them until it dries.  Then simply shake off the sand, and voila!  Sand name tags! 

   You could print the names with different sea creatures on them.  You could even make a game of this by seeing who can guess what their creature is.  Better make them creative, no jellyfish allowed!

   The ideas really could go on, and on, so I will spare you the babble!

   Do you have any other fun ideas?

  

  

Hello Summer Luau!

 

Summer is here, and what better way of celebrating it than with a summer luau? 

  I recently had one and thought I would share some ideas with you!  To start, you MUST have the proper decor!

   Think shell wind chimes, fish nets, leis, shells, sand, starfish, and shrimp kabobs!

My house has an upstairs deck that is accessed through my living room.  So to set the mood for our festivities and guests, I started my decorating outside in the front where people would park.  I hung some nice wind chimes, and also had my boys welcome everyone with an "aloha" and a lei.  They were wearing their Hawaiian shirts, khaki pants and flip flops.  (They were so handsome!)  We asked everyone to wear their Hawaiian style clothing and flip flops! 

   As guests passed through the house they passed a lot of orchids, and bromeliads until they found the bar fully decorated with old recycled fish nets, adorned with starfish, shells, old glass floats and sand dollars.  There were some shells and sand on the bar top as well as some candles.  After receiving their “Blue Hawaii” drinks adorned with flowers and citrus fruit they would meander their way onto the deck where they would choose their seat and mingle.

   The tables had sand in the centers with either shells, candles, starfish, or a combination of a couple.  I also brought out all my tropical indoor plants to give it a more tropical feel!  It was perfect!

    The day was perfect here in Oregon, a rare occurrence, so it was warm, yet a bit breezy.  You could smell the BBQ grilling our sweet and spicy shrimp and vegetable kabobs.

  Along with our Hawaiian kabobs we had a fresh fruit salad, sweet bread, and cream mochi for dessert.

   When everyone was done eating we had some fun dancing, along with a hula dance competition, and the limbo!  For the hula dance, we provided grass skirts which added some fun to the whole event!

   It was a fun evening, and everyone seemed to really enjoy themselves!  I think this may become an annual event from now on!

  I hope you are able to use some of these fun ideas!

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Other Products that may be of Interest:

*Hawaiian Marine 4 watt UV Bulb

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Shell Purses and Decor Ideas

I have been looking into some fun ideas for the neat Shell Coin Purses you can find online (or in your grandmothers things). Not only are they fun, they also remind me of the 20's fashion my great grandmother used to wear. She used to tell me about her shell purse on a chain that was "just darling". I got my hands on some of these shell purses and did not see much use of them as a purse as they are quite small. It was just big enough to fit some cash, coin, and lipstick into. No ID, no credit cards etc...
(I flash to my "purse" which is more like a wallet and toy carrier than a woman's purse. Sad.)

I thought about using them as coin purses and I have to believe, that inside my purse/toy carrier they would break my cell phone before my phone would break the shell, not to mention they are a bit heavy. (Things were made so much better back then!)

Then I remember my grandmothers side table in her bedroom. She used her old shell purses as a trinket hold when she stopped using them as purses. She had her rings and jewelry in it, or just random trinkets she thought to be treasure. Usually treasure the great grandkids brought her.

I thought I would get these for my family as it would be a fun novelty gift. My nieces LOVED putting small "white rocks" and treasures in their small purple cowrie shell purses. They carried them around like the best gift ever. My sisters loved that the large purple clam purse reminded them of our "Gram".

They used theirs on their side table and on their bathroom counter. I used mine for a night out on the town!

Mine was a bigger one, a large Clam Coin Purse with a clasp to hold it closed. It had no chain like Gram's did, I just carried it in my hand. It matched my outfit perfectly, and was a huge hit with the girls.

If you are looking for a fun gift, that may bring back memories, this would be a GREAT idea!

Christmas, Ocean Style; Beach Decor!

I know some people do yearly themes for their Christmas, so why not do an ocean or shell theme? Shells are readily available, and can make very pretty ornaments on the tree. You can also place Starfish, and even some blue ribbon to signify the water.
Another fun idea is to use an old fish net as a tree skirt. (Maybe over something to actually catch the tree sap)



You can also get a some really cute tropical style Christmas cards to give to your family and friends!

A fun craft project could be to make a shell wreath for your door with a Shell Basket, straw wreath base and a glue gun! Your guests will be amazed at how creative you are when they enter your shell themed Christmas!

When wrapping gifts I would recommend solid colored paper such as a brown or cream. Then instead of ribbon and bows, use some raffia and affix a starfish or shell to the outer wrap with the name tag. It will give a nice clean look under your tree, all the while looking like you picked up your gifts in the Bahamas!!

This would be a very fun and inexpensive alternative to a Christmas trip to Hawaii!

Do you have any other suggestions to brighten your Holiday?

Maybe decorating your Reef Aquarium in a festive holiday motif?

Ocean Bedroom!?!?

  I recently started helping a friend re decorate her bedroom. She loves the serenity that the beach brings, so she wanted an ocean theme. Lucky for her, I happen to have some good ideas every so often, and this was one of those good idea occasions!

   We started with new paint. Her bedroom was painted a flat tan color and since she had only one window it made her room very dark. After what seemed like weeks in the project store, we came back with several paint swatches in light blues to replicate the sky and water of a tropical paradise. We finally settled on a Sherwin Williams paint in "Swimming". It was the perfect mix of light blue but not overly blue or white. This color brightened the room a bunch!

   I also looked through my pictures of Hawaii and found a couple of fun beach ones and blew up my favorite to poster size. I then laminated it and placed it behind an old window and window frame and we affixed it to the wall to give the illusion of a window overlooking a beautiful beach setting. I also had some good pictures I had taken of some of the tropical flowers and fit those to different sized frames and hung those as well. She really liked these ideas, and they really brought some feeling into the room!

We looked at ocean themed decor as well. Such as some star fish, fish net, shells, wind chimes, and we even found some great shell nightlights! We hung the net on the wall above the head of the bed in a half folded, kind of wall hanging way and added some of our new decorations and hung the wind chime in the corner. It all started to look very much like a paradise!

   Then there was the bed. Oh how I hated her bed. It was just so blah. It was a beach themed bedroom! It needed some SPUNK! This is where Craigslist comes in, they have everything! I went on a boat hunt. Not a nice boat, but an older wood boat, just wide enough to fit a queen bed into it. I could cut off the bottom to make it work!

   After almost two weeks of searching, I found it! We did have to cut the bottom a bit but it was worth it! (She wasn't going to get a hammock like I suggested!) We sanded it down, and repainted it a deep brick red color with some similar to the room blue, and then re sanded it for a "worn" look. It was perfect! Now to get it in the room! This boat caused us so much trouble! It didn't want to fit in the door, and the shape of the boat made for a VERY tight fit of the mattress! Either way I won the battle, and the boat lost and it's water days are long gone.

  Plants are one of my favorite things to add anywhere. Not fake silk plants, but real live plants! We headed to the nursery to find some neat tropical plants for the bedroom. After several hours of questions, and heat stroke we decided on some palm trees, and some other big leaf plants. Once placed in her room, they really finished the look off and made it feel so much like a paradise. I just wanted to grab a book and hang out! This really was a fun project and I would love to work on another very soon!