My Beach Life….

Do you see what I see? And no…it's not a star! It's the date on this Coastal Living magazine! 2002!  That's how long I keep my favorite magazines and refuse to throw them out! Just two weeks ago we went to our beach house to replace a few things…while cleaning out I found this copy of the Coastal Living that was the inspiration to how I decorated our home at the beach.

I've always told my friends that once I decorate I hardly ever change anything! I still loved looking at this issue and I still loved how it inspired me! 

It may be over a decade old….but good design never changes!

I will never forget falling in love with antique sailboats.

 I still treasure the ones that I've collected since reading this issue!

In fact, all of my collections of  seashells, boats and even starfish are still near and dear to my heart thanks to this issue of Coastal Living.

Starfish on the window sills! 

My heart skipped a beat at this picture….

Of course I added them to my own decor!

(and I'm adding a huge apology here for the really bad quality of my pictures in this post!)

And so began my love for anything "beachy". 

Seaweed fabrics, starfish to decorate with…you name it!

My insane love for 'Seaweed Transferware' has literally made me famous! 

Or infamous, I should say! 

And it's not something that I feel like I'm being prideful about…rather, it's quite the opposite! 

 It is simply breathtaking to me!
 I think the feelings of nostalgia it evokes in me is why I love it so.  It brings back another era…and for some reason I think it is probably more appreciated by those that grew up on the East Coast.
 Not sure why I think that...

For a girl that grew up going to the beach in the panhandle of Florida I am mesmerized by the East Coast. I love the whole nature of their beach culture and their love of anything weathered! 

The pieces I've collected are so precious to me! 

And it was a lot of fun to finally have the fabrics I had picked out turned into pillows, window treatments and even chair cushions. 

All in all it was a fun combination of a dream come true as well as being able to work in my antique pieces that I hold so dear to my heart. 
We still enjoy it to this day….another decade later! 

Even my vintage collection of "Bathing Beauties" from the early 1900's are there!

As special as it was to bring all of my beloved beach collections to that house it was also fun to begin to collect some new things!~ Like art that we love from a local artist Donna Burgess. Her work is wonderful! We have several originals as well as some beautiful prints. I definitely need to incorporate some of my artists work from my shop in the near future!

No matter what you collect it should be a reflection of what you love…and hopefully that will only enhance the home you are filling.

I love that we were able to incorporate the old with new. I love that we've always collected items from places we have visited…like these shell prints from St. John. Memories were made there and will someday be someone else's treasured antiques perhaps!

For now, I'm just glad that I still love the 2002 Coastal Living article that fueled the fire so to speak! And I'm glad that my love for antiques can still be appreciated no matter what home we find ourselves in! This antique painting above is the perfect example of combing the old with the new…to me at least!

 It hangs in my daughter's bedroom at the beach and will always remind me of the time I fell in love with sailboats and all things "beachy"

Have a great rest of your week!