10 Ideas for Coastal Decorating with Oars and Paddles!

Decorating your home with painted vintage (or not so vintage) oars and paddles is one of my FAVORITE ideas for coastal and nautical themed rooms. Have to show you 10 innovative room ideas that I have been collecting for inspiration!

1. An adorable lake cottage entry featured on the Lily Pad Cottage - complete with paddles used as wall decor to create a real lake shore feel and welcome guests to Kelly's home.  (very cute blog - LillyPadCottage.com)

2.  Colorful oars coordinate well with nautical style bedding and pillows. Fun, bright look for a kids' room. (sorry - not sure of the original source!)  ...super cute life ring pillow!

3. An innovative handrail - this is such an awesome idea!  Discovered at "This Old House", homeowners Sue and Burr McKeehan unearthed "found" vintage oars underneath new beach bungalow in Newport Beach, California and simply gave them an extra polish.  Voila' - amazing new stair hand rail with a piece of their home's history preserved!

4. Create an unique way to display treasured family framed memories using two oars and hooks.  Too cute!  (so sorry - not sure of the original image source!)

5.  How adorable is this kids' bathroom idea?  So cute, and absolutely practical!  Add a few hooks and pretty stripes to coordinate and you can create a kid-friendly place to hang towels, bathrobes and other fun bath time essentials (super whale in this pic!) Idea created by Pawleys Island Posh - click to see the rest of her adorable blog! 

6. More hooks and paddles - this beach cottage entrance idea from Sarah at Abeachcottage.com.  Welcome guests with a place to hang coats, bags, and beach towels too!  Simple add of larger, sturdy steel hooks to hold heavier items.  If you want to avoid rust, a constant coastal issue, I would use stainless steel.  If you don't mind creating an even more "rustic" paddle look then any heavy duty hook ought to work.

7.  Super cute idea for displaying your cottage house street address!  Paint a vintage paddle (or a new one)  in colors to coordinate with your front porch and add fun house numbers. Maybe even your beach home's name? This idea created at TheHappyHousie.com

8. Another great idea for oars from The Shabby Shak - painted oars with the year that you "moved in", and your name or your "house" name.   (P.S. She has super fun beachy stuff on her etsy site!)

9. Outside Art! Sorry not sure of the source, but thought this was an innovative way to display rustic oars - just build a rack and hang them up.  Think about a constant changing art display by trading the paddles around for different occasions or grouping colors together.  Hmmm.... possibilities are endless for summer fun!

9.  As "wall art" to highlight more beach art and bring an art wall gallery some cohesiveness.  Pretty aqua room and oar from Breezy Designs, as featured on BeachBlissLiving.com.  Her home is beach cottage pretty!

10.  How about creating a one of a kind idea with just a part of the paddle?  Such a fun idea at Coastal Living Magazine in their 2011 Ultimate Beach House Tour home in Norfolk, Virginia.  "Fanned-out paddles are a sculptural, cheeky take on the classic round mirror."  Not sure that I am that crafty, but it's a neat idea.  Polished mirror idea and fits perfectly into this gorgeous East Beach home.

Would love to know what you think!  For more decorating with oar ideas - pop over to Pinterest Board: Coastal Decorating with Oars

Have a wonderful weekend!

P.S.  If you need an oar or paddle, we have added a ton of new options on our site!  Come see our new re-vamped Painted Coastal Oars and Paddles

Beach Cottage Sea Blues and Summer Yellows - How can you go wrong?

Seriously - what says beach cottage more than the color combinations of blue and yellow? Bright, happy, and 100% cottage!  Not to mention the colors of sea and summer...

Enjoy a little "cottage by the sea" inspiration for an early summer Friday!

One of my favorite images from bhg.com!

Classic beach cottage look!  White, painted-distressed furniture combined with cozy, comfy chairs and a sprinkling of beach combing treasures.  I really like the clam basket idea for gathering shoes or flip flops.

 Oh! Happy lemony-yellow striped walls with found treasures. The perfect napping space or retreat to while away the hours, nose buried in a summer beach read! Now if only I could find a vintage oil painting like that one..

 Mostly blue and white, except for that really cool travel art piece!  Fabulously framed and a perfect accent statement.

 Lovely!  Bright yellow coffee table just brings everything together in this living room so that it is not just a "standard" blue and white beach house space.

And just for fun and a sense of whimsy!  Love that shell chandelier and the marlin souvenir - (Coastal Living Magazine)

And now to show off some of our brand new yellow, navy and aqua blue pillows from Surya.  Sorry - could not resist, I am crazy about these fun modern cottage designs!  

The entire mix-and-match collection can be found in our New Summer Beach House Pillows.

Have a great weekend!

P.S.  Image sources can be found on our "Coastal.Sunshine Yellow" Pinterest board

"Green" Coastal Living Decor Fabulousness!

Not sure if "fabulousness" is a real word, but this company represents it well!  Enjoy our interview.

Laura's Office at Eco Accents

1.  How were you inspired to create your company, Ecoaccents?   My inspiration really started with my love for the outdoors and particularly with time spent on the coast and in the Florida Keys.  I developed a fascination with sea life and marine creatures that shows in many of our designs.  I am drawn to the look and feel of minimally processed fibers like burlap and natural cotton.

2.  How did you start Ecoaccents?   Ecoaccents started when I took the leap from making pillows for my own use to creating "green" pillows and bags using my artwork and bringing those products to consumers.  

When?  
We launched Ecoaccents in January 2011. 

Where are you? 
 Ecoaccents is located in Raleigh NC - right between the NC mountains and our beautiful shore. 

3.  Why create "green" products?  
Given the choice, I believe many consumers would prefer to purchase well designed and well priced green products over comparable traditionally manufactured products.  Every green step makes a difference.

All natural cotton canvas pillows printed with environmentally -friendly ink, inserts are all made from recycled plastic

4. We love your bright, clean colors and design - why do you think you are drawn to create in "technicolor"? 
 One of my favorite design approaches is to take inspirations from nature and classic motifs like cane patterns, houndstooth and Greek key designs and add something just a bit out of place like vibrant colors.  

 5. What do you feel is your biggest influence on your own design ideas? 
 The natural world has the most influence on my design choices.   Bringing the outdoors inside through design and combining those choices with traditional patterns and bright colors is the core of our design philosophy.

6.. Do you have a design or artist's mentor, someone that has inspired you to push your boundaries?  If you do, who is/was it and why?  
Joe Cox, a great NC artist and one of my professors at NC State's School of Design, taught me to view color differently.  Joe knew no fear when it came to expressing himself through his art with color.

Ecoaccents bright turquoise coral trellis pillows for spring 2013

7. What do think is your true "uniqueness" with your products?  What sets you apart from other home decor companies?  
Ecoaccents is unique in that Ecoaccents products are made with earth friendly components and processes.  We use minimally processed and sustainable fibers, no VOC inks, recycled paper, paper products sourced from sustainable harvested trees and recycled plastic fiber inserts for our pillows.  Ecoaccents is unique in that we combine fresh design with an earth friendly approach to manufacturing.    

Burlap and Natural Cotton Blue Shell Placemats

8. Do you have any favorite eco-green charities that you like to support? 
We are happy to support the Ocean Conservancy.  Another wonderful charity, the Cristodora Foundation, caught our attention with it's thoughtful approach to educating children about the natural environment.  The Cristador Foundation provides inner city children with the opportunity to spend time out of the city and in the country on a working farm that the foundation owns.  This experience allows children to connect with nature on a personal level.  Having children grow to love their time spent in the outdoors is like creating an insurance policy for our earth.  We all want to protect and care for what we love.

9. Does your company participate in any fun green activities in your community?  
We have participated in local river clean ups and coastal turtle nest watches.  We  plan to join NC coastal clean ups this summer.   

Ecoaccents unique soft washed burlap sea turtle pillows

10. What are you, Laura Allen, most proud of?  
Of course, as a mom of three boys - I am most proud of my sons.

11. If you could live anywhere, where would you live and why?  
I would live anywhere with my family but would love for us to be planted somewhere along the intra-coastal waterway overlooking the marsh.  

12. What would you like to try next?  
I have a list of home decor products that I would like to reinterpret in ecoaccents green style.  Stay tuned.. we hope to color your world green!

Can't wait to see what Ecoaccents comes up with next! For a full selection of their beach house pillows, including their unique washed burlap styles, and their fun table linens - check our website, and simply use our handy search bar with the words "Ecoaccents".

 Here's just a few of my favorite examples:

Can't get enough blue seahorses!

Or modern coastal bamboo-style in bright colors!

Hope you all enjoyed having a peek into one of our favorite eco-artists' world.  We love their well-made, durable and affordable coastal home decor, but especially admire their thoughtful approach to saving our oceans... one pillow at a time.

Seashell Natural Decorating

Now that you've collected all the seashells, what to do with them?

Here's 5 of our favorite ideas!

1. Display them in a glass lamp, so easy to change with the seasons.  Add your most prized shells, mix with sea glass or driftwood to create an ever changing display piece.  (Caron's Beach House)

2. Make your own shell mirror.   So easy to create something that can easily be the focal point of your room, by using a large scale frame and large scale shells. Keep it all natural with sand and shore colors, or mix in tropical shells for an island feel.   Love this vignette, with the beachy blues and creamy white shells, not to mention the fabulous tall polished lantern!  (image found on Pinterest)

3. Create a wreath, starting with driftwood.  Collect your own driftwood to create a wreath base, or better yet, start with one that is already pre-made especially if you don't live near a beach where there is ample driftwood to take home.   Get creative with not only shells, but other flotsam and jetsam!

From Everything Coastal (used to be my front door!)

Driftwood Wreaths - Bases Only

4.  Create your very own special shadowbox with your most precious shells.  Love this simple beautiful idea from Danielle Oakley Interiors. The blue background with bleached starfish  is just stunning!

5. Use large glass jars, with interesting lids filled with seashells for bookends.  So simple, functional, and the shells are protected from dust.

Stay tuned for 5 more ideas!