Coastal Dining Room - complete with Alameda Flea Market Finds! + Enter our First Drawing!

Blog Post #101 - 
Giveaway drawing details on the bottom of the blog!

Gee Whiz, about 200 pictures later, in different shades of light, I hope you all can see  my new dining room beginning to take shape!  Missing my aqua and golden yellow walls at my old house. Might have to task Tom with asking the landlord if we can paint... HATE white walls.

The print on the back wall belongs to Tom and is of Sausalito. When I am rich one day, that is right where I would like to live! The funny thing is, I had this exact same print hanging on my office wall in Silverdale,  (mortgage days) didn't even know Tom had a copy of the same print.  I loved looking at it every day, the blooming bougainvillea, red geraniums, and boats bobbing in the blue blue San Franscico Bay.. all the while planning my escape down here to be in the sun and close to the ocean.

When I sold the old house, I pretty much sold everything in it too. Moving to California was very liberating! The only furniture that came with me was my big white iron bed, vintage white dresser and a shabby chic blue cabinet - I really didn't even bring dinnerware, except for a few favorite antique pieces and my grandmother's silver. Was so ready for a new life.

This go around, instead of a beach cottage "chic" dining room table, I decided to go a little more modern - love this dark, with tones of burgundy, mahogany table.  With the extra leaf in, I think we could have 12 or more people over for dinner!  (When are you coming??) World Market had this table at such an unbelievable price, I bought it before they could discover that it was marked wrong! Now for the chairs; did a lot of shopping and thinking about what I really wanted, decided to go with the parson style chairs from Ikea.  Like the idea of changing the slipcovers if the mode strikes me, also like the idea of simple clean lines so that if I decide to add some interesting end-chairs, it will all come together beautifully.

Melissa and I found, and fell in love with the hand-painted "Beach Cottage" sign at the Alameda Flea Market, can't tell you how much I paid for it, it was an absolute steal! It's about 5 feet long, block chocolate letters outlined in aqua - the perfect complement to my house!

One of the best things about being a retailer, is that you get to pick out merchandise that you hope your customers will really like, but lovely items that you know you do like! These pretty creamy white seashell plates can be found on my site, www.caronsbeachhouse.com, as well as the wine glasses, the etched blue fin tumblers and the recycled aqua-green glass bowls.  We had a few mismatched wine glasses and only a few regular glasses so I thought it would be okay to enjoy some  pretty things out of my warehouse!

The Beach House Candle was another item that I thought looked lonely in the warehouse. Now, my whole apartment smells so wonderfully fresh - almost like suntan and tropical drinks!

We had such a good time last Sunday in Alameda,  sure made me miss having my regular retail store in Poulsbo though.  Here's one more of my finds from last week - could not resist this cute little framed mermaid.  Yes everyone,  that IS my "Fathoms O'Fun" Princess Crown from 1982!

Now, to show you all some of our favorite beachy/coastal  items at the Flea Market!  

You will see why I miss having a store...

Melissa spotted this detailed sea shell mirror - cannot even imagine how much it must have weighed! I thought if I can be ambitious one day, I too can figure out how to make something this beautiful.  (might be never!)

French -European striped ticking linen pillows.  So lovely!!

And look at these matching lavender sachets!

Way cute vintage chair with even cuter printed burlap pillows!

I was dumb again... I should have bought this sweet cherub 

holding an empty sea urchin and wearing a sea shell crown.

Coral, big purple barnacles and vintage sea shell pitcher! 

 (I can't seem to buy any of this coral - but am always drawn to it!)

This was the coolest furniture! The artist had attached faux alligator print vinyl to the top of the desks and buffets - what an unique idea! Finished beautifully.

An entire blue beach house bedroom set! So so pretty!

Gray-blue coastal occasional chairs, antiqued and then recovered in a "West Indies" patterned fabric - not sure if you can see it or not, but the pattern contained sailing ships, palm trees...

More coral....saw lots of these red spiky pieces this time

Nautical inspired pillows..

Not really sure where I would put him, but I thought he was especially cool - 

particularly because he was highlighted with a little old fishing net!

Thank you so much letting me share my journey this past year. This is my 101st blog post and I have been thinking all week about how to celebrate, as I have been writing now for an entire year!  I started writing Everything Coastal on May 4, 2010, what an adventure I have had... To commemorate this anniversary,  I will be entering names  into a drawing to win one of my Beach House Candles. (featured above!)  All you have to do is leave me a comment on this blog post. I would also like to invite you to become a new follower!

See you at the beach!

Beach Cottage Shopping - Join me at the Alameda Flea Market!

Step One - Convince the boyfriend that getting up at the crack of dawn on a Sunday to go flea market shopping is fun...(he must really like me)

Step Two - Layer on the clothes. Jeans, t-shirt, sweater, coat, scarf. Although we live in California it is not warm on this Easter Sunday. We are going to Alameda Naval Air Station in the middle of San Francisco Bay, and the wind is fierce!!! 

Step Three - program the GPS on the iphone and in the car.  No fun if we get lost!

I am so excited - have been planning this for the past few months, and have never been able to go.  The Alameda Flea Market is held only on the first Sunday of the month - rain or shine. 

A few things to note about this market: 

#1 Everything sold at the show must be at least twenty years old and there are no reproductions allowed. (great rule!)

#2 Largest antique and collectible show in Northern California

#3 over 800 vendors to see! 

Lots of painted furniture, shells, coral, shabby chic treasures, original art - a veritable feast of inspiration! Let me take you on a tour!  

Beach cottage painted furniture - love the yellows, greens, but especially the simple fun pieces she had to offer. Can you see the bright pink desk in the background?  Wouldn't that be a great piece for a girl's room? 

A little coastal, a little French Country.. abalone shells, shabby chic framed sailboat picture, 

hand made linen pillow. 

Love this whole vignette!

Blue Starfish in metal coffee pots. Dang - I think I gave away a really neat 

blue old campfire coffee pot like this.  What was I thinking?   

Can think of a lot of crazy storage ideas for those old tin bins...

Pretty. Want one. I am sure that I NEED one of these chandeliers.

Kicking myself for not buying this crazy, rusty, metal fish.  I am going to blame it on the cold weather.... my hands were absolutely freezing!! Had to buy coffee just for a hand warmer.

Hope you can see all of these antique - vintage style bottle with real seashells soldered on top.  Love these - also kicking myself for not buying.  I will definitely stock up on these next time I go in May.  

They will go on the Caron's Beach House website for sure.

This was the best one! Purplish large sea fan on top of an vintage vase. 

Beautiful pieces of white coral... this one was only $65.00.  At the widest part was about 12". 

More coral, sea biscuits, and more coral.  All displayed on top of an old desk with a deep green felt top.

Creamy white buffet ($560.00) and even more coral!  I went back to this booth at least three times. No, I didn't buy anything.  It is hard for me to buy these big chunks of real cora. Beautiful, but the thought of someone cutting 

them off of a reef is hard to swallow. 

Wish I had a good spot for a tiki bar in my apartment - wouldn't this just be a hoot at parties??  

Could see my pretty martini glasses on top!

So many coastal framed art pieces! This is just one example that I liked.

Beautiful, round white painted table.  This should now be in my apartment - I was really, really, extremely dumb for not buying table.  

This buffet should also be in my apartment - what was I thinking??  Beach Cottage perfect. I could display some of my shells, my cottage china... I took the artist's card home, maybe I had better call her?

More painted furniture in my favorite colors!  I really miss having my "brick and mortar"  store sometimes....

Not sure what this  huge ball of vines is made of, but they were really interesting!  Looked almost like twisted, dried up sea kelp.   Check out the  creamy yellowed cottage cupboard underneath...

Hand painted, tea-stainted vintage, French Country booth.  They had lovely lovely things - I wanted everything in the space!  

Lots of pretty garden art... too bad I don't have a garden anymore.  There's something so beautifully tranquil about having angels in the garden to watch over us.....

Hope you enjoyed! I had such a great time, and now I have a plan of attack for the next time I go. This time with a girlfriend, (Yay - Melissa will be here!)  a cart, coffee in a thermos, and lots of cash....

Helpful link: Alameda Flea Market Details http://www.antiquesbybay.com/default.asp

**The post was shared on 3.30.2011 for Good Life Wednesdays at @abeachcottage.com

Ambiance for Beautiful Homes - Astoria, Oregon

One of my favorite things to do is to explore towns by the sea, and Astoria, Oregon was no exception!  Wish that I had planned more time, and now that I know what a vital downtown community Astoria has, I will definitely go back for more adventures when I have more time. Great galleries, local art, upscale restaurants, coffee shops...




Just a quick post to tell you all about a great home decor store that I discovered while wandering through unique boutiques  and finding somewhere for a quick bite to eat.  Located at 22914th St., on one of Astoria's downtown side streets, Ambiance was so welcoming, charming and filled with many of my favorite things!


Wandered in and fell in love with all they had to display, Archipelago Candles (my VERY favorite!), chunks of collector coral, polished sea shells, wine glasses with etched swimming fish and "found" items like old seaside windows and clam buckets.  Botanical seashell art, driftwood pieces, oh so much to look at and touch - I was in heaven! Can you see the vintage fan on this shelf?  And the white coral?

Don't worry, I did ask Londa, one of the owners, if I could take pictures before I started shooting these!  Look at how seashells are displayed in glass containers... love the seaside signs and the table that is an old blue door. Londa was wonderful, and I am so happy to be able to show some of her inviting store!

These vintage green floats ($12.95) were gorgeous and   displayed beautifully all piled together in a unique recycled glass bowl.  Sometimes something so simple can be so beautiful!



If you ever have the chance to drive Hwy 84 from Portland to the Oregon Coast, make sure that you have enough time to stop and wander, and stop in and say "hi" to the owners at Ambiance!