In Search of a Secret Sea Glass Beach....

We have been searching for nearly a year for this secret sea glass beach. Narrowing it down to a rumor about a  specialty art glass factory near Davenport , we finally stopped on Sunday and we simply asked at the Davenport Gallery -  someone actually showed us where the trail down to the beach was!  (btw, great gallery)   Grabbed our picnic lunch, and headed down the steep trail, across the train tracks and then down to the sandy beach. Tom and I were so excited, we might actually find some awesome chunks of  colorful sea glass!  Well, it was not exactly that easy.  Got down to the beach and there were serious, very serious sea glass hunters on the beach. With shovels and wet suits!  The beach is totally sandy, no shells, no rocks and no sea glass - unless you have a shovel and are willing to dig down a foot or so.. Oh mi - was not prepared to dig for gold! Not a great day for beachcoming, so decided to simply walk on the beach, play in the tidepools, enjoy the sun,  sit in the sand and eat our ham and cheese sandwiches, gooey brownies, and share a diet coke. Not such a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon in May...(Especially with my cute boyfriend!) P.S. We have lots of fully-outfitted picnic baskets for your coastal adventures! Check them out in the "Outdoor Fun at the Beach" category - these also make wonderful wedding gifts!

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 House Style for the Apartment (mine, that is!)

Well, the apartment is taking shape, but  not anywhere close to being finished. I decided that I had to show you all some of the progress I am making.....

A few weeks ago, I stumbled upon a great store in Half Moon Bay called Abode, they carry way cool simple natural items, including quite a few local artisan hand-crafted interesting things.  Here's a few pics from the store!

Do you recognize the rocks?  I bought two out of this bowl - "I Love You" and the "Happiness" rock.  

Way too cute!

Could not resist these!  Alphabet Soup Letters, a bargain at only $6.00 each, all hand painted and stenciled on reclaimed pieces of plywood. Want to see what I did with mine?

Of course, I had to buy a C for Caron, and a T for Tom!  Like my pink seahorses and tropical fish? 

Found this sea shell and coral bright shower curtain at that DANGEROUS store, T.J. Maxx.  Trying to combine my stuff with Tom's stuff - quite a challenge, this shower curtain helped bring all of the combined towel colors together.

Another T.J. Maxx find - Tom had a good laugh, he thought it was pretty funny that the sign is pointing into San Francisco, and not towards the beach, I thought it was pretty clever to have it point into the shower. Duh! 

My little corner... I am hoping to have the starfish back on my website soon.  Our manufacturer has been out of stock for the longest time! (Candles purchased at Beach House Style last summer)

 Here's another cute recycled shell that would look great with  candles too - our small scallop bowls ($6.95) - here's a direct link! http://www.caronsbeachhouse.com/servlet/the-169/glass-shells,-coastal-decorating,/Detail

(Sorry, had to throw in a little shameless self-promotion!)

Like I said, the apartment is a work in progress, but I am sure having fun discovering new stores and treasures here in the Bay Area!  Have a great Thursday and a great weekend -