Coastal Design Inspiration from my favorite Flea Market..and the San Francisco Gift Show

Spent all day Saturday at the San Francisco gift show - quite the adventure!  The CalTrain runs from Belmont, where I live on the Bay, to downtown San Francisco, so instead of fighting Saturday traffic in the city (sometimes  much worse than during the week!), I thought I would be brave and learn how to take the train into the city.  It was a lot of fun!  Big Giants game against the Dodgers, so the train was packed with Giants fans all decked out and ready to go to the game, gloves in hand, jerseys on!


Here's a preview of some of the beach house accents that I found - I am only going to show you a few things, so as to not spoil the surprise later when they show up at Caron's Beach House
Sea Glass Stones - Love these!

New company located here in the Bay Area - love their designs, all blue and white clean classic By-The-Sea colors!  Very excited about adding their products -














So after spending all day looking at new coastal products for the website, exhaustion set in. Nice PB & J for dinner, then promptly falling asleep with the light on and the book on top of me, I didn't even hear the phone ring when Tom called me.  He was gone to the Oregon Coast this past weekend for his family's annual beach trip, and I stayed home working and going to the shows.  Nice guy that he is, he set the alarm at 5:30 am, so that I could get going  over to Alameda before the crowds.  Yeah,  that didn't happen.

After hitting the snooze button about 6 times, I finally rolled out the door at 7:30. With a huge cup of coffee, and a peanut butter laden English Muffin in hand, I was off in the GTP.  Hoping that no one would notice my big black circles under the baby blues, I made it to Alameda by 8:10. Crowds had already beat me there.

Have to confess, this is my favorite thing to do - go to the Flea Markets, talk to the vendors, look at all of the great vintage coastal things!  It's great inspiration for new product ideas, new displays on the website, this time I was actually inspired to create a whole new category at "Caron's" just so that I could share my beach finds - it's called "Caron's Beach Treasures" - check it out!   http://www.caronsbeachhouse.com/servlet/the-**Caron's-Beach-Treasures--dsh--Unique-and-Special!-**/Categories



The Alameda Flea Market is a never-ending source of inspiration for me. I hope you enjoy my tour of August's market!

I would have bought several of these, if I could figure out a way that they could be shipped economically!  Great colors-

So upset with myself for not buying this picture when I saw it!  After being at the market for 2 hours, I was starving, so I walked away to grab a bite to eat, then couldn't find the booth again.  Feel so stupid.

 I did buy these - could not resist this Southern California artist's work.  Fabulous! Vintage bottles, with gorgeous shells soldered on with oxidized copper.... very very cool.  Have been looking for these for months, but couldn't find any that really grabbed me. These did.

Just another example, vintage lilac colored perfume bottle with cluster of purple barnacles....

Colorful hand-painted berry buckets.  If I had a store, these would have been a fun purchase!

Big vintage ship's porthole, $300.00.  Pretty cool, but I passed.

Delicate hand-painted tropical dishes.....

 English picnic basket with real china dishes!

Vintage sea-washed bottles, some of these can be quite expensive!

Beautiful French desk..

French lantern- similar to the SeaMaster light at Restoration Hardware.  Gorgeous!  Was stupid though, didn't find the price

Love love love - this  hand painted furniture.  Beautiful beach cottage colors and detailed hand-finishing.....

Here's the whole set....

12" + seashell queen.....

Tin children's beach buckets....very neat, but a little pricey.  Will keep looking!

Seashell and jeweled tiaras... local artist, I may still have to go buy some of these for the site!

I had a great time.  Got to the market at 8:10, didn't leave until almost 1:00 pm, needless to say, I felt like I had run a marathon!  Came home and took a 2 1/2 hour nap....

I Won!!! Sea Glass Floats from Glass Float Junkie -

I don't usually win anything, guess I should enter more give-a-ways? Was so excited when I entered "Glass Float Junkie"'s contest and I actually won two sea washed glass floats!  Could not resist entering - love sea glass things, and I don't have any of these sea glass floats.  My mom found some years ago after a storm on the Washington coast, but alas, I have none.  Until now.

(picture is borrowed from Glass Float Junkie's blog - check it out - http://www.glassfloatjunkie.blogspot.com)

 I found out from my friend and fellow sea glass girl, Kamichia Kinzie, the Glass Float Junkie, that I had won just a few days before we went on vacation to Seattle. I was so nervous that they would come and I wouldn't be here to receive them. (or worse yet, the neighbors would take my box!)

Happy Girl! Tom picked up all of our mail from the Post Office and there was my little box from Kenai, Alaska. Pretty aqua-blue/green glass balls nestled inside the box, carefully wrapped in an Alaskan newspaper.....

Wanna see what was inside?

And now here's where I put them, in my big bamboo bowl on the dining room table full of

 my sea glass and shell treasures... 

Thank you Kamichia!  I love my new treasures - 

For all the scoop on authentic sea glass floats, make sure to visit Glass Float Junkie's etsy shop, she's knows everything about these little treasures - and she sells some beautiful examples gathered from her beach explorations in Alaska.   Glass Float Junkie: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlassFloatJunkie?page=1

P.S. you can buy the aqua candle at Caron's Beach House, here's the picture, and a link: Beach House Candle.   Burns for 85 hours, and is hand-crafted with tiny non-threatened seashells.... 

Thanks for stopping by and leaving your comments - don't forget to visit our new Everything Coastal Style blog too! http://www.everythingcoastalstyle.blogspot.com

A Favorite Escape - North Head Lighthouse! - Guest Feature!

Guest Post from my friend Sally Lee by the Sea...

Thanks so much for letting me feature your North Head Lighthouse story! This is one of my very favorite places to go on the Washington Coast.  Have witnessed some AWESOME storms at the Lighthouse, and down on the jetty, gigantic waves crashing against the cliffs at Cape Disappointment...

The century-old North Head Lighthouse, completed in 1898, sits atop a bluff in one of the windiest locations in the United States. Winds frequently clock at over 100 mph, guarding ships through the trecherous waters, known as the "Graveyard of the Pacific." The Lighthouse is a favorite stop for visitors and one of my favorite places in the world. This 65 foot tall conical lighthouse sits north of the mouth to the Columbia River in Southwest Washington. 

Since I live in close proximity, the Lighthouse is one of my favorite escapes, whether it be for sharing with friends and family or if I just need a break from life. A short stroll through the rainforest-like terrain provides numerous opportunities to view nature at its finest. We especially love to walk on the tiny Lighthouse Keeper's path which provides especially beautiful photo opportunities. The Lighthouse was designed by German-born engineer C.W. Leick and sits on solid basalt more than 190 feet above sea level so it provides glorious views of Oregon to the South and the Long Beach Peninsula to the North. 

Each changing season provides a new and unique experience. We trekked to the lighthouse after a freak snowstorm when the ground was covered in a lovely blanket of white.  Without a single other soul to be seen or heard from, the area was quiet, still and peaceful...even the ocean. During one of our summer visits we got caught in a fast moving rainstorm.  The storm produced fierce winds and rough seas that crashed loudly upon the rocky terrain below, however the Brown Pelicans flew around in utter delight and amusement. It was a sight that I'll soon not forget.

Before there were lighthouses on the Peninsula, ships bound for Portland and Astoria navigated their way through high waves and shifting sandbars, focusing on fluttering white flags and notched trees along the shoreline by day and flickering signal fires by night. These methods were crude at best and, despite heroic efforts, the sea offshore of the Long Beach Peninsula became known as 'The Graveyard of the Pacific'.

North Head has a neighboring lighthouse, Cape Disappointment, that is similar in shape, and painted in a unique stripe pattern so that the two can easily be recognized during daylight. This marking is called a daymark. Both lighthouses are fully functional and were taken under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Coast Guard in 1939.

After the last keeper left North Head in 1961, the lonely lighthouse began to deteriorate. Luckily the Coast Guard restored the lighthouse in the mid-80s and opened it to the public under the direction of the Cape Disappointment State Park. The keeper's dwellings are nestled a half mile into the woods from the lighthouse itself, and have also been restored. Today, half of the dwellings house park personnel, but the other half and a single-family house are available for overnight stays.

If you venture to the Southwest Washington region, I highly recommend you stop by the Cape Disappointment State Park and especially the North Head Lighthouse where you'll feel like you're on top of the world.

http://www.funbeach.com/attractions/lighthouse-northhead.html

Please make sure you stop by Marie's blog - she's got great coastal ideas too!  http://www.sallyleebythesea.blogspot.com/

Thanks for stopping by!