Casa Concha { Sea Shell Houses }

Sea Shells are so common place in coastal design and decor, they are used on just about anything and everything.Why should I be surprised that they be used to adorn a house? The pain staking effort ,time and precision that it takes to put each individual shell on these architectural wonders is nothing short of magnificent and true works of art.

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Spain

Sea Grape Lodge, Florida

Mosaic shell house Denmark

Tel Aviv

England

Buddhist Temple In Taiwan

Saint Cugat

Cayman Islands

This is..There was an old woman who lived in a shell...oh what was she thinking oh what in the hell? section of the post. I adore seashells, but living a house shaped like one? I think not..that is taking it just an eensy weensy bit too far for me. The architecture is ingenious, just not my taste.

Mexico

California

Caribbean

Mexico City

"The Pearl" Solaleya

image sources: Tumblr. Flickr.Pinterest,National Geographic ,Essential Beachcomber, I love Shelling, Huffington.Post

 

Fireplace and Mantel Transformation Reveal

We have lived in our beautiful home for almost 11 years . It was built in the mid eighties and came with a very eighties brick fireplace. Painting the brick, has been a bone of contention between my husband and myself. I wanted to paint it, he did not. What is it with men and not wanting to paint brick?  I have been admiring painted fireplaces for years and watching friend's who blog, redoing theirs, I made an executive decision and  went ahead and did it!I am so happy I did!

Fireplace and Mantel

BEFORE

The Mantel is solid Cherry, but when my hubby made it extended out passed the brick and was way to long. The wall color was called Khaki Shorts. See the decoration on the fasure? Hubby put that on as well many years ago when he made the fasure...Pretty dark and drab huh?

This is a better shot of how far the mantel extended outward.

AFTER

I removed the little wood decoration that was there, sanded the wood and

 I primed the whole fireplace with one coat of Kilz Primer. I rolled the brick, using 1/14" nap roller. I started with a 3/4 inch . the larger worked better.

I applied 2 coats of Valspar Chef White, in a satin finish.

Hubby  shortened the mantel, gave it more of a bevel, with a lathe  and re stained it a darker brown.

This is the new color, and this is my real coral, and my dollar store hurricane candle holder's, that I made.

The bottle with the Starfish on it, is a bottle my husband found out at the beach, 20 years ago We were able to figure out it is about 100 years old. The starfish was broken, so i glued it and wrapped jute around it.
The coral on this side is Faux Coral, and found out how to do this from my sweet friend Michelle atEmerald Cove. Check out her post Fun Faux Coral.

Every Spring I put my driftwood in the fireplace,add candles and shells. The candles are sitting on old fish net buoys. Sorry, the candle is crooked.

There boat oars are old and broken, I found them on an island we go to on our boat. I love them.. The Monkey fist, I bought for 16.00! They are normally 50.00

I repainted the whole living room this weekend also, the color is so pretty. It is Valspar Churchill Hotel Ecru, in an eggshell finish.

So there it is, I  really like how it turned out, and I am happy to report my husband loves it as well! Have a great Monday !
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Seashells, Checkers, and a Hot Dog Octopus

When the kids start yelling " Mom,I'm bored" during summer vacation , here are a couple of ideas that are entertaining. Everyone likes a good game of checkers right? If you have some shells laying around, " I know you do" or after a day on the beach how about making  a checkerboard and using seashells as the checkers?. 1st, you  are going to need a table and seshells. You will need 24 Seashells, Find 12 of one type of  shell and 12 of another type. For the table  go to a thrift shop, Goodwill, or use a picnic table or any other table you want to use. Pick 3 different color paints you want to use. It doesn't have to be the standard Red and Black. Make the colors beachy and fun, let the kids pick the colors. You will  use a lighter color to paint the top of  the table.
Center the checkerboard pattern on the table.
Make sure you have a 14" square, Use a cardboard checkerboard if you need to as a template.

Draw straight lines two inches in from each side using a pencil and straight ruler. You should now have a 12-inch square in the middle of your wood.
Draw 1 1/2 inch squares within the newly drawn square. You should have eight squares across and eight squares down for a total of 64 squares.

Paint the squares in two different colors; a light color and a dark color. In the top row, paint the first square one color and the second square your second color. Repeat this pattern down the row. For the second row, begin with your second color, followed by the first; continue alternating throughout the entire board.

I would use an acrylic paint, and a couple coats of sealer to protect the board.

When I saw this at the beach on Sunday I absolutely cracked up. I have been out of the little kid stuff for a while, and maybe you know about this, but a Hot Dog Octopus?

Owner John Jenkins operates Seaside Hotdogs at Hunting Island State Park. He puts a smile on children's faces by making an Octopus out of a Hot Dog! Who knew? The bottom half of the hot dog is sliced into strips and then put in the "hot tub" to boil , and the  hot dog curls up to look  like tentacles! A couple dollups of mustard for eyes, and there you have it! I came home to look  for pictures of this little delicasey and low and behold they were everywhere! A fun  and easy dinner!

A Seaside Collection

If you love decorating  with a coastal  flair ,you will love Pottery Barn's current catalog. The seaside look is exploding everywhere. So much so, Pottery Barn has dedicated  it's current catalog issue to just that. One of my very first posts was How to Achieve the Seaside Look .Check it out if you missed it.. On practically every page of the catalog  there is something for everyone  who is a lover of the sea. .

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