Look What I Dragged Home

Hi friends, I haven't been blogging much lately.  I've been traveling, enjoying the summer with the kids, and working out more.

I've managed to complete some small projects and here is my latest.

New decor for my front door that I made with stuff I already had and some found seaweed.

I play beach volleyball and often find things that the surf washes in and drag them home with me.

 

Hear are a few of my previous finds.

I found this old lost buoy last Winter.
I cleaned off the stinky barnacles and added some rope to it.

I drug this water logged 9' piece of driftwood home and put it in my front yard.  This was really fun putting in my car, but totally worth it.  I kept checking my rear view mirror all the way home to make sure nothing crawled out of it.

Here is another piece of drift wood I painted and made into a jewelry organizer for my daughter's room.

Here is my latest find. 
While cleaning off our court from washed up seaweed I found this dried up piece.  I liked it's shape.
Trash to some people, door ornamentation for me.  I added two faux sea fans to the back, hot glued a starfish to the front, and added a rope hanger.
In case you were wondering, no it doesn't smell at all. 



You never know what you'll find for free from nature?



Dragged anything home from the beach lately?
Hope you are enjoying your summer as much as we are.

Thanks for checking it out.

My Favorite Flip Flops

Flip flops are part of the Southern California uniform.  We wear them year round here. 
I play volleyball at the beach in January and still wear my flip flops to and from the beach.   

OK, when it gets cold I do switch to my Uggs.

This is the court I play doubles at a 2-3 times a week.

My favorite flip flops are Havaianas. 

They are a little pricier than most flip flops, but worth it my opinion.  They originated in 1962 form Brazil using a secret rubber formula. I love them because they come in a SLIM sizes as well as regular widths.   I have a size 10 shoe, but my feet are narrow.

Most flip flops and strappy shoes are too wide for me. 
Costco carried Havaianas this year for $18.99 with a crystal on them, but I can't find them on their website?   I'm kicking myself that I only bought one pair. 

You can pick up flip flops for a couple bucks these days, but I LIVE in mine so I justify the higher price.  Havaianas' rubber is very soft and comfy. 
They last a long time and I never get blisters from them.

  This pair is $148 because it has Swarovski Crystals on them.   These are out of my budget and even if they were in my budget, not sure I would spend that much on flip flops especially because I'm going to get them sandy.  

You don't have to pay that much for them.
  
Nordstroms $38

Nordstroms $24

I found some last year at Loehmann's for $12 and I bought 3 pairs. 
The problem is my daughters keep stealing them. 
We all have the same size feet.

What's your favorite summer foot wear?

Thanks for checking it out.

Summer Mantle and Buffet Change Up

I am fairly new to mantle decorating.

I've only had one on my fireplace for about three months.

It's been decorated like this since I completed the fireplace makeover. I found the urns at Pottery Barn. They were on clearance and I had a gift card so they were almost free.

Here's how I changed up the decor.
 I get bored with my decor quickly and like to change it. 

The best part of this little makeover is it was free!  I already had everything I just rearranged it and collected it from different rooms and cupboards in the house.

For ten years I lived with a fireplace with no mantle.  I completed the fireplace makeover a few months ago.  To see how I did it go here.

This is the before.

I had a dinner party for my husband's work and I spruced up these glass candle center pieces for all the tables ( I already had these they just needed a little freshening up).  

Sand, rocks, driftwood, white candles, shells, and embellished starfish.

Basic and simple.

   They look great in groups.  It takes the simpleness to a new level when used in multiple numbers. We had a sit down dinner for 35 people in our outdoor room last weekend and I didn't take ANY pictures.  I'm a bad blogger!

  I picked up the glass bowls at places like Big Lots and Walmart for very little money.
Oh well, I'll have to take pictures next party.

Here's how the mantle looks now. 

With some of the party vases.

I've been doing the seashell,urn, faux coral thing forever, but not on a mantle.

For the mantle I added some faux coral, a small urn with shells, a David bust, and some candle sticks with embellished starfish in them instead of candles.  The hydrangea painting I did years ago kind of limits my color palette.   

I stuck with white, cream, red and green to coordinate with the painting.

 I picked up two of these columns for $10 at Big Lots.  They were unfinished white plaster that I faux finished to give it an aged look.  The small pedestals came from a floral supply and I think they were $7 a piece?  I use them to elevate anything from terrariums, to candles, to food platters for parties.  They were a great purchase I use over and over again.

This crystal decanter and two others on the buffet came with my husband when we got married 16 years ago.
  

This tall glass vase was a present from my Mother-In-Law.  The David bust was from my parents when they lived in Italy. 

After living with it for a day I took out the starfish candle sticks. 

The rule is odd numbers right? 
Now I have odd numbers on each side.

Or is it still even because I have three on each side?

I swear I don't have too much time on my hands! 
Maybe one side should have one starfish candlestick?  Are you one those people that just whips up a vignette and it's done in five minutes?  I'm not, it's always a process of starting with too much, stealing stuff from another room, adding, subtract, changing the heights, and editing.

I'll live with it this away and probably change it AGAIN.  I need mantle decorating lessons #101.  Oh well, on to the buffet on the opposite wall of the fireplace.  Here is how the buffet looked like before.  I decorated it this way right before Easter.

Here it is for summer, or until I get tired of it.

More party decor re-purposed.  I ran out of sand and used dried black eye peas for this one. 

 It's sitting on the mate to the other column on the fireplace.

More urns with shells.

The mantle and the fireplace are in my great room so they I think they need to relate to each other.

I started with a table runner I made with left over pillow fabric and added more shells, candles, an urn, and one of my cloches.

More crystal decanters with hanging starfish. 

 The starfish have rhinestones and crystal buttons glued on to them.

I made these many many years ago and they still are one of my favorite DIY easy projects.  I use them year round in all of my holiday decor.

Here's what I did to the buffet in the middle of the great room.  I moved one of my large clam shells on to it and elevated it with another pedestal.  I bought two of these faux clam shells years ago at Marshal's and fill this one with seasonal decor.  The other one has succulents in it.

I would love to hear how you switch up your decor for summer?

Also, what is the a good guide for mantle decor?  both side odd, one side odd? 

Thanks for checking it out.

I'm linking this the The CSI Project

Beachy Vignettes Challenge



 Remodelaholic.