Friday 30 January 2015

Dreaming of the beach - Coastal touches for the home


If you've been on Pinterest lately you would have seen me pinning lots of beach style decor. There are so many ideas out there from beach huts, shells, ocean scene pictures, ropes, to inspire a coastal look in any room. 

When we moved into our house we wanted to update many rooms including the downstairs bathroom, The suite was a simple white and fairly new but the floor and tiles were not to our taste. We purchased some pearlesant tiles in creamy tones, painted the bathroom a neutral colour and my husband made a built in cupboard under the sink to house cleaners and toilet rolls. The bathroom also had this nasty plastic rimmed mirror that had certainly seen better days! We thought we could easily transform the mirror using shells, so with a huge selection of shells, bought and sourced from the beach, I set to work hot gluing them all on. The plastic frame was completely covered and the mirror went back up.

I used my flash so you could really see the shells, but it doesn't do any justice to how pretty the wall tiles are. The plastic frame was pretty big as you can see by the amount of shells used. We replaced the light fitting and blind and left the bathroom like that. It has always felt though that something was missing. Taking inspiration from my shell mirror I decided to give the room a beach makeover!

I purchased a new towel rail and toilet roll holder, a soap dispenser, and some little decorative touches. I also wanted to add my personal stamp to the room, so set about making some decor for the walls and overhauling a vase.

Firstly I took the vase that I have had sitting in the bathroom for what seems like forever, and decided to change it's look completely.


There was nothing wrong with this vase and I wanted to keep the willow to put back into it once I was finished, however, the gold colour was just not what I wanted for the room anymore.

Firstly I spray painted the vase with an off white to act like a primer. I just did one thin coat.

This made the surface perfect for painting with acrylics. I didn't have the exact colour I wanted, so I mixed some light antique white and periwinkle blue and painted the first coat.

Whilst I liked the blue, it wasn't screaming beachy to me! So for my second coat I added some metallic champagne gold. The sheen of this paint reminds me of shells.

You can really see the sheen that the paint gives off. So shell like! Lastly, to smooth the finish, I mixed the gold colour with some water to create a wash which I covered the whole vase in.


I decided to embellish the vase with a small off white wooden starfish I found. I just glued this to the front with some all purpose adhesive. 



I decided the accessories should be fairly neutral in colour with just a slight pop of greenish blue to create a calm space.

I have hundreds of candles dotted about my house as well as plenty housed in a cupboard. A couple of these were begging for a change of scene and makeover so who was I to refuse?!

I found an absolute bargain lantern in Butlers for £2.50 which I filled with a white pillar candle surrounded by shells.


Since taking this photo I have added more shells to the lantern as it looked a little sparse.

I also had a large candle in a tall glass which I had always had trouble placing in my living room. The muted greens and blues were perfect for the bathroom however, and I gave it a beachy makeover by hot gluing a shell to the front and tying raffia around it. Totally pinched from pictures I have seen on Pinterest!


The colours of this candle inspired the remaining pieces of decor I wanted to create.

I love painting, I'm not very good, but there is something so calming and enjoyable about painting. I had a small hut shaped canvas that I decided to paint to look like a beach hut and also a bunch of different shaped canvas panels that I wanted to turn into a beach type scene. I kept it simple rather than getting too artistic. I chose 3 colours and 3 panels. I used a muted green/blue to represent the sea and sky, along with the champagne gold and light antique white I had used on the vase to create the sand. It may not look like much but it compliments well with the rest of the room.

You can imagine it's a beach right? It's what I keep telling myself anyway!

Finally, I had seen in a shop a heart made out of driftwood and stones. I really liked it and decided to make something similar.

I had once owned a skirt which had all these shells sewn onto the hem. The shells had started to come off and I just could not be bothered to sew them back on, but I kept them just in case! The skirt is long gone but the shells are still here just begging to be made into something new! Each shell had 2 holes drilled into it, so I got some jewellery wire and threaded them onto a length.

I knotted the ends of the wire together and made a loose heart shape from some cardboard. I used a cereal box for this. I then hot glued the wired shells onto the cardboard creating the shape.


I used some jute string and wrapped this around the shells to cover up any bits of cardboard showing but also to add a bit of interest. However, when I had finished this, the heart shape had got lost.


When I held it up to hang it became a round, not the look I was after at all. I almost gave up on the idea when I remembered I had some shells left over from my other project.

I cut some more cardboard for the top to give it a more pronounced heart shape and hot glued some varying shells to the top. I left the bottom as is so not to swamp it.


These added shells defined the shape and made it look far more beachy and interesting than before. The additional cardboard also gave the wreath more structure and strength.  All that is left now to do is hang, drill holes, sand and paint and it will all be done!

I am hoping to share the updated bathroom with you next week though blogging will take a bit of a backseat as the hubby and I have a well earned mini break away! I can't wait for that!

Have a great weekend!
















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