By the sea...

This song came to my mind today..."By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea! You and me, you and me, oh how happy we'll be!"

What a great old song...AND, yes, what a wonderful place to be...

Well, I wish anyway... My husband (Jim) and I would love to live by the water, and hope that some day that dream comes true. For right now, there's a pool in the backyard...so that's a start! But to give us a feeling of living on a beach (at a lake or near an ocean...either one would be perfectly fine with me!) - for years, I've collected vintage (and some not so vintage) oil paintings and beachy things to create a bit of a beachy cottage feel.


It started with our annual trips to Florida in February. Jim and I travel with some good friends (Kenny and Robin), and the guys go racing - and Robin and I go junking/antiquing - (we do, however, go out with the guys for dinner and have some fun on the beach too). Our junkets have taken us around and about the Daytona Beach area, Deland, Mt. Dora (Renninger's), and Orlando. And, since we drive from Ohio to Florida - there are sometimes stops along the way...our newest favorite spot is Brunswick, Georgia (near Jekyll Island) - what a quaint area! And to see more of what's in Brunswick, you can stop by the JunkMarket Style website and look at my post from our most recent trip...
http://www.junkmarketstyle.com/item/8036/junk-vacation-part-i


Anyway, one of my first paintings was found in Florida...and just took off from there. I try to find "at least" one every year - along with other random "findings" to add to my collection. But, I've also found paintings at garage sales (the best prices of course), antique shops, etc.

Soooooo, just wanted to share a glimpse of the our "beach house"...

This was painted by my friend, Terri on an old cabinet door.

I just love it - the little blonde reminds me of my daughter...

This is a gigantic paint-by-number (not by me...)There is a long shelf above my picture window in my dining room - this is in the center...A "seaside" collection (this is to the left of the painting above).

And to the right of the painting...

I love the colors in this one.

Two more...

A tiny painting - that I drybrushed color onto the dark frame to lighten it up (I drybrush almost every frame to give them a weathered look.).This is the cutest thing...(look, I didn't even touch the frame with a paintbrush)!

In the guestroom (aka Kristen's room) - on the top of an old beadboard cabinet.......a collection!

One of my favorite walls...

Close up...

Our cute little beach baby (just a "few" years ago) & her pink polka dot bikini (yep...I kept a lot of "stuff")

The cover of this old book is just amazing...love the artwork.

Another "little" collection

I bought this print in Charlotte (at the Metrolina - what a great fleamarket) - and it reminded me of my and my girlfriends (sort of...)!

This is the first one I bought...at a garage sale (and never stopped)

This one goes really well with the one above...

The nightstand display in the guestroom...(the little photo is Jim, Kristen & "Bernie" on our boat years ago - at sunset - one of my favorites)

And...ya gotta have a collection of shells in a GIANT mason jar...

This bucket isn't vintage - just made to look that way...

My conservatory - it changes with the seasons.There are lots of great things in here...

Some vintage fishermen...

This is my favorite print - by Frederic Mizen - it's called "Playmates"...so sweet (Can you believe it, I found it at a garage sale for $1.00)

Isn't this sweet too??? In a little tin frame...

Another view...

Some little beach babies playing in the sand - and the photo on the right is my daughter, Kristen, and her friend, Tiffany, when they were about 5 or 6.

I found this at an antique mall in Oregon a few years ago - it's made of seashells...

Another bit of the beach!

I found this step stool at the Springfield Extravaganza - it's got the best chippy blue paint on it - and all my other blues go so well with it!

This "was" a bowling ball - it's got a better life - now that's it has retired to the "beach" - it's a pretty heavy beach ball though (I mosaic-ed it with seashells and sea glass)...

What a cute vintage fan...

This is my "humpty-dumpty" child's adirondack chair. I found it at a garage sale in a pile of pieces and put it back together again! The little stuffed sailor boy was another garage sale find...

Isn't he adorable? And, don't you love the purse?? I couldn't pass it up - it's one of a kind.

I wouldn't carry it to the store, but not everything has to have a function, right??? I think just being cute is enough...
This one is an old watercolor - looks nice with the pink pottery...

One more vignette - on top of our tv armoire!

Hope you enjoyed a tour of our "beach" house - I think it's time to go wiggle my toes in the sand now...

Have a wonderful day and thanks for stopping by!

Kathy