Nautical By Nature...

(all images, Coastal Living.com)

As I chill out to the drone of my newly re-installed air conditioner, I am led to thoughts about the importance of keeping cool in the summer. While this summer has been highly anticipated after the long snowy winter we had, one only has to suffer through a day or two of high humidity and temperatures to crave cool breezes and/or a refreshing dip. While my pool is a bit too cool for me to take a dip just yet, I have done plenty of life-guarding for my more hardy offspring.

As I sat on the lounge chair today - sweat trickling down my lip and hair growing frizzier by the second - I tried to distract myself from my raging inner thermostat by planning how I can pretty up my pool deck. Things are almost complete on the little change house/area the handyman built, the flowers have been planted in their pots, and I have picked up some nautical accessories from my local vintage store. Still, I am pining for a more beachy feel, cooler colours and snappy style.

Basically, I am craving a little bit of this:

nautical done well,

and pretty on the inside and out!

If the threat of rain and the incessant humidity ever subsides, I will finish up my projects and share them with you. Stay cool!!

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Head on over to Julia's Hooked on Fridays event for more creative ideas from your favourite bloggers (and some sure to become favourites!).

Out to sea...cottage style

I have long had a fascination with the ocean. I am partly afraid of it and on the flip side I am totally enchanted by it. One of my first memories is of the water and it is one that I think helped shape my fear. It was in Ireland (my birthplace) and I was a little girl probably not much more than 3 or 4 years of age. I was being coaxed to climb aboard a small fishing boat by my Dad and brothers and I'm not sure who else. I remember looking down between the dock and the boat at the deep, dark, murky water and being terrified that, as I made the leap, I would fall into that scary crevice and disappear. Now, whether this memory is totally accurate I'm not sure (as you know, my memory is very bad...), but it was and is very real to me, and to this day I am nervous when I am on a wharf or dock.

So, I guess I would have to say that I have a love of the seaside, a fear of the ocean, and a phobia of sharks (because of the movie JAWS). I am one of those people who sits on a beach chair, shielding my eyes from the sun, scanning for sharks!! I know I'm a bit odd, but somebody has to do it!!!

Back to the topic at hand - decorating with nautical treasures... I am dabbling with them myself. My home has a predominantly light colour scheme that lends itself well to this scheme. Watery blues, linen fabric, lots of white...I am finding it quite easy to add these beachy accessories and I think I have not yet overdone it. I place white starfish in my windows, scatter some of the sand dollars we have found at the beach on table tops, and decorate my mantel with nautical decor. Again, not too much...I don't want to get "themey" and I figure if I want to go "over the top" with it, I'll just head outside to my pool deck. Hey, I'm not making any promises of restraint there.

These pictures show my front window with starfish (I usually have stars), the framed picture is of some of the girls in my family baring our toes, and the rope ball used as a doorstop is just brilliant (just not my brilliant). The mantel above is mine...all decked out for summer!

**Sorry for the goofy way some of the writing is appearing...I have fiddled with it over and over and can't make it look like it should!! Aagh!!