Beach House Decorating & Letting Go
(source: Whale, Desk and cabinet – Joss & Main, Coffee Table – Wisteria, no longer available)
This past weekend, we struggled with deciding to stay home. Or go to the beach. I know, doesn’t seem like a hard decision and you are probably desperately trying to control your sympathy for me. But somehow, we just felt overwhelmed with leaving. We had a lot of commitments at home and to-do lists that were a mile long. The thought of leaving for the whole five days (our kids amazingly did not use all their snow days so they had a five day weekend!) stressed us out. But in the end, we decided going was more important. We decided to just let go.
(Side Table, Sofa- Ikea, Art – gift shops, Prints, Lamp, Pillows - Homegoods)
My parents have a little beach place on Long Beach Island, NJ that was completely wiped out in Storm Sandy. Construction was finally done last fall, but a whole series of life interruptions kept us from getting down there till now.
We arrived to the furniture being in place that we had been picking out and ordering over the last few months and nothing else.
No warmth, no character.
So we spent three days shopping till I could barely move, planning, plotting, hanging and zhushing. And so much progress was made. It feels like a home again.
There are coasters for your drinks, interesting details like the amazing whale and crab we found for the coffee table. All the “things” that make a space feel like your home.
There is still work to be done. With all the stores we hit, we really lacked on finding lamps. Rugs need to be ordered for all the rooms and the red director’s chair will be replaced with a real chair. Table and chairs need to found for the kitchen and art needs to be made for the bedroom.
But it is all set for us all to be there.
The dressers are in place to hold all of our “stuff”.
(Dresser – Ikea, Quilts, Whale Print, Sign – gift shop, Other –Vintage)
And mirrors at heights so even young ones can brush their hair. The lamp that was in my childhood home had now been painted once again and has found a perfect spot.
And lots of sleeping room for us to bunk up.
Oh, and we have big plans for this wall – stay tuned!
When we are all here, there are a lot of dogs and “stuff” and it does sometimes get a little chaotic. But, this is what makes it all worth it…
And this…
And this…
And we are so glad we went. And of course, I will share more pictures when it is all done! Thanks so much for reading. 
