The Fog -Best Scary Movie, Starring Point Reyes Lighthouse

I think John Carpenter's The Fog (1980) is the best scary movie for sea lovers. You might want to watch it for Halloween! Horror movies are not my genre at all, but I say yes to a good old classic like this. So what makes this film the best scary movie? The ghosts who rise from the sea, traveling in an ominous fog...


... and the Point Reyes lighthouse. This is a scene from the movie.


Point Reyes lighthouse is located near Bodega, CA, where the movie was filmed. And doesn't it just look a little spooky, sitting there on the bottom of the cliff? It was necessary to build the lighthouse near the water to be visible, since this is one of the foggiest places in the US. Photo by Kurt Preissler.


The view from Point Reyes seashore is breathtaking! The Northern California coastline is rather isolated, maybe that's why it's chosen for scary movies. Hitchcock's The Birds was filmed there also. Photo by Gary Cascio.


Among the actors are Jamie Lee Curtis, her mother Janet Leigh...


... and Adrienne Barbeau who was married to John Carpenter from 1979 - 1984. Barbeau carries the film as Stevie Wayne, local radio host who broadcasts from the lighthouse. On the night the ghosts enter the small seaside town of Antonia Bay (Inverness) seeking vengeance for a century-old injustice, Stevie observes the fog, warning the people of its movement.


The Fog is slow paced, got a great seaside atmosphere and does not depend on blood and gore for its suspense. I love that! Photo by Ed Post.

Visit Point Reyes Lighthouse with Caron (of Caron's Beach House). She lives in Northern California and Point Reyes is one of her very favorite lighthouses!

Other Ghost Movies:
The Ghost and Mrs. Muir
The Lovely Bones
Ships Lost at Sea -Ghost Ship

Happy Halloween, Everyone! I'll be back on Tuesday with Holiday cheer!

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Stylish & Easy Halloween Decorations at Starfish Cottage

Today I'm showing you the stylish and easy Halloween Decorations at Starfish Cottage, located in Florida. Kristy is not one for gory, spooky, gruesome Halloween decorations. Neither am I. Well, I don't decorate for Halloween, except for my Rope Pumpkin (does he count?), but I love what she did. The color scheme in Kristy's house is black and white with coastal theme accents throughout. This is the buffet in the dining room. Chalkboards are so versatile. You can change the message with the season or to fit an occasion. Easy!


Wall art is perfectly grouped around a large shell mirror.


The same idea is executed in the living room beautifully with framed starfish and shells.


You can find the tutorial here. Browse everything in the category Framed It.


Then, Halloween Decorations in the Family Room include a white scrim fabric on the coffee table. Just a hint of spooky -and a spider for the kids! To see more of Kristy's beautiful home, click on links!


Oh, and Kristy also likes to bake yummy things like Coastal Cupcakes. What a talent!

Browse everything in the subcategory Halloween and Pumpkins.

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3 Easy DIY Jewelry Organizer Ideas with Driftwood

If you love jewelry why keep it in a box or drawer. Showcase it with a seaworthy jewelry organizer! And this lovely driftwood organizer made by Cheryl of Beachcomber could double as a Christmas Tree too! The branches are tied together with string and the tree is secured in the bowl with silicon. For all the details click over to Beachcomber.


Simple Daisy's Jewelry Organizer is a simplified version of the same idea. The bases are sliced logs.


And how easy to make is this Jewelry Organizer! All you need to find is one good branch of driftwood. My kind of project!

And speaking of jewelry organizers...


... I feel lucky to have these talented jewelry makers as sponsors!

From top left to bottom:
Beach House Living, Isola Bella, Patty Anderson, Nicholas Landon, Lili D Magpie Creations, plus Nikki of Diving Designs who just joined.

Check out all Craft & DIY Projects and browse everything in the subcategory Jewelry.

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Decorating with Candles

I stocked up on candles recently. I need lots of them during the cold season! So here are a few ideas for decorating with candles and how to display them together. Some ideas are quite festive and would look beautiful for a Thanksgiving table. I love this simple sand filled bucket solution seen on Remodelista. You could use a Beach Sand Pail too. And make sure to add a ribbon!


You have seen this fireplace on Large Driftwood Wall Art. It shows that if your fireplace doesn't function, you can still make it glow (coastal style).


This idea comes from Homegoods. A composition with different sized flower pots and starfish.


Decorating with candles is easy if you have a pretty tray! Spotted on My Romantic Home.


Look familiar? My gold Painted Shell Trays. I think they'll be around forever!


I've seen people flipping glasses upside down and using them as candle holders. So I came up with this candle decorating idea. Very cloche like, see Seashells behind Glass. And have you seen the Wine Glasses with Candles in them?


I bought this bowl because it reminds me of a boat. I created a beach scene with sand and found treasures.


This Driftwood Candle Holder is from Restoration House. A very long driftwood piece just begs to be used as a candle holder..., or a coat rack, or a lamp stand, or wall art. Okay, many possibilities, see What to Do with a Long Piece of Driftwood.


My simple arrangement with pumpkin spiced candles on the kitchen island. I placed small shells around the edge of the glass tray. Same designer trick as with the pots in the fireplace, using different heights.


Then, in my book, decorating with candles also includes storing the candles out in the open. I love to find uses for glass jars and I know many of you do too. This was a large pickle jar (husband loves pickles). To give it a coastal touch I hung a shell. For more ideas go to: 8 Ways to Decorate Bottles and Jars Beach Style.

Do you like any of these ideas?

More Candle Decorating Ideas:
Making Seashell Candles
DIY Oyster Shell Candle Holder

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Coastal Mix -A Bit of Faux, a Big Thank You and more

I am super happy that Faux Sea Life is popular, especially Faux DIY Capiz Shell Chandeliers. A member of the StumbleUpon community added the post to StumbleUpon's index of high-quality, human-curated content earlier this month, and it's been receiving a very nice stream of traffic ever since.
Photo via Samantha Pynn.

And speaking of faux.
I added another example to Starfish Salt Dough Crafts.
It's the starfish from Ann Kay Home and it looks very life like!

Then the Beautiful Blue Pumpkins received a lot of love from you too.
They were shared on Facebook a 100 times.

Thank you! Thank you!


And thank you Vanessa & Heather
for featuring my Rope Pumpkin At The Picket Fence!
You might want to join the sister's for Inspiration Friday!



Then visit Ashley at Decorology!
There's some Completely Coastal going on there too. Thanks Ashely!



Another post that's been enjoying regular visits is Fabric -From Seashell to Beach to Nautical. One of the fabric sources listed there is Spoonflower, a marketplace that allows people to sell their own fabric designs and earn 10% of the sale price. I just recently ordered a fabric from them for a lampshade (shared on my Facebook Page). Unfortunately it didn't work in the room. Now I'm working on a Completely Coastal fabric line. As the saying goes, necessity is the mother of invention. This is one of the designs I'm playing with, using the starfish photograph that you can see in the header.



Now that cooler weather has set in, I want fire!
Here are 12 Fireplaces for people who love the Sea.
Since I don't have a fireplace, I use the next best thing.
Candles. Lots of candles! Stay tuned for a candle post.


The scent of a beach bonfire captured in a candle by Makai!



Diving Designs just joined as a sponsor!
Nikki and Brian are passionate about Scuba diving,
and they are showing their love for the ocean and sea life
through their gorgeous and elegant jewelry pieces.



Lastly, inspired by this Painted Quahog Shell with Quote, I'm planning on publishing a sea of coastal sayings and quotes. If you know one, please share in the comments or on my Facebook Page. If you have a picture, I'd love to include it!

"It’s hard for me to put into words why I like the beach so much.
Everything about it is renewing for me, almost like therapy…Beach Therapy."
Amy Dykens -from Melinda at Ocean Offerings.


Thank you all so very much for celebrating the sea with me!

Happy Weekend, Everyone!

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Unique Window Treatment Idea

Designer Kim Coleman uses shell and starfish shadow boxes instead of standard window treatments. What works for this Pool House could work for a cottage too. Simply add blinds for privacy. What do you think of this window treatment idea?


The shadow boxes are available at Outer Banks Trading Group.


They look quite stunning grouped together like this too. Seen at Carter Design Group.

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Starfish Salt Dough Craft

What have you been baking in your kitchen? Pumpkin pie? Maybe after seeing these you'll be baking decorative salt dough starfish!


Only few ingredients are needed. 2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 cup salt and cold water -plus your imagination. You'll find the Salt Dough Starfish Tutorial at Bird's Party! No forms/cookie cutters are used, just mold the dough to resemble a starfish. The finished shapes can be air dried or baked, then made smooth with find grid sand paper, and you can paint them too.

Want to see more examples?


Unlike Bird's Party, Natascha of Ann Kay Home mixes an equal amount of salt and flour, and doesn't form a ball but single "sausages" that she then puts together in a star shape. "A tiny amount of water helps to smoothen the surface to avoid visible seams. And I use a fork to prick the holes," she says.


and here is Tanya's Salt Dough Starfish. She makes the sculpting sound real easy.


And inspired by Tanya, Fonda made her version of Salt Dough Starfish. The starfish is painted with a mixture of orange and white acrylic paint.

I'm going to try this. What about you?

Update:


Trishia, a Completely Coastal subscriber from Gloucester, MA, tried the salt dough starfish after reading this post. She used the technique of rolling the starfish legs into sausages and then connecting them together. She did end up baking them instead of letting them dry for a couple of days which gave them a suntan. So she had to slap some white primer on them! I think they turned out awesome and look very real!

Browse all Starfish Crafts and check out everything in the subcategory Faux Sea Life.

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Coastal Design Ideas by Tracery Interiors

Tracery Interiors is a Florida design group with a shop in Rosemary Beach, and I got lost on their Blog, browsing through projects. This is a picture from the Southern Living Idea House in Texas which they designed. The nautical rope lamps are from Tracery's shop -go to My List of Nautical Luxury Decor and you'll see them in green!

And speaking of idea house. Have you seen Coastal Living's Idea House 2010 in Seabrook, WA, and this years Ultimate Beach House in Virginia?


I love the vintage life preserver ring they included in this vignette...


... and the nautical flag chest is pretty cool too. Click here to see more of this cottage. Browse everything in the subcategory Signal Flags.

If you're looking to add the nautical theme to a bedroom, make sure to view this post: Chic Bedrooms -15 Nautical Design Ideas.


What's on your Coffee Table? Here are Tracery's Coffee Table design ideas: Mixing textures and sizes of items. This creates balance in the space. And they use books as anchors almost all the time. Their tip, select beautiful books that reflect your interests, loves, places you have seen, or that are just plain pretty. Browse Books featured here on Completely Coastal -many are coffee table material!


A grouping of frames that are made from homes in Alabama that were scheduled to be torn down. They do remind me a of the Pretty Pallet Frames! The furniture pieces, rug and lamp are from Tracery.


This is their shop. I love the painting! Tracery Interiors also shares their favorite basic Paint Colors -the best white, the best natural, a charcoal, a solid chocolate and basic black. They usually prefer neutral paint for the rooms and add colors through artwork, pillows or a piece of colorful furniture.

In need of color inspiration? Click below!
Room Color Schemes from the Shore
The Color Palette Generator
Ocean Decor from a Memory
Coastal Living by Colors
Ocean Blue Living Rooms
Turquoise for the Bedroom
Decorating with the Color Shell Pink

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Ikea Hack -A Tray to Sea with Mosaic Tiles

This is my Ikea hack! For the longest time I wanted to do something creative with my Ikea Wood Tray. Not only was it plain white on the inside but also showing wear and tear.


First, the bottom of the tray needed to be stronger. My husband's handy work!


We had some 12x12 mosaic tiles left from our shower redo, so I peeled off the mini squares to create a mosaic that spelled out SEA.


After sanding the inside I laid out the design.


Once all the tiles were glued on (with hot glue), I took my Ikea hack tray outside for the messy part -grouting! This was last week and it was warm and sunny.


I used premixed grout.


Trick here was not to wash away the grout. Make sure the sponge is not too wet. For a thorough cleaning wait til grout is completely dry.


Et voilà. My completed Ikea hack! Note: the kitchen island is from Ikea too. See My Kitchen Remodel with Ikea Island.

Check out all Crafts & DIY Projects.

Other things I made:
Easy Decorative Pumpkin Craft with Rope
Free Keep Calm Posters
My Round Shell Mirror -A Simple Tutorial
My Coastal Crafts & Projects Round up

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