Cosy corners of the beach house

Today for our tales from vacationville. I am going to show you some photos of my favorite beach house corners. I would give you yet another photo of the ocean, but trust me when I tell you, it looks the same as yesterday and the day before. A little more gray, but all in all, the same.

This photo is what I call my dog wall. We had decided that this house was to have no TV. This small spot on the Oregon coast was going to be family time. Board games, chatting, drinking cocoa by the fire, bonding as a family. What a schmuck I am! I lasted one night. I don't like board games. I think TV is wonderful and after spending an entire day with your family, the last thing you crave, is an entire night with said family.
Out to Costco we went, and bought a TV. Unfortunately, it didn't fit in the armoire. We ripped off the top of the armoire and set it on the base. Now it became a giant eyesore. So I had a lot of these pictures grouped in other areas of the house, I gathered them up and hung them all around the giant black TV. I love it. They are mostly pugs but other breeds are joining in the fun. One of the pictures is a project my kid did in school. I had photos taken of Herbie to hang here, but they were snagged by my kid and hang in his room.

The next photo is a family project we did in 2006 when we were remodeling our kitchen. I broke a jadeite jar and that is what started the vision. I hated to throw away the pieces because they were such a nice green color. So I took a pencil, drew a shape on the wall and went to town. I bought up souvenir plates. On EBay, I found the airline words that someone had already cut up. Took the broken pieces of jadeite and went to town. We used tile cutters and cut up the plates. Spread adhesive on the wall and just stuck the china shards up there any old way we wanted. I used the airline words to form a border but that was really the only cohesive thought, everything else was random. Let it dry, grouted it and took a car from the Life game, stuck in some little pegs (which I need to change, the ex is gone) and glued it to the Oregon Coast piece. I think it is wonderful!
The last photo is the kitchen fireplace. In these old houses, they always give you what is known as a breakfast nook. But really it is just a giant stupid waste of space. I don't want to eat in the kitchen. Plus in this house, it is right by the kitchen door. Over the years we have made it all sorts of things but it always ends up as a place to put mounds of crap that no one wants to put away. Since it is so close to the garage, you unload the car right to this area. Then someone (me) is forced to trip over this lovely pile while preparing breakfast, lunch and dinner.

No more.

I wanted a fireplace but alas, we had no way of venting one without doing a major remodel. Then at a fireplace store, I found an electric one with a heater. Down next to the frigid ocean, extra heat is always needed. I bought it. Had a base built so the fireplace would be a little higher. Splurged on some beautiful pink tile. Then I bought Sea Glass. All of my sea glass is natural made, which means it was tumbled smooth by the ocean and not man made in a rock tumbler. Most of mine came from Hawaii. It took about a year of watching EBay auctions before I had enough. I was pretty picky. I wanted the light and airy colors, which are the most popular. Then the kid and I just glued them to the wall. This is still an on-going project. I want to sea glass the front of the base. I had used the tile, but I don't like it. I still need to grout between the pink tile but I want to get all the sea glass up before I do.
Now at night the fireplace glows, the little Department 56 Christmas Boat casts a warm light and it is toasty in the chair.

Right now the area is holding the upstairs TV, so I still haven't gotten rid of the dump all your crap right next to the door mentality. But maybe soon.