Coastal Home Inspiration {From Amazon}

It's no secret we love the coast around here. There is something about being close to the ocean that just soothes the soul. When we got home from the Bahamas this summer I ordered some sea glass inspired bead garland to go with a couple of coral pieces and every time I walk by this little area it makes me think of our time in the islands. 

If you are looking for a little coastal home inspiration I've put together some of our favorite items from Amazon. These pieces won't break the bank and they are sure to give you the coastal vibes without having to take a trip anywhere!

1. Coral Flower - ($16)

2. Wooden Decorative Links - ($23) 

3. Decorative Stacking Books - ($35) 

4. Sea Glass Inspired Bead Garland - ($21) 

4. Tassel Pillow - ($28) 

5. Linen Pillow Covers - ($14)  

6. Round Side Table - ($200)

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5-Step DIY Wall Shelf

Slowly, but surely, we are making our house feel like a home. Funnily, the spaces I've been concentrating on the most are the ones we aren't frequenting often, or aren't seen by many people. 

Why?? 

The only thing I can think of is that these rooms are blank/clean spaces. No clutter. No kid toys. No random piles from my husband. Just blank rooms I can be creative in. 

The guest bedroom has been one of my favorite to work on. Coastal style is my jam and this room is chock full of it. I'll share a full tour soon, but first I wanted to share an easy project that I did to help complete the room. 

The walls of the guest room were looking pretty plain. Especially over the bed. We've done all these fun features, but the rooms still looked kind of "blah". I knew I wanted to include some coastal themed artwork and water color prints that we've collected on our travels, but nothing would be large enough for the space.

It's also a guest bedroom/pool changing area, and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on anything. After looking at all my available artwork, I decided to hang a shelf and do a framed display of some of the pieces. 

I had a chippy/coastal/antique style shelf in mind and couldn't quite find what I was looking for in a brick and mortar. Then online I was shocked at some of the prices. 

After perusing the every popular Home Depot for ideas, I realized I could make my shelf pretty easily. 

I purchased the few materials I needed, decided what paint color to use, and with in one afternoon and just a few steps, I had a wall shelf! 

I loved how it turned out. I especially loved how it was much cheaper than what I was looking at online. I really really loved that it only took about an hour or so of work to make. 

What do you think??

INSTRUCTIONS TO MAKE YOUR OWN 5-STEP DIY SHELF

(Note: We've made a similar shelf in my son's room multiple times. So the idea was born from those instructions.)

Materials Used:

• 1 2x8in pine board
• 2 decorative corbels (I purchased these decorative wood corbels from Home Depot.) 
• Paint (Sherwin Williams Antique White is what I used for this project)
• 80 grit sandpaper
• Drill
• 1in drywall screws

Instructions: 

1. Cut your board to size. (We had a board on hand that I used. It is approximate 4 feet in length.) 
2. Paint all sides of the board, and the corbels.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. Once the paint is dry, use the sandpaper to smooth all edges and corners. (To get that distressed look you sand down edges to the raw wood.)
   
   
   
   
   
4. Hang and secure the corbels to desired location in the wall with drill and dry wall screws.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Center shelf board over corbels and attach with screws
   
   
   
   
   
   And that's it. Just a few steps and the shelf is DONE!

Additional Notes: 

- If you don't have a saw to cut your board, Lowe's and Home Depot will both cut the board to size for you on site. 

- I hung my corbels in three inches in from the edge of where I wanted to the edge of the shelf to be. You can put them at the ends or bring them in. Either way it looks great! 

- You can touch up shelf board with wood putty and a dab of paint if desired to hide the screws. I skipped this step since my shelf is high enough up they wouldn't be noticeable. 

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DIY Anchor Pallet Wood Sign

This DIY anchor pallet wood sign might be one of the easiest projects we have ever done! Mostly because it wasn't a long thought out project. On Friday night I was sitting in our office and glanced over at a box that had been leaning against the wall for well over the year. I was sipping on wine, catching up on emails and suddenly thought, "I know what to do with that!".

In the box contained a wooden anchor monogrammed with our initial. I had ordered it last spring or summer. I knew where I wanted to hang it, but always thought it needed a little something more in the space so I tabled the project. Until wine-aspiration hit.

I knew we had some left over pallets from a Christmas present. We kept meaning to put them in the trash collection or give them to someone who could use them, but never did. I thought if we could use the pallet wood to make a backing for the anchor sign it might look good.

I called over Mr. Cute and made him one of my infamous design drawings. He took two seconds to look at it and said it would be super easy for him to knock out.

Saturday rolled around and after our soccer parent duties were done for the day, he broke out his tools and got to work. Within an hour we had our sign ready to hang!

I took a few pictures through the process in case anyone wants instructions on how to make their own.

HOW TO MAKE A DIY ANCHOR PALLET WOOD SIGN

WHAT YOU'LL NEED

• A wooden anchor or design in your choice (obviously these instructions could work with anything. You would just have to adjust your dimensions). I ordered my monogrammed anchor from here. 
• Pallet wood - This project used approximately two pallets of wood. 
• Trim nails (We used a nail gun to mail this process a little quicker.)
• A compound miter saw (Not sure if this is necessary, but it made the project go much faster. You could probably saw and sand, it would just be a longer process.)
• Chalk paint

INSTRUCTIONS

• Pull all usable boards from your pallets. We made our sign 19" across, so Mr. Cute made sure to pull good boards with enough length for him to trim down. 

• Measure, mark and cut down the boards to your desired size. Again, we knew we wanted a sign around 19" wide so Mr. Cute cut down around 8 boards at that length with his compound miter saw. 

• Arrange the boards in the order you want before adhering them together. Because of the varying colors of wood we made sure to arrange the boards in a pattern we thought would look best. 

• Once you've chosen your desired layout you can begin nailing the boards together. Mr. Cute cut  two boards the length of the sign for the back (our was approximately 26" in length). He placed the boards in the pattern we chose on top and then nailed each board into them with trim nails. 

Note: Originally we were going to frame in the sign too, but we didn't have enough usable wood left over from the pallets. 

• Now that the pallet backing is done, lay flat and place the monogram on top to make sure everything looks the way you want it and measures correctly. 

• Time to paint! 

Originally I had plans to paint the pallet wood white and the monogram navy, but once I saw it all together I thought it actually looked good natural. Mr. Cute suggested maybe just painting the monogram so I went with a white chalk paint and loved how it turned out. 

• Let the chalk paint dry and then paint over it once with a clear coat. 

• After everything is dry, remeasure and place your anchor on the pallet wood for final attachment. 

• Attach the sign with two small trim nails at the top and the bottom. Fill in any holes with a quick touch up of your paint color. 

• Time to hang! Now your DIY anchor pallet wood sign shoulda be ready for display! 

We have a little rolling bar cart/cooler someone gave Mr. Cute a few years ago on one of our patios and I placed the sign over it. The minute we hung the sign I knew it was the perfect use for the monogrammed anchor.  We hung the sign a little higher than normal because I didn't want anyone to knock into it when they were opening the top of the cooler when getting a drink. It is super heavy and falling on someone would most definitely hurt. 

I have plans to add a little something to each side of the sign. Maybe glassware holders or two smaller signs? I'm tossing a few ideas around in my head. A little more wine-spiration and I'm sure I will come up with something good. ;)

But for now, I love that it was a quick and easy project and it looks great in the space! And I never thought I would be a pallet wood kind of girl, but after seeing it all together I am already thinking of other projects I can make with it.

Do you have a pallet wood project you have done? Share with us! I can't wait to see what all the possibilities are! 

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