Coastal Grandmother or Coastal Grandmillenial?

"Coastal Grandmother" rages on as the trend of Summer 2022. Of course, it doesn't hurt that we are all currently obsessed with the latest AD feature on Nancy Meyer's home that was recently redecorated by Mark D. Sikes.

I'm not a trend follower but as I posted here and here, I've been a coastal grandmother for decades. Here's the thing about the trend (and I'd like to add "chic" to the moniker CG to up it's game a touch!) - making a shift to coastal grandmother does not require a huge investment in decor items or a complete redo of a room. It's all about an appreciation for enjoying life's little pleasures.

A lot of the home decor style aspect of coastal grandmother takes it's cue from Nancy Meyers films or Ina Garten's cooking and lifestyle posts.  Now, we all know these are homes and spaces created with larger budgets than many of us have, but because the look is simpler than Grandmillenial and other styles it's easier to recreate the look. Or just add a few touches of CG to your home for a little bit of Summery flair. Perhaps we might coin the term "Coastal Grandmillenial Chic" for those of us who are a little more colorful or collected in our decor preference?

What can you do with things you have on hand or items that are inexpensive and easy to find? Here are some quick and easy tips!!

Do you have... baskets? Yes, then pile them up to use in the kitchen. Fill them with lemons or limes to use in refreshing summer drinks or to make your daily water a little more exciting! If you don't have baskets they are easily collected from a thrift sore for as little as 25 cents! Grab a few. Look for rattan or wicker place mats while you are there too. Natural fiber accessories are key to this look. But you don't have to go crazy - just add as little or as much as you like. 

Fresh flowers are such a beautiful coastal grandmother touch. You don't need expensive flowers or fancy vases. You can pick flowers from your yard (or the roadside) and place them in something as simple as a clear vase or drinking glass even. 

Vases are always in abundance at the thrift store for a dollar if you don't have anything at home already. Dot them around the house - kitchen counter, sofa table, bedside table.

You can splurge on grocery store flowers or a small fern (place in a little basket) to add a touch of life to a room. Potted herbs are a great choice too because they are pretty, aromatic and useful. 

What's a coastal grandmother without a few seashells?? Just grab those shells you've collected on previous beach trips and pile them in a bowl on the coffee table or the middle of the dining table. They don't have to be museum specimens! Just show off their natural beauty. Don't have any sea shells that you collected personally? I found bags of seashells at the dollar store and Goodwill. You don't need sign that say "Beach" or kitschy coastal items. A few shells, a piece of driftwood or other natural finds are just the right touch. 

Lamps and candles are a nice CG touch as well - adding atmosphere to the porch, kitchen or living areas in ways that overhead lighting can't do.

 I'm really enjoying a citronella + vetiver candle from Bath and Body Works because it smells good and keeps mosquitos away. I'm using it on my screened porch just in case one sneaks in. I also love candles from Candlefish in Charleston SC. I prefer to use only white candles in my home and Candlefish creates white candles in hundreds of scents - you can even create your own signature scent. I've never done it because I love so many of the ones they have in their library of scents!

So, are you strictly a Coastal Grandmother by definition using minimal color like Nancy Meyers or do you think you're a little more "Coastal Grandmillenial Chic" (using my new terminology!) like I am? All of the items below are things that I use in my summery decor and some are items I use year round - natural materials, a mixture of textures and metals, a touch of coastal decor and shells, plants and/or flowers and definitely blue and white. 

Painting the Porch

I honestly didn't know if I should call this post "Painting the Porch Floor Green" (which is basically what this is about), "Messel Green", or "My Obsession with Amanda Lindroth's Bahamian Home."

We have a large screened in porch on the back of our house. 

We are porch people. 

We live outside about 9 months of the year and any unusually warm days in the Winter months. 

It has been added on to over the years and is a bit quirky for this reason. 

People always want to hear the story of our porch "evolution" when they see it the first time :)

When the pandemic struck and lockdown started I began a series of #pandemicprojects to keep myself busy. They all needed to be done anyway and they were a great distraction.

One of these projects was painting the screened in porch floor 

and the wall that is inside the porch but is the exterior of our house. 

This has been a process because A) it is a large porch as I said B) it is fully furnished with some rather large heavy pieces to move around and C) it has to be painted in a way that the dog rowdy puppy Cooper doesn't track through wet paint so that means blocking off sections to paint one at a time.

Fresh green floor paint on the left and the dingy old paint on the right.

And, yes since it's 2020, let's throw in a broken bone and a walking boot :(

What does this have to do with Messel Green (whatever that is you ask) and Amanda Lindroth?

If you are as obsessed with her book "Island Hopping" as I am then you are probably beginning to figure this out.

Years ago our deck floor was hunter green but when we screened it in I knew I needed a medium green for the floor because we had some dark green porch furniture and I needed there to be a difference in the greens. I knew my ceilings would be light blue because I am originally from Charleston SC and that's what we do.

I decided to look through some pictures from a trip to the Bahamas for porch inspiration and I kept seeing this unique, not too dark green color that seemed like it could work as a "neutral" on our porch floor. We had a partial 5 gallon bucket of dark green so we mixed in some OOPS paint (remember that??) to lighten it up and matched that green as closely as we could.

(Pictures from the good ol' days when we could travel)

(I'm also now wondering why I didn't buy that center painting of the palm trees on the yellow background?)

Fast forward a bit and the porch needed a fresh coat of paint. This green we mixed had worked out great but it was still a bit yellow-er than this Caribbean green I was after. I had seen pictures of Amanda Lindroth's home in some of the shelter mags by then and she used that same Caribbean green I liked so much! I started searching through my Sherwin Williams fan deck for the perfect color. I narrowed it down to SW Lounge Green. (By the way, another fav designer Eddie Ross recently used Lounge Green in his home restoration!!)

About that time my long awaited copy of "Island Hopping" arrived and there was the story of that particular Caribbean green. It is one of Amanda Lindroth's go to colors and it is named after a famous designer/builder  in the Caribbean named (you guessed it) Oliver Messel. He designed homes in Barbados and Mustique in the 60's and 70's and used this green a great deal. 

So my color had a name - Messel Green - and if that color is a favorite of Amanda Lindroth whose style is everything I love then it must be the perfect color for my porch floor!! #validation

So here we are, 5 months in to a stay at home situation, and I'm finally about to finish painting my porch floor!! 

I'm pretty sure this is more than you want to know about my (or any) porch floor paint color but, then again, we have time on our hands still and this long winded explanation of why my porch floor color is this green might just be what you needed to fill 5 minutes of your day!!

Here is a little look at our porch with it's pretty green (freshly painted!!) floor.

I'm going to start with some pictures I took in the evening.

(I know there's a whole thing about not taking pictures for blogs and IG with lamps on but that's when I love the porch most so I'm going for it.)

I'm standing in one corner (which is against the house) facing the opposite corner. 

In this next picture I'm standing in the opposite corner from the one above 

looking back toward the table and chairs.

I'm standing in this nook (below) that has our hanging/swinging bed 

and a big, comfy wicker chaise.

If you look at the first picture you can see the golden seahorse outline and the wicker lamp if you need a point of reference for this to make sense. See, it's a lot of floor to paint. That's why it has taken me this whole lockdown to get it done! Not to mention the 629 other projects I kept coming up with :)

What's under the big green tarp, you ask?

It is a pool table. I"ll uncover it and show you sometime. 

It's tarped to protect it from the weather and me. 

Mostly me because I like to do big, messy projects on it.

(In this picture I am standing at the kitchen door which is where we come out onto the screened porch from the house.)

If you've been following me for even a second then you know all of this furniture, lamps and accessories have been thrifted. Everything is comfy and nothing is too fancy for propping up your feet, sitting a drink down on the table next to you, eating on the furniture or sharing a nap spot with Cooper.

Speaking of Cooper...

We have 10 chairs at the table but we can squeeze in a few more if when we need to.

Ready for a laugh?

 My BIL made this checkerboard for us several years ago. 

Look at the bottle caps he used :)

I think this year is "Corona Extra!"

So now we've come full circle. 

I was standing in front of this bar cart when I took the picture across the porch to the opposite corner. 

Thank you for joining me for an evening tour of my favorite place "in" our house at my favorite time of day. And if you made it through all of this long-winded look at our screened porch, double thank you!

40 Clams!

"Clams" is a slang term for dollars. 

It was used in the 1920's so I guess it's appropriate for 2020!

What I'm really talking about is neither money nor actual clams!

I'm sharing a great find - my giant clam shell that I got for , you guessed it, 40 dollars!

I have wanted a really big faux clam shell for years. Yearrrrrsss!

But they were out of my price range. Literally hundreds of dollars from some sites.

And then I stumbled across what appeared to be a large, nice looking clam shell 

on the Wal-Mart website. (I know, right??)

This was the description:

Dimensions: 22.5W x 13D x 7H in

Hand cast in cement

Antique white finish

For outdoor use

I looked at other well known decor sites and compared the details of far pricier clam shells. They seemed to be the same size, material, color, etc. 

But this one was only $40.00 plus FREE shipping!! 

This is important - it's made from concrete. 

I decided to give it a try. I was a bit skeptical but 
 I could always return it and, hey, it's only 40 clams!!

It came very quickly and is fabulous!! 

So I feel like it was 40 clams well spent!!

Here are some images from my Pinterest board of giant clam shells in use.

Is this not gorgeous?? 
Everything on @theislandstandard IG feed is beyond beautiful!

And from another favorite IG feed

@luxereportdesigns 

They basically win "Best Use Of Seashells on IG!"

See what I mean!?!

I had to share - no reason to "clam up" when there's a good deal out there!

Design Crush - A Lot More Style

I have recently discovered and started stalking  following

 @alotmorestyle on Instagram.

I'm in love with her design work. She is definitely an "instagram favorite."

Her name is Celine Lotmore Jones. 

Celine is Bahamian and does beautiful interior design

 with a wonderful tropical aesthetic.

She recently posted these pictures on her IG Stories.

 They are from an island project and I love every single item and detail.

Take a look and you will want to book a tropical vacay or move to an island!

What a great, practical entryway. 

Look at the inserts on the closet doors.

This display makes me want to grab one of those bags, 

fill it with a snack and a towel and head to the nearest beach.

Celine also has a straw accessories business 

that sells some of the most beautiful embroidered straw bags and hats.

This kitchen is fabulous.The gorgeous tropical mural. Straw shades on the light fixture. The cute white pagoda shelves. Rattan bar stools and I love a glossy ceiling that reflects the light. 

Oh, and that cute little monkey.

Next up, gorgeous, serene bedrooms. 

Delightful spots to escape the tropical heat and rest.

Seashell prints and a seafoam green chair that looks like a scallop shell. 

A subtle and elegant nod to the island locale.

And those pagoda shelves are stunning.

I love bedrooms with twin beds.

 The canopies and the light fixture are so elegant.

And then the outdoor spaces which are my personal favorite to look at, decorate myself,

 and to enjoy!

Lots of wicker and a beautiful turquoise block print fabric. 

Two other key ingredients for island porch life - palms and ceiling fans.

This porch has a warm coral upholstery, a pair of comfy wicker chaise

 and my all time favorite for relaxing - the swinging bed. 

Be sure to follow @alotemorestyle on IG for beautiful island style inspiration

 (and she has adorable kiddos too!)

Chinoiserie Shelfie

I found this little shelf at GW about 2 months ago. 

I wasn't sure where it was going in my home ...

but I knew it was going home with me!

Some haters gonna hate but I painted this little shelf.

It had some damage to the finish 
and I thought it would work better for me if it was painted. 

I've been waiting to decide the "where" so I could decide what color!

Progress shot. It's painted and I'm deciding how high to hang it. 

Also, how to hang it because it was a bit heavy 
and I knew some large shells were going on it as well.

Cooper is very enthusiastic about interior design :)

The previous display shelf in this area actually sat on the table top 

so I'm excited that this one will hang. 

It means I can put a lamp on this table and we need a lamp at this end of the couch.

(It means more display space too!)

The shells and coral are from our travels. 

The blue and white lamps and planter are thrifted. The bamboo chair was thrifted as well.

The table was my grandmother's from Charleston. I love that table. It's still "brown" :)

The seascapes were inherited from my great-uncle and I love them.

The plant is a white bird of paradise I bought on a trip to Florida a few weeks ago.

 I hope my thumb is green enough that it blooms someday.

I've moved it outside to a sunnier spot to help it bloom 

and replaced it with a pretty little fern leaf begonia.

*not sponsored but I used this spray paint to paint my shelf. 

It was a great color - Smokey Beige. 

The coverage was great too - I was covering black!