Coastal Inspired Interiors

Decorating your living room seaside style is one way to bring summer to your home. Here are inspiring photos of some of the beautiful coastal homes.

photo from Lonny

Coastal inspired interiors mostly have a light and neutral color palette with accents of blue, sea green, or coral. Some of the furniture are made of rattan or bamboo.

photo from Coast Furniture and Interiors

These rooms are accessorized with natural objects found at the beach. The seashells on glass bowls, sculptural coral skeleton and grasscloth rugs create a relaxed vibe in the room. 

photo from Lonny

My favorite coastal design in particular is the residential home in Laguna Beach designed by Darci Goodman. The mixing of patterns and bright colors work perfectly for this house.

photo from Darci Goodman Design

Here are materials inspired by Darci Goodman’s design:

Floor

1. Solid hardwood flooring from Lowe's

2. Color bound seagrass rug from Pottery Barn

Sofa

3. Mullholland all purpose linens in Dove from Duralee

Throw Pillow

4. Sedona velvet collection in Navy from Duralee

5. Slick outdoor coral from Calico

6. Waverly felicite indigo fabric from Houzz

Paint

7. Distant grey from Benjamin Moore

8. Soft Chamois from Benjamin Moore

Seventh Tree Soaps

Seventh Tree Soaps is created by Amy Ta from Sydney, Australia. I found out about them when they were featured in the online magazine Tickle the Imagination.

These are natural, handmade, vegan soaps, balms and serums. What is different about these from the commercial soap is that these are cold processed. It is gentle and will not strip away the natural oils from your skin.

The soaps are packaged in beautiful boxes made of 100% recycled post consumer paper and designed by Amy herself.

You can get a 10% discount at her Big Cartel shop Seventh Tree Soaps using this coupon code:

Mango Lemongrass Smoothie

Here's a smoothie recipe perfect for a hot day. The lemongrass gives the it an unexpected zing and the basil makes it even more refreshing. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
- 4 stalks of lemongrass
- 4 cups of water
- 2 cups diced ripe mango
- 5-6 fresh basil leaves
- ice cubes
- honey or stevia (to taste)

Directions:
- Boil the water and lemongrass stalks. Let it steep for 5 to 10 minutes. Pour the water over a bowl with strainer and set it aside.
- Place the mango, basil leaves and lemongrass water in the blender and blend until smooth.
- Add ice cubes in the blender and blend some more
- If you want the smoothie to be a little sweeter, add honey or stevia

Hand Carved Animal Toys by Abraham Acala II

Yesterday my sister introduced me to a set of nicely made animal toys made by Abraham Acala II. His pieces are simple and beautiful, I just had to share it in my blog.

Abraham Acala II hand carves animal toys made of Langka (or Jackfruit) wood. He also makes pentatonic lyre made of Langka as well. 

His shop is located in Paete, Laguna, where craftsmen are highly reputable for their wood carving skills in the Philippines

The size of his carved animals range from about three to eight inches tall and comes in a set of 11 animals (farm animals, pets, wild animals).

Unfortunately he does not have his own website. But for those who are interested in ordering, you may contact him through the information found in his Alibaba page.

Upcycled T-shirt Headband

Today I will show you how to put your old shirts to good use by turning them into headbands.

Look for old shirts that are made of cotton jersey, so that it will nicely curl into thin strips when stretched. I had pretty bright shirts that I don't use anymore. But I chose the neon pink for this project.

Cut them into strips, about 2 inches wide, and for the length it should be twice as long as the circumference of your head. I had to use sticky tape to keep the shirt from moving while i was cutting it.

Then stretch each strip as far as you can. This will curl the sides of the strip. It should look something like the one on the photo below. Then for the accent at the middle portion of the headband, I made a knot that looks like an infinity sign. You can also watch the video on how to do the knot on Sugar Bee Crafts

After that, I did a fishtail braid on both sides of the headband.

You can sew both ends together. But I have poor sewing skills. That's why I never sewed for fabric projects. Anyway, what I did was I tied both ends together cut the edges. I know it looks messy. You can cover that with a piece of cloth

And here's the finished product:

I wore this today when I went out for a jog with my dad. It was pretty snug and it did not loosen on my head all throughout our jog. 

Hope you like this tutorial!

Homemade Lavender Lemon Sugar Scrub

Here's how to make your own lavender lemon sugar scrub. The scent is relaxing and it will leave your skin soft and moisturized. Most of the ingredients are found in your kitchen. Lavender essential oil can be bought at a health and beauty store.

Ingredients:

- 4 tbsp brown sugar

- 4 tbsp white sugar

- 6 tbsp virgin coconut oil (or olive oil)

- 1 tbsp lemon juice

- 5 drops lavender oil

Combine white and brown sugar in a bowl. If you don't have brown sugar, that's fine, you can use 8 tbsp white sugar instead.

Add 6 tbsp of virgin coconut oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, and 5 drops of lavender oil. Mix everything until it looks like this:

Transfer your scrub in a container, like a glass jar as shown in the photo below. Scoop out about a teaspoon of your sugar scrub and massage on your skin. Rinse after exfoliating.

Pretty Pastel Kitchen Inspiration

1. Photo from Patchwork Harmony

2. Striped apron and cakestand both from H&M Home

3. Pastel colored windsor chairs paired with ombre table cloth. Photo by jonathanwgooch

4. Yvestown's kitchen - image from sunnysblog

5. Baby pink coffee machine and a powder blue Smeg. Photo from Over the Edge Design

6. Bakery tine cans from H&M Home

7. Candy Kitchen - article by Candy Channing on dailymail.co.uk. Click on the link for more details on the items in the photo

8. Candy colored ceramics from Anna Weinreich's blog

9. Pastel colored cakes from The Sweetest Occasion. Photo by Jenny Haas

Papaya Smoothie Recipe

If you're up for something that's refreshing and also good for digestion, I recommend making your own papaya smoothie. Here's one recipe that i'd like to share with you.

You will need:

- 250 ml coconut water

- 1 cup diced papaya

- 1 tsp honey to taste

- 1 tbsp lemon juice (or calamansi juice)

- some ice cubes

Just place everything in a blender and blend well!

In other websites that I have seen, they add pineapple into their smoothie for more flavor. You can do that as well. Pineapple has a lot of fiber and is good for the body.

 This drink is perfect for a hot weather or if you just want to have something refreshing for any kind of day! Enjoy!

Decorate Your Pencils with Washi Tape

Hi guys. I took a long break from blogging because I was reviewing for my licensure exams. And now that the exams are over, all I have to do is to wait for the results and go on with my life.

I have left over #2 pencils from the exams, five of the six pencils that I bought were not used. Of course I will still be able to use these in the future when I return to work. To make these pencils a little livelier, I decorated them with washi tape.

Bought these rolls of washi tape from Hey Kessy. Some of these are from their new collection.

Just cut a strip of washi tape with the same length as your pencil. Stick it on to the pencil and carefully spread it, making sure that there are no air bubbles left. Do this step twice, as the pencil needs two strips of tape to be completely covered.

Then when you're done, trim the edges and sharpen your pencils.

Tadaaa! Your boring yellow pencils are now bright and colorful.

Here's another shot of the finished product. Look how pretty they are now that they're clad in patterns.

This project is so easy, even kids can do this and use their decorated pencils in school. It's good to be back! I will write more on this blog now that I have enough time for it :)