Balboa Island and Beyond-Coastal Tour

Happy Monday folks! Welcome to another trip down the Sunset Coast. My aunt was visiting last week from San Jose. She lives in California, but she had never been to the cute touristy destination called Balboa Island. So, my mother and I took her on a little day tour that included lunch in Newport Beach, Balboa Island, a drive through Corona Del Mar and a stop at the fabulous Roger's Gardens.

Come along for the tour! It's picture heavy.. we saw so much we were pretty over stimulated with fantastic shopping and sites.

My mom, Joan and her 'baby' sister Aunt Vonnie

First stop was lunch at Alta Coffee in Newport Beach. This is a funky little place with outdoor seating, visiting art displays and yummy food! They have frequent entertainment, poetry readings and open mike nights. Nothing fancy, but fresh and tasty coffee, bakery goods and food is found here.

After visiting the local art gallery and lunch, we drove on to Balboa Island.

Balboa Island is in Newport Beach. It's an idyllic vacation and year round place. It has the requisite 'main street' lined with shops and restaurants. There are gorgeous waterfront homes on the harbor, huge yachts, as well as quaint old cottages. Have a look !

Photos weren't allowed in here, but my favorite shop is Art for the Soul.. full of painted furniture, artwork, jewelry and one of a kind creations.

Fantastic homes with inviting decks along the canals and streets beckon you to walk and gawk.

After a little tour of Balboa Island, we drove south to see Corona Del Mar, 'The Crown of the Sea'. The photo at the beginning of this post, above, is the ocean view.. ridiculously awesome!

 This is a really upscale Orange County neighborhood. Just a drive along the ocean front homes is amazing. I hadn't seen this home, below, before. I think it was constructed on 3 or 4 ocean front lots. I don't know who owns this, but you can only imagine what something like this would cost. The home looked like a movie set or something out of Fantasyland in Disneyland.



Handcrafted gate is great! A note about the banner. There is a current controversy about keeping the beach fire pits or not. People are complaining of the smoke and pollution they produce. Apparently, this home owner wants to save them!

 All these photos are of one home! All the rocks in the landscape were brought in and the home looks all hand constructed with huge timbers. I didn't do Corona Del Mar justice with photos, I got caught up with that one outrageous house.

Roger's Gardens wall of succulents~ Awesome aged planters!

 Next, one more stop on the sunset coasting tour, Roger's Gardens. Roger's is a retail nursery but so much more. We barely looked at plants because the shops are so wonderful! The shops are filled with home accessories, indoor plants, candles, pots and other unique items. More Photos!

Fuschia Filled Treescapes!

Lovely Orchids in many colors..

Flowers and pots and candles under a coveted wood shaded chandelier!

Capitivating flower displays beneath a twig Chandy!

Glass displays overlooking the outside gardens.

Patriotic tablescapes anyone?

An abundance of red, white and blue pillows!

Unique dishes! These are not glued together, they're made this way!

French inspired garden goodies!

All in all, it was a beautiful day to be a tourist along the Orange County coastline! Great sites, great company and good memories were made. Where do you like to take a day trip where you live?

Thanks for visiting my blog and I hope you'll join my site !
Have a trippy day!
Cindy


 Sharing here---Designed Decor 
The Tablescaper

Beach Style Decor and Wreaths

I just love walking around interesting neighborhoods and looking at people's homes. Last week I was walking around Newport Beach, California. This is a beautiful city  with great beaches, a harbor and upscale homes and lifestyles. I like to walk around the more funky areas near the beach and this day I was walking around the Lido Isle area. Well, there is the cutest, and I mean cutest little community called 'Lido Peninsula Resort'. It's actually a neighborhood of tiny homes.. prefab homes and mobile homes. But it is so quaint. Almost every home has done some beachy decorating in their front yard and made the most of their itty bitty lot.  Seeing all the darling decorations inspired me to do some looking around pinterest for more beachy design and especially ocean and sea inspired wreaths.
   Here are some views on my walk...Love these!

  This porch was especially comfy looking with it's red Adirondack chairs and the great signal flag pillows.

A great hippie surfboard bus. I've seen this artist's work in Laguna Beach.

 

 

 I kind of like the reflections in this picture even though I was trying to photograph the seashell wreath. Do you see my head?

A sweet, classic white picket fence and some lighthouse painted chairs look inviting. How about those starfish in the windows?

 I liked this wreath, a combination of shells, fishnet and a mermaid.

 

 

 A nice hue of purple on this door and an inviting flower painting welcomes visitors.

Here's a view of one of the streets. These are the nicer homes. Many of the homes were mobile homes that were added onto like the one below.

 

This tiny home made the most of it's 'yard' using pots full of cactus and succulents. There's my orange door! I'm in an orange phase lately.

 

Now don't get ideas that you want to move to these little homes. As cute as they were, it is Newport Beach and the prices are high. The bad thing is, they're on leased land and when I went into an open house a couple years ago, the lease alone was $2400 a month! I think most of the people there use them as vacation cottages. It was certainly a perfect spot, right on the harbor with it's own beach.

Homebytheseashore.com

Okay, so I won't get a teeny, vacation cottage.. But, I could add some beach decor to my home! I found some beautiful wreaths on Pinterest.

Windandweather.com

 

Etsy.com/thechicadeeshop

 

Pinterest

 

http://blog.driftsc.com/

 

nicoleblissfullyblessed.com

 

anniescraftideas.blogspot.com

 

craftsdecorpins.com

 

I really like the wreaths with driftwood and seashells. Maybe I'll start collecting some driftwood and make one of these babies. Or maybe I'll just make this boat and sail off into dreamland!

thefancy.com

 

Which wreath do you like best?

Have a beachy day!

Cindy

 

Sharing at these places.. check them out!

My Simple Home Life

Dwellings

MockingHill Cottage

Good Morning Spring Home! and a peak at my Living Room

Happy Spring! I'd thought I'd start off this bloggy thing with some shots of my home--starting with the main level where the living room, dining room and kitchen are. This morning the sun was streaming in nicely and this is the first thing I see when I come downstairs and head to the kitchen for my coffee. I recently took down a big painting from the fireplace and put up this white painted metal decoration. I also painted the orang-ISH oak mantel with some DIY chalk paint. I just mixed up paint, a little plaster of paris and a bit of water. I applied clear wax when it was dry. See little Pumpkin curled up there? I have that purple throw on the sofa because she  loves that spot.

 

 

 

 

I get a kick out of nice vintage thrift shop finds. This little table was a 3 buck deal! It was just dirty and I cleaned it, gave it a coat of stain and a clear spray finish. The brass lamp was also found on one of my thrift shop tours. I love the shape and it is really weighty. The plate is from good old Home Goods. Gotta have some Home Goods !

Didn't really do much on the dining room table for Easter. Just a small quilt I made in Spring colors and some of my Bunnykin dishes and other Spring inspired things. I painted the bunny basket---another found object. I scored the crystal  candlesticks in the background at a garage sale years ago. The milk glass cake plate was my mother in law's and I treasure it!

 Another view towards the entry and Pumpkin won't smile for the camera!

 

 

 

Here's a view from the dining room to the living room. I'm trying to show you my metal sculpted chandelier without revealing that one of the lightbulbs is burned out!

 

I think that's enough of a home preview for a very first post! I'll be posting more of my house, my painted furniture and quilts. That's just a little taste of my decorating and home design.
                          Hope you'll follow me on this blog! Happy First Day of Spring!

Linking up here!