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

Beachy Bathroom Mini Makeover and the Human Drive to Decorate!

Hello! I don't know what makes people the way they are.. do what they do, love what they love. Some people get their enjoyment from music.. some people can't live without running... some people love their books. Then there is me and evidently, quite a few others out in the creative 'blogland', that can't live without decorating. What is it that drives me to paint, rearrange, sew and just generally have a need to change things up?  We'll never know what drives people, just that they do what they have to do! 

So here's my story !

 It all started with this painting.

I went to an estate sale a few months ago for the artist  Richard Keyes. A local artist and somewhat known, he passed away last year. I went to the estate sale and picked up a few of his works for a reasonable price. I couldn't believe the behavior of some of the buyers, they were grabbing up things like crazy. It felt like some weird reality show, like Storage Wars or American Pickers on steroids.  Anyways, I put one of the unframed paintings in the bathroom. This painting is of the Big Sur coast in California.. a beautiful rendering of a place I love. The original oil painting was like a breath of fresh air, like a window to the outdoors in this little windowless bathroom.


Before

Before

Then, I had to do it.

 I had to make that bathroom feel lighter and brighter and happier without major renovations. The bathroom was feeling heavy.. brown tile and brownish  walls that I had hand done with Venetian Plaster years ago. Not wanting to redo everything, I liked the bones, I set out to make the bathroom feel beachy and fresh.
     Step One-Shopping! Always the fun and easy part, before the messy reality of pulling off what my little brain was imagining. First stop, of course, Home Goods! I wanted a new rug and found this. I like to start out with the piece that has a more limited selection and match things to that. Paint can be matched to anything.. rugs come as they are.

Then I found some inexpensive blue towels at Walmart. I wanted color  and these towels don't have to be great. This bathroom is mostly used as a guest bath.
Next stop in my shopping adventure--Hobby Lobby. I found the last beach themed hook in the whole store, this seahorse was a dollar. Perfect!
I picked up paint swatches at Home Depot and decided on Jazz Blue in one of their 8oz sample jars. It went nicely with the blues in the coastal painting.

Now I was ready for the projects. I painted the previously brown shelf, white and I also painted that little 'Peace' candle holder with leftover turquoise spray paint. A thriftshop elephant got put to use holding seashells, it was the perfect color.

I used the seahorse hook and a piece of fence board I had saved and made a towel holder/decorative plaque. I wanted to bring the blue around the room with the vibrant towels.






I made a frame for the oil painting out of scrap lumber from the 'depot'. Check their scrap pile when you have little projects. The wood was 51 cents.... yep, cheap. The wide frame acts as a narrow shelf for this sea village scene on a copper plate made in Chile, as well as collected shells.

  

As for the shower curtain, it had a nylon liner, so I just took off the beige and brown curtain, leaving a simple, crisp white curtain.

I used the bold, pretty blue paint and painted the sink vanity. One thing about the sample size paint, it only comes in flat, so I had to put a coat of satin Polyurethane on, also.

     I love the blue! I used it to paint a finial too and put that on top   of the toilet tank. 

 

Then I had to make a decision about the gold framed mirror.

 Using my decorating logic,(dangerous at times), I convinced myself it was 'only paint' and I could always redo it.. I painted the mirror white with blue trim. The jazzy blue was a little too loud under the light fixture, so  I toned it down with a wash of watered down white paint.

 

 Well, what do you think? I really like all the changes! Even though it still has the basic walls and tile colors, the new colors and accessories really make it feel beachy and refreshing. 

     Thanks for checking out the happenings at Sunset Coast. You can follow my blog by email, google friend connect or Blog Lovin'. Blog Lovin' is a way to have my blog updates sent to you daily. Just click on the links in the right side bar to sign up. I appreciate all my readers and followers! Do you have a mini update you'd like to share? Send me a link in the comment section.

Have a wonderful day!

Cindy          

   Check out more projects at these sites where I share!

Old red Barn
Diy Showoff   
Nifty Thrifty Things
Flamingo Toes 
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Twigg Studios
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C.R.A.F.T.  
Underthetableanddreaming 
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Between Naps On the Porch 
Mod Vintage Life 
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Dwellings the heart of home 
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Making the World Cuter 
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Our Home  Away From Home 
A Stroll Thru Life 
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A Bowl Full of Lemons 
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If it's not Baroque 
A Diamond in the Stuff 
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30 Handmade Days 
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The  Dedicated House 
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Coasting To Seal Beach!

Hey Kids! Today we're traveling a little bit north to the city of Seal Beach, in southern California. It was a perfect day, weatherwise, when I decided to be a tourist in my own 'hood'. Seal Beach is a really quaint town with a nice family beach, a cute main street and homes of all types.

San Gabriel River Meets Seal Beach

Just to change things up, I first visited Gum Grove Park. This park is sort of unknown because it's on the off shore side of the Pacific Coast Highway. Hidden behind a hill of homes, it's a nice trail for a nature walk, a bike ride or to walk your dog.

And what a day it was for nature! The sun was warm , the mustard flowers were in full bloom and the eucalyptus trees shaded the trail. The trail only goes back about 1/2 a mile. I wish I could share the sounds! Birds chirping and tweeting like crazy.The bushes were buzzing with bees and I could hear animals creeping through the brush. I saw robins and hummingbirds and hawks and butterflies.  And the smells! Eucalyptus leaves and wild flower scents and warm earth all mixed together. Nothing like getting out into nature, even if it's close to a city, to stimulate the senses.

 Sometimes I forget to take time to do that, take time to enjoy some natural space and recharge.

 

I passed a couple gals wearing their employee badges, they must have been on a lunchtime walk. They asked me if I saw the coyote! Oh, that must have been the creeping in the bushes because they pointed to where the coyote had crawled through an opening in the fencing. Same place I heard the sounds.. Our lovely friend the coyote is sharing space with us in southern California. It's bad news for cats and small pets. I've found cats killed by coyotes more than once.. sadly. 

 

Next, I headed a few blocks over to 'Old Town' Seal Beach---everything on the west/ocean side of Pacific Coast Highway. There you'll find the pier with a restaurant on the end, the beach of course, and Main Street. Main Street is a few blocks long and filled with restaurants, shops and boutiques, salons, coffee houses and at least 3 Irish pubs! The garden shop was full of blooms.

Seal Beach Pier

Main Street Seal Beach

 

 Among the restaurants, one of my favorite Mexican Food places is Taco Surf. I think most everyone in southern California has their favorite Mexican food!

The shops took a blow a few years ago and it seemed like a day of lunching with friends and checking out gift shops was over for me. As soon as a new shop came in, it was soon out of business for many of them. But Seal Beach has rallied and has several new stores that I took a peek into. You can find coastal decor, seashells, bathing suits and beach attire, art, jewelry, gourmet foods and more. There's even a home town hardware store. And the Seal Beach Psychic is still in business too..( is a psychic a required shop for a California beach town???)

 

The town of Seal Beach has all kinds of homes to check out too! Darling beach cottages, huge ocean front mansions, multi family homes, big houses and tiny houses make up the scenery.

Crafty Cottage

Ocean Front Mediterranean

Modern Mansion

Tiny Beach Bungalows

 I like Seal Beach for a lot of reasons. It has a nice beach for families.. not a surfing beach really. And the Main Street offers so many good restaurants and shops, it's a nice lunch or dinner destination. It's also a great place for walking--along the beach, down the pier, around the town, through the interesting streets of eclectic homes.

At the north end of the beach, there's the San Gabriel river that lets out into the ocean. You'll also find a beachfront cafe, River's End Cafe,  where you can dine outside and enjoy the sun, the breeze and the views. A long riverside bike trail also lets you off right there for a beachside break.

Riverside Rabbit

It's kind of fun to see a town you've known your whole life through tourists' eyes for a day. Some day I should visit the Red Car Museum. Located in the middle of town, it's a Pacific Red Car from 1925 that houses a museum. These train cars used to run between Los Angeles and Newport Beach from 1904 to the 1950's.  It's one of those places you think  'I'll go in there, someday'.

 

 

Photo Credit

 

Thanks for visiting the Sunset Coast! I would love you to join this site as a follower and have blog updates emailed to you, if you wish.

 

Have a Groovy Day!

Cindy

  Come see where the parties are!
http://www.savvysouthernstyle.net/