Creation Inspired Design

Early one morning last week my feet took a detour from ordinary life to dig toes into sand, slosh through gentle waves at the shoreline and bask in the early morning ambiance that can only be found oceanside.

Someone was out on their boat enjoying the sparkle of daybreak from the other side of the shoreline. 

Lucky. 

However, I suppose I'm pretty lucky as well to have this scene a short drive from home.

Seafoam was plentiful, but only for seconds at a time. It evaporates almost as quickly as the waves churn it out. 

It's inviting like soft, fluffy pillows of comfort. 

The fishermen look fairly close, but no, that's my zoom lens working for me. They were just specks to my naked eye. Don't worry, nothing else was even close to naked. I don't don a bathing suit these days, I wear shorts since I just come to walk around, hunt for sea glass and a moment.

I sometimes find sea glass. I always find a moment

The moment on this day was found amongst the salt spray and gulls, the scents and the sounds, the sun on my face and the cool April breeze in my hair and the sand that hitched a ride all the way home with me on my feet.

I combed the sand and seaweed with my eyes just to see what might have come ashore with it. Many odds and ends had been ensnared by those grabby tentacles as the seaweed tossed it's way about the tide, only to be stranded ashore eventually.



Driftwood and numerous odd plastic bits and pieces were caught in the seaweed's clutches.


Surely somewhere in the midst of the motley tangle of sea grasses there had to be treasure of some kind. If only I'd had the gumption to really pick through it with more than my eyes, who knows what might lie in wait of discovery there.

No thank you. Sometimes what lies in wait is less than the kind of thing you want to see or touch.

I moved on.

I saw this lying about. Hmmm...I'm not very good with bone identification. Any ideas as to the origins of such a thing? Intriguing.

There was a nice pile of shells begging for discovery. 

A few caught my eye and found their way home via my pocket.

The rays sparkled off the gentle waves and a cool breeze offered a salty sense of a promising day. The beach is good for that sort of thing...the setting right of a mind gone off the rails. 

As always when I leave, I think... I should do that more often. 

One way to hold onto the sensation of moments at the beach is to infuse its design style into your home.

Creation sparks a fresh state of mind, and it can also speak to our design sense as well.

The cool and warm, smooth and scruffy, tone on tone, gradience of color,

the gritty, the glossy...

 ...the shimmer, the light...it has it all! Makes me want to go home and clean my windows to get some of this sparkle for my own.

Icy cool...

...and sandy warm.

 Curves and contrast, sleek lines and gentle contours.

Comfort and balance with whimsical accents that remind the eye to pause and smile.

Highs and lows, shadows and showy artwork. 

A little happy drama for the soul.

An eclectic blend of style that's always changing. It's traditional to be sure, but the shoreline offers clean modern lines that give our eyes and our hearts a rest. The activity there also provides a sense of purpose.

God's gift of creation calls me to mimic the beauty that came about by the power of His Word and his outstretched hand. It's a mighty force, His creation. I'm in awe, and I drag bits and pieces of it home to infuse my inner world with the charm, comfort and grandeur of this outdoor oasis.

Like an intriguing place that draws you in.

 The weathered wood, the colorful glass, the fronds and driftwood, the hues of the sea...

...are all inspired by the design found at the water's edge.

A nod to the calm evoked during moments spent under the spell of the ocean

We can be style scavengers.

There are other scavengers on the beach besides me...only they don't have a houseful of their found treasure to deal with later. They take just what they need for the moment. 

I could take a cue. 

I could also learn to stop by often and soak up the creative genius that God provides at the shoreline. 

The inspiration is free.

Where do you find your design inspiration?

I'll be sharing at these stylish parties this week: