Shell-Shocked

I was talking to my Twitter friend,  Norbridge Antiques   , about antiquing in South Florida the other day. Our conversation and my latest post on the Withit WOW awards inspiration made me go back through sunny moments in Cebu and Florida. The first few pictures are from one of my favorite shops in Palm Beach, F.S. Henemader Antiques, Inc. 

This tableau's got my number with the 

turquoise foo dogs, Chinese blue and white vases, 

and corals.

Nautilus shell and sea fan covered bottles 

romanticizes the idea of sending a message in a bottle. 

Carnaza Island, Philippines 

where I spent a long day picking  

red and blue corals that washed off the shore

a gorgeous mix of Delft tiles, Moroccan lamps,

coral wall sconces, lamps, and the omnipresent sunburst mirror

starfishes from Bungan Island

where we like to go clam digging

The next few photos with an * are from Christa's South Seashells in West Palm Beach.

*The electric combination of turquoise and purple 

is much inspired by nature just like the jellyfish 

drifting along the sandbar as we sunned ourselves.

The colors of the paua or abalone shell exhibit this as well.

I've gotten some great ones for my collection from 

New Zealand and the Philippines.

Open House, Mactan Island Philippines 

Here is one of my projects where I designed

the crushed abalone pedestals as bases 

for the reclaimed wood slab from Carnaza Island. 

The bases and chairs were all made in our workshop.

Snug designer, Clayton Tugunon, 

created the tubeworms and shell light fixtures. 

*If there was one thing I wanted to take home from my antiquing in West Palm Beach last December, it was this horse skull encrusted with pink salts from the Mojave Dessert. 

*This mirror encrusted with an all white/cream ensemble

from mother of pearl discs, corals and shells stood out

among the rest that were multicolored.

*This Nautilus bed crown 

*and curtain holdback make subtle touches.

As much as I love shells, I can only take so much 

of it in a room so these accents are just enough. 

It's not very clear in this photo but I had the aluminum bands of the glass windows of my suite in the Calicoan Island Surf Camp encrusted with tiny shells.  The shutters (which were my friend, Garrison Rousseau's, fab idea) interspersed with the solid panels are covered with handwoven mats or banig made of palm leaves. These were woven by women a few towns away.  I worked with a shell artisan who interpreted my design just the way I wanted it. I kept the interior shell inlay plain with two tone shells mimicking the two tone mats.

However, I added more ornamentation to the exterior shell inlay for the bottom

and top panels.

p.s. I will post more photos of this cottage and talk about Calicoan Island more in a future post.

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