For most, the summer season is symbolized by things like red, juicy watermelon slices, tall glasses of lemonade and the beach! And, with the beach, comes lots and lots of seashells in a myriad of shapes, sizes and colors. As a kid, I loved to spend hours collecting shells on the beach. Now, as an adult, I collect shells with my three children. It’s always so much fun to see what unique shells we can find; it’s like a treasure hunt on the beach! Clearly, it’s impossible to keep all of our beach treasures after the vacation comes to an end, but I do like to pick a few of our favorites from the stash to display around our house. They serve as a constant reminder of our time spent on vacation, which adds a nostalgic feeling to them.
Dating back to the Rococo design style in Europe in the mid-1700’s, high-end materials like mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell began to be used by interior designers. In fact, the term Rococo is derived from the French word rocailles, which is a special method of using crushed up shells, pebbles and other organic materials mixed with cement to create a natural, sea-inspired medium. This technique was popular when building fountains and grottoes. Materials like mother-of-pearl and tortoise shell are still popular today in a range of interior decor applications, from furniture to tabletop.
Shells provide a unique and natural element to your home decor scheme (it also doesn’t hurt that they are free if you snag them from your beach vacay!). I like to use them in a variety of ways; in decorative bowls, on a stack of books or in the bathroom. Collecting beach treasures can offer hours of amusement, but finding ways to display them in your home is half the fun! Here are just a few examples from around my home. How will you display your collections from this season?
