Long Walks on a Beach

A little over a month ago, Melissa and I took a day trip up to a little park hidden off the beaten path.  It had a nice small and personal sandy beach.  There was hardly anyone there, so we had no trouble finding a spot to setup our towels to catch some rays.  With the strong sun that day, we ended up spending most of our time in the water.  Once we got tired of having pruny fingers, we decided to take the cliche walk on the beach and collect seashells.

We came home with a nice big bag of beautiful shells, but nothing to do with them.  I wanted to display them in some way, so I can remember the wonderful day I had with my sweetheart.  I'm a sucker for keeping sentimental souvenirs or reminders of anything I want to remember.  I could practically wall paper the apartment in movie ticket stubs.  But enough about my hoarding tendencies, back to my current dilemma: what to do with my shells.

For about a month, my shells sat in a bag on the dining room table.  I had no idea what to do with them.  Melissa had come up with the idea to put them in these small glass tea-light candle holders we had, but I still had no place to put them.  Finally I got fed up with putting off finding a home for my shells.  I cleared off the top of a bookshelf in the dining room, put my shells in my candle holders and set up a little display I'm quite pleased with.

I've had the basket in the middle setup for years now.  It holds some shells and some awesome starfish from other various vacations I've taken.  But before, the basket was usually put up out of the way on an over crowded shelf, so it never got to shine.  I thought it went perfectly with my beachy shells design.  Plus it adds a much needed punch of color to the display.

I always love having a nice display on any surface in my home.  Having pretty decor helps to discourage any clutter from accumulating on an inviting unused surface.  So hopefully this is the first of many surfaces in the home to get some individual TLC.

I hope to add more shells to the glasses over time as we collect more.  I love having a beautiful reminder of some great days in my life.  Memories are what make a house a home, don't you agree?  I'd love to hear how you incorporate sentiment and memories into your home decor.  I'm always on the hunt for new ways to display or commemorate special experiences.