An Elegant Beach Doormat

Seashell Estate Doormat

 

This chic doormat is from the new Studio McGee collection for Spring for Target I posted on yesterday. Finding a great doormat is difficult and finding an elegant one for a beach house seems even more challenging. Most are kitschy and tacky.

Creating a Chinoiserie Entrance

via The Scout Guide

 With its blue door, Chinese Chippendale railing, and pair of blue and white Neirmann Weeks Leone urns, this is an elegant front entrance with chinoiserie style.

Here is more fabulous inspiration. Adding some chinoiserie elements to your front entrance is a wonderful way to bring personality to your home before you even enter.

Chinoiserie Outdoors

Les Ensembliers

I posted about this Palm Beach home back in February and interestingly, my new home reminds me of it a bit. Both are one level, stucco, palm trees in front, oversized coach lanterns, more formal Palm Beach than Tuscan.

My Home

You may recall that we chatted about the two pairs of ginger jars in front of the Palm Beach home and decided it was risky in terms of the ginger jars being stolen or toppling over.

I have an idea I love for adding more blue and white Chinese porcelain to the front of my home. I already have added a pair of vintage blue and white Chinese garden stools that have been outdoors in my garden for over thirty years!

Here they are with my gorgeous reclaimed lobster rope door mat from 30 Fathom that I adore if it is possible to adore a door mat. I do!

My new idea is that outside the covered area I will use my pair of blue and white Chinese porcelain fishbowls with a pair of topiaries - either lemon or lime trees or Eugenia. I rescued the fishbowls from Sandbagger where they were in the lanai with a pair of palms. Using palms here would be silly because I already have massive royal palms in the front yard and they would get lost in the shuffle.

Here are lemon topiaries in fishbowls via Mary McDonald.

Mary McDonald

BTW, Venice is very low crime, my gated community is very safe, and I feel that they would be fine outside here. I might buzz over to Home Depot and see what they have. Any experience growing lemon or lime trees? I think it would be very chic and very Old Florida.

BTW, I had five guys working on my garden yesterday and it looks wonderful. My gardener is extremely knowledgeable about Florida plants and things went absolutely great. Now I can start having fun in the garden since all the "heavy lifting" is done.

This and That

My Garage/Staging Area

Yesterday I arrived at the house around 9 AM and the painters were already hard at work with classical music and opera wafting throughout the house. Not your typical painters for sure.

We decided on Benjamin Moore Aura Matte in Classic Gray for the walls. The Samplize samples were great and I highly recommend this product. Beautifully painted (with the actual paint) and packaged with quick arrival, they are easy to use - peel and stick and you can move them around from room to room.

Samplize paint samples

It's the one in the middle.

And we selected the orange for the guest bath. Benjamin Moore Tandoori - we are using it on the wainscoting, baseboards, crown molding and door. It will be a little jewel box.

Here is my Chinoiserie wallpaper with Benjamin Moore Tandoori.

Each day I take two trips to the new house with breakables and such. So much easier than packing and unpacking. I'm using my garage as a staging area while the painters are in the house.

I ordered the pink Dyson cordless stick vacuum. Why? It's pink. End of story. LOL

I usually read a hundred reviews and research for hours and not this time. It had me at pink Dyson. It has been shipped already. BTW it's the V7 Motorhead.

PINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I texted with the owner weaver of the lobster rope doormat business. Turns out they are from Baltimore and Annapolis and now have homes in Canada and Florida. They are hand delivering my two mats this weekend to my house.

I think these reclaimed lobster rope doormats are stunning. Durable and so unique, they are woven from rope that once tethered lobster traps in the sea. To protect whales which often became snared in the rope, a heavier sink rope is now used. Tens of thousands of tons of sink rope slated for landfills is now being used by a few companies to create these historical and authentic mats. Lobster rope doormats are also woven out of new lobster rope which comes in a huge variety of colors, but I love the muted shades of the reclaimed. Someone commented to me yesterday that she has one and they are the only doormats that hold up beautifully year after year with our intense sun.

While researching these doormats to purchase one for my new home, I happened upon 30 Fathom Doormats and learned that, as I mentioned, they have a place in Canada and a place in Florida not far from me and the owner even weaves doormats from locally sourced Florida recycled rope. I was thrilled that I could source this locally.

I am getting two for my new home and will post pictures next week. One of the doormats I have chosen, the charcoal colored rope was from lobster fishing at Big Pine Key, and the pale blue was deep water off Ft. Lauderdale for golden crab. The owner was telling me they spend hours retrieving, detangling, and cleaning the rope. This is the Old Florida I love so much. This is charming.


Please check out the website. The owner is happy to work with you on custom colors and sizes.

30 Fathom Doormats

30 Fathom Doormats

30 Fathom Doormats

30 Fathom Doormats

30 Fathom Doormats