Seashell-Inspired Design Sources For The Home, Spring 2017
interior designer Annie Selke via House Beautiful
Nest By Tamara's Home & Design Sources, Spring 2017:
With the season changing and the weather getting significantly warmer, we have beach-going on the mind. Over the next month there are a plethora of design industry trade shows throughout the country like High Point Furniture Market, ICFF and others where brands and artisans will be showcasing new products. April is the perfect month to offer our readers sneak peeks and a series of stellar products on the market. Look for these stories in genres, and we hope you'll pin these images, maybe save them in your inspiration folders for your spring and summer decorating.
It appears we are not the only one holding this interest in bringing seashells in the home. Many design brands have taken the passion to high-style design. Some of these are brand new designs while others are continued best sellers, but all of them take the seashell craze to a sophisticated place. These pieces would work equally well in a beach cottage as they would in an urban dwelling. To me, a little bit of seashell in a home adds the perfect handmade, natural charm, and yet there is something glamorous about them as well! They are nature's iridescent little jewels. Some of these designs below are simply inspired by the shape and beauty of seashells, while others utilize the seashells in their design.
Susan and I will be decorating a tabletop design on April 18 for the annual Lenox Hill Neighborhood House gala in the swanky ballroom in Grand Central Station at Cipriani. The theme this year is "all that glitters", and we are creating a seashell inspired centerpiece showcasing the jewels of the sea alongside our brand new fabric collection called exotica from root cellar designs! In the meantime, throughout our hunt, we have noted these top 8 favorites...
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
1. Venus by Christopher Guy
is one stylized, sophisticated occasional chair. This takes the seashell idea to another place altogether, and this chair is very fashion-forward. I'd love to incorporate a pair of these in the foyer of a swanky NYC apartment for an unexpected feel
Jingle shells often found along the
shoreline in Long Island (above)
Today, we kick-off this series of shares with a first focus on seashell designs. Ever since the days of my youth when our family packed the car to the brim and we drove down to the southern coast of Florida, I have loved seashells. It's more of an obsession really, and on any given summer day you will find bowls of seashells throughout my home like little beauty offerings. For years, our kids collected local varieties of shells from the Maidstone Beach across the street from our cottage in East Hampton, and we have thousands of these lovely, little peach/orange beauties called Jingle Shells or Mermaid Toes. We've even stuffed a suitcase with Conch Shells a time or two after visiting the Bahamas. We've partaken in a variety of Do-It-Yourself shell glue gun extravaganzas, and I created mirrors and lamps to fulfill our shell passion. I think you may be getting the picture of our family's fascination with shells. 
our kids on Martha's Vineyard; our beach house (above);
shell inspired chair I created and decoupaged for a charity chair event (below)
It appears we are not the only one holding this interest in bringing seashells in the home. Many design brands have taken the passion to high-style design. Some of these are brand new designs while others are continued best sellers, but all of them take the seashell craze to a sophisticated place. These pieces would work equally well in a beach cottage as they would in an urban dwelling. To me, a little bit of seashell in a home adds the perfect handmade, natural charm, and yet there is something glamorous about them as well! They are nature's iridescent little jewels. Some of these designs below are simply inspired by the shape and beauty of seashells, while others utilize the seashells in their design.
Susan and I will be decorating a tabletop design on April 18 for the annual Lenox Hill Neighborhood House gala in the swanky ballroom in Grand Central Station at Cipriani. The theme this year is "all that glitters", and we are creating a seashell inspired centerpiece showcasing the jewels of the sea alongside our brand new fabric collection called exotica from root cellar designs! In the meantime, throughout our hunt, we have noted these top 8 favorites...
Happy Nesting
XO Tamara
is one stylized, sophisticated occasional chair. This takes the seashell idea to another place altogether, and this chair is very fashion-forward. I'd love to incorporate a pair of these in the foyer of a swanky NYC apartment for an unexpected feel
are perfect options when the client needs it now.
The Marchmont sideboard is beautifully encrusted with faux coral, natural seashells and wood, and would certainly become the "star" in any guest bedroom, foyer or breakfast nook.
5. Evelyn by Made Good is a translucent resin material channeling the shape and feel of an oversized scallop shell. The channel chain and this new design read very sophisticated.
8. Pearled Magnolia chandelier, Anthropologie
is a light fixture that is accessible to everyone. No need for a designer to whip your home into shape when shopping on their online home section, and they certainly have the bohemian chic market cornered. This pearled light fixture has a hint of shells but feels very versatile as well.
is a light fixture that is accessible to everyone. No need for a designer to whip your home into shape when shopping on their online home section, and they certainly have the bohemian chic market cornered. This pearled light fixture has a hint of shells but feels very versatile as well.
