apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

drift wood

wow, i was also going to say driftwood... i picked up a bunch of tiny pieces at the coast last time and have them in a glass vase.

Friends of mine who live in Seattle's University District used to have a large collection of found photos. It was really fascinating and random.
For myself I have to second flora. Leaves in the fall can be really beautiful arranged in a dish.

Last weekend I just bought new big glass canisters for each collection of beach objects, one canister for each.

-Stones from the California shores, but only the perfect flat round ones
-Beach glass, mostly from Glass Beach
-Shells from the Gulf Coast in Florida where my family is, but only a certain color and shape

My perfect day is a day at the beach, so seeing these collections everyday is like a mini vacation after a hard day of work and remind me of the numerous hours over many years it has taken to acquire them all.

I decorated my last cubicle with pieces of rusty metal found in our office parking lot.

But my favorite is a few perfect autumn leaves stockpiled for a fall spent in a seasonless climate.

We brought in some old birch tree logs and used them as magazine side tables. They were great until we discovered they had termites(!) and threw them out.

Well, the kids like rocks.

No, seriously, we did find a particularily interesting one by the river--it looks like it could be pertrified wood. Makes a gret bookend.

Metal is always good, I work for Alcoa, every now and then I find a really nice extrusion in the scrap bin, to put on my desk.

Vacated bird's nest. A lovely find.

Weeds and wildflowers. Take them home, pull out the weeds and wildflowers books and identify them.

Feathers.
Big feathers, little feathers, once a teensy tiny hummingbird feather than I ran and dived like a big league baseball player to get because I saw it fall from the hummingbird.

I am very proud of that feather. I put it in a lovely frame alongside an absolutely stunning pigeon feather, the contrast in size is amazing.

I have small bowls filled with stones and shells from travels. They remind me of that particular place, who I was with and the fun that we were having.

Small things make me happy. A pick once belonging to Johnette Napolitano, a really old marble found in a former backyard, a cypress nut picked up in a swamp near New Orleans, and old key from my grandfather's workshop, etc. etc. I display all these little "treasures" in a printers' drawer I picked up at a yard sale.

sand dollars.

My kids and I collect heart shaped rocks. You'd be surprised at how many there are if you're looking. I also keep a vase of lichen covered sticks, because I just really like lichen. There are big walnut trees on my street that drop lots of them.

Pinecones! I can´t help it, every time I go for a walk I come home with my pockets full of pinecones. I have them in bowls and on shelves, and among the pots in our garden.

Something in common with almost everone here... shells, rocks, beach glass, driftwood, a few feathers... and day before yesterday I scored two old-fashioned spice racks (the wood ones that hang on the wall) with the little jars at a yard sale - after I decide how to refinish them I can neatly and cohesively display the sand I collect from all the beaches I go to.

SKULLS :) Very sculptural.

Coloured rocks and sea-glass. Every time I break something glass, I'm tempted to throw it in to ocean, and hope that I find it again in 20 years.

I like skulls, too, especially bird skulls. I also have a lot of bits of broken china and some rusted railroad ties.

old windows hung on the wall