saltydonut
New member
“Seas The Day†is the name of our home with the extreme nautical theme, nestled in coastal dunes of the Eastern Cape.
Our intent when we purchased this house was to decorate it in manner which exemplifies coastal living with an ever so slight retro vibe allowing for elements from our youth.
Unfortunately nautical themed furniture and fittings are not readily available in South Africa which is very unusual considering the thousands of homes and holiday apartments along our vast coastlines.
As we knew exactly what we wanted it was decided to tackle this project ourselves and with a little help from a friend called google.
My wife and I set out planning the double story interior and large exterior decks which overlook coastal dunes, normally a fan of minimalistic décor which is perfect for a recessionary climate we did not stop until we had made our mark on every available space of the canvass of our home called “Seas The Day.â€
Remember doing it yourself is only cheap because the cost of labour which should be one of love is never tallied.
But seriously early rising and late nights tackling the various elements of this build was pure fun and a real high.
With bare essential hand tools, an electric drill, jigsaw and sander we set out manufacturing furniture and fittings.
The first project was to make two floor standing lamps, one made out of twisted rope and then fibre glassed to resemble a gravity defying feat and the other lamp made out of air drying clay to resemble a fish skeleton.
After that everything thing seemed easy and we tackled various projects like a ships steering wheel coffee table and jumping fish wine racks.
Although white washed furniture is very popular in coastal homes we decided to do a slight twist on this by incorporating mother of pearl into the paint, this looks absolutely stunning as light reflects of the surfaces and even the side tables were painted with a mother of pearl nautilus shell motifs.
The painting is easy the sanding not so much if you decide to do this yourself I suggest you forego your gym membership for a while.
We wanted the house to have an atmosphere that would drain away the pressures of work and an environment that exemplifies the aptly themed decorative slogans that adorn it.
I have to confess here for the first time I did have some ulterior motifs with the theme but we will just blame King Neptune who after all was a very manly man if you get what I am trying to say.
The centre piece of many parties and late night Texas holdem games is the boat shaped bar on the main deck.
Decorated with obligatory fish net it carries the theme “work like a captain and play like a pirate†which is embossed on an old fishing buoy.
The light piece above the bar is a multi-coloured led lit jelly fish which floats ominously in the dark.
Another striking piece of artwork at the bar is the two sand blasted screen windows, one depicting a marlin and the other a boat.
Fortunately this part of the coast line is adorned with beautiful sea shells and other artefacts that the rough seas offer up from time to time and these too found their place.
The main on suite bedroom is aptly named the “captain’s cabin†and is decorated with a nautical themed stained glass window, ships propeller blade ceiling fan, a huge paper mache fish light and various other wall murals and artworks.
The dining room is ceiling is adorned with a chokka boat lamp which glows bright over a mother of pearl pool and dining table and even the curtain rod here was fashioned to look like an old whale harpoon.
The curtain tie backs are custom made from sandblasted perlemoen shells.
Another feature on one of the walls is a brass ships porthole with a picture of a turquoise sea and a life like leatherback turtle that looks smilingly back.
The ceiling around the light in the main lounge has a hand painted compass rose facing true north that surrounds it.
The bathrooms are also decorated with custom artwork on the tiles. The light fitting in the guest bathroom is also a feature with a glowing school of ceramic sardines that swim freely in the dark after the light has been switched off.
As we both work the entire project took just over a year to complete and fully deserves a large tick in the block next to interior designer on our bucket lists.
This house is the ultimate man cave for the fishing enthusiast and I thank my wife for allowing me to do this.
I will post pictures
Our intent when we purchased this house was to decorate it in manner which exemplifies coastal living with an ever so slight retro vibe allowing for elements from our youth.
Unfortunately nautical themed furniture and fittings are not readily available in South Africa which is very unusual considering the thousands of homes and holiday apartments along our vast coastlines.
As we knew exactly what we wanted it was decided to tackle this project ourselves and with a little help from a friend called google.
My wife and I set out planning the double story interior and large exterior decks which overlook coastal dunes, normally a fan of minimalistic décor which is perfect for a recessionary climate we did not stop until we had made our mark on every available space of the canvass of our home called “Seas The Day.â€
Remember doing it yourself is only cheap because the cost of labour which should be one of love is never tallied.
But seriously early rising and late nights tackling the various elements of this build was pure fun and a real high.
With bare essential hand tools, an electric drill, jigsaw and sander we set out manufacturing furniture and fittings.
The first project was to make two floor standing lamps, one made out of twisted rope and then fibre glassed to resemble a gravity defying feat and the other lamp made out of air drying clay to resemble a fish skeleton.
After that everything thing seemed easy and we tackled various projects like a ships steering wheel coffee table and jumping fish wine racks.
Although white washed furniture is very popular in coastal homes we decided to do a slight twist on this by incorporating mother of pearl into the paint, this looks absolutely stunning as light reflects of the surfaces and even the side tables were painted with a mother of pearl nautilus shell motifs.
The painting is easy the sanding not so much if you decide to do this yourself I suggest you forego your gym membership for a while.
We wanted the house to have an atmosphere that would drain away the pressures of work and an environment that exemplifies the aptly themed decorative slogans that adorn it.
I have to confess here for the first time I did have some ulterior motifs with the theme but we will just blame King Neptune who after all was a very manly man if you get what I am trying to say.
The centre piece of many parties and late night Texas holdem games is the boat shaped bar on the main deck.
Decorated with obligatory fish net it carries the theme “work like a captain and play like a pirate†which is embossed on an old fishing buoy.
The light piece above the bar is a multi-coloured led lit jelly fish which floats ominously in the dark.
Another striking piece of artwork at the bar is the two sand blasted screen windows, one depicting a marlin and the other a boat.
Fortunately this part of the coast line is adorned with beautiful sea shells and other artefacts that the rough seas offer up from time to time and these too found their place.
The main on suite bedroom is aptly named the “captain’s cabin†and is decorated with a nautical themed stained glass window, ships propeller blade ceiling fan, a huge paper mache fish light and various other wall murals and artworks.
The dining room is ceiling is adorned with a chokka boat lamp which glows bright over a mother of pearl pool and dining table and even the curtain rod here was fashioned to look like an old whale harpoon.
The curtain tie backs are custom made from sandblasted perlemoen shells.
Another feature on one of the walls is a brass ships porthole with a picture of a turquoise sea and a life like leatherback turtle that looks smilingly back.
The ceiling around the light in the main lounge has a hand painted compass rose facing true north that surrounds it.
The bathrooms are also decorated with custom artwork on the tiles. The light fitting in the guest bathroom is also a feature with a glowing school of ceramic sardines that swim freely in the dark after the light has been switched off.
As we both work the entire project took just over a year to complete and fully deserves a large tick in the block next to interior designer on our bucket lists.
This house is the ultimate man cave for the fishing enthusiast and I thank my wife for allowing me to do this.
I will post pictures
(goodp_ Very nice!.
