How Would You Remodel Your Living Room? Selecting the Right Interior Designer to Create Your Dream Space

I was recently introduced to Laurel & Wolf, a professional online interior design business that offers interior design services entirely online and challenged to consider writing a blog titled "How Would You Remodel Your Living Room?" So I thought to myself, well, that's an interesting idea and decided to take on the request.

As the co-owner with my wife Alison of Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Art Gallery, we are accustomed to working directly with customers & interior designers who are in the process of decorating their coastal/ beach home, and supplying them with the appropriate marine art, nautical furniture, furnishings lamps & lighting, and decorative accessories suitable for a well designed nautical interior and exterior too! We are one of a handful of dealers that are exposed to truly exceptional authentic maritime items- the nautical world is our oyster!

Another motivator for this blog is to correct the fable believed by our customers that our personal home must be like visiting a museum. Far from the truth. Though we do own some fine examples of nautical rarities, our home is pretty much designed for everyday comfortable living as well as for casual entertaining with family and friends. The bulk of our nautical treasures are available to you at our store.

Our brownstone home located in
historic Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia.

We live in a brownstone townhouse built in 1916 and located in Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia, one of America's earliest and most historic seaports, a fitting place for us to live and run our nautical antiques, marine art and furnishings business. The parlor (living room) is not large but does features a beautiful bowed front window, old pine floors, a canted fireplace and wide doorways with raised paneled pocket doors that open to both the front foyer and stairs and the formal dining room. The room also features 10 foot high ceilings with decorative running vine crown moldings and an original plaster center medallion that surrounds the crystal chandelier. Since the question at hand is how would you remodel your living room, I'll leave it at that.

I visited Laurel & Wolf's website and perused through their site. Their online service allows you an opportunity to design your space from the comfort of your home, your office, or even on-the-go using your internet-accessible device! Pretty neat concept. So, I started by reviewing their  design questionnaire and following their advise  to give them a sense of your desires for designing your dream space. One challenge that most of us have is the ability to relate our desires to a designer for them to work with to create that perfect space for you. Part of the questionnaire asks for you to provide images of the type of things that you like. My experience has found that to be the biggest challenge. Most people have a better sense of what they do not like more than what they do, so I always recommend to a customer to visit such sites as as Pinterest https://www.pinterest.com/ and use their search engine to assist you in finding visual ideas to help you develop you perfect space. Here's the link to my boards on Pinterest This scrapbook of ideas will give your designer pictures of the right parts and pieces to work into your design for an environment that will be what you are seeking. Remember, a picture is worth a thousand words!

Linda Merrill of Linda Merrill Decorative Surroundings, Boston Mass.

I then visited their directory of  interior designers and searched through the numerous pages of designers with examples of their work. With a fairly clear picture of what I would want as a living room, I visited the numerous designers pages and reviewed examples of their finished work and found a designer that design style really sums up my taste and would love to have design a living space for our abode. Linda Merrill, owner and principal designer of Linda Merrill Decorative Surroundings located in Boston, Massachusetts was my pick.

Living room designed by Linda Merrill. Love the balance of fine
maritime art and furnishings together with a pleasing fabrics and color palette.

Well that made total sense since the largest number of Skipjack's customers are from coastal Massachusetts, so I guess my tastes tend to fall along the traditional seafarers homes of the 19th century, the days of tall ships and whaling. Linda's design work blended the wonderful period items that I love to live with together with a liveable space with traditional upholstered (comfortable) seating furniture and an eye-pleasing color palette that brought it all together.

Linda uses the right mix of old and new creating an
interesting and comfortable living space.

Linda would be my choice, but I could quickly conclude that all of the designers on this site had so much to offer and it would be pretty easy for anyone to find one that fits their budget and taste. The rest is up to you, so design away!

New England Lobster Bake, Palm Beach Style

New England Lobster bake piping hot from the grille.

February 14, 2012

February is always a slow month at our nautical store, Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery in Olde Towne Portsmouth, Virginia and the best time to get away for a much needed break. So Alison and I, together with my daughter Kaitie packed our bags and drove the 15 hour drive south to sunny Florida leaving the cold weather behind for a little R&R, seashell hunting at MacArthur Beach State Park, antique browsing in the numerous Palm Beach areas, inventory purchasing from a distributor and to visit family in Royal Palm Beach and Palm Beach Gardens. First stop was to the home of my sister Roxanne and her husband Gerry and my mother Mary Ann Elder in Royal Palm, Florida. 

The lobsters, mussels, clams and fresh produce came from the famous Carmines Gourmet Market located in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

After an exhausting day of antiquing in the elegant shops located along Antique Row on Dixie Hwy. in West Palm Beach, we drove over to the delectable Carmine's Gourmet Market where my mother treated us by purchasing the ingredients for a surprise Valentine's Day dinner feast. Fortunately, Carmine's was running a special on fresh lobsters making the drive from Royal Palm more rewarding. I highly recommend Carmine's for the best in gourmet foods, select wines and other desirable products, not to mention their La Trattoria Restaurant too! Here's a link to their website at Carmine's Gourmet Market & La Trattoria Restaurant.

Roxanne had discovered the recipe for the lobster bake in the July 2010 issue of Coastal Living magazine titled "Summer Lobster Bake" bringing Hartzogs' classic lobster bake to your backyard and had had the opportunity to test this fabulous meal on previous occasions. So off we went with bags rustling with fresh lobsters, breads and wine in hand back to Royal Palm and preparation of the seafood feast.

To cook this lobster bake, Ingredients for Two People

2 (1 1/2-pound) parboiled lobsters
8 small red potatoes
1 onion, quartered
2 ears fresh corn, halved
1 dozen clams

1 pound mussels

Lemon Wedges
2 cups water

Melted Butter

Roxanne used a large oval metal pan that could hold the six lobsters, mussels, clams, potatoes, corn on the cob and other ingredients and would also fit on the outdoor gas grille. Coastal Living suggests that you can use a large disposable aluminum roasting pan, but we recommend a heavier pan because of the extra strength for carrying the weight. Gerry first par-boiled the lobsters outside on their open-air patio in a large gas-heated pot (basically designed for frying turkeys) until cooked (approximately 6 minutes after the water is piping hot) then transferred the lobsters over to top the other ingredients already placed in the pan for baking and then covered with aluminum foil.

The par-boiled lobsters are transferred on to the top of the already prepped seafood and vegetable-filled pan.

The pan is covered in aluminum foil and then cooked over open flames at medium-high heat on the gas grille.

The pan is then covered in aluminum foil and placed over medium-high heat on an open grille to cook for approximately 30 minutes. Once cooked, Gerry carried the hot pan into the kitchen to cut up the lobsters and prepared for serving.

The fully cooked lobster bake was brought into the kitchen to be cut-up and served.

 Each lobster was trimmed of their tails and claws and put on a plate and  the remaining carcass was disposed of.  The plates were then garnished with mussels, clams, red potatoes and small ears of corn and served with a salad and freshly baked bread and melted dipping butter.  The dinner was completed with a glass of chilled sparkling wine, pinot grigio, or chardonnay.

The lobster bake served up on a plate ready for eating.

Roxanne placed large stoneware bowls on the table to discard the lobster, mussel and clam shells and extra napkins for wiping your hands. What a great Valentine's Day feast! Magnifico!

Here is the link to the ingredients and cooking instructions from Coastal Living Magazine on My Recipes. Summer Lobster bake.  The recipe is sized for two people, so Roxanne tripled the ingredients to serve six. Photos by Joe Elder.

Upcoming blogs from our trip to Florida- Seashell hunting at MacArthur Beach State Park, Antiquing at West Palm Beach Antique Row, and Palm Beach's fabulous Worth Avenue.

Nautical Jewelry: Sail Away With Classic Sterling Silver Sailboat Jewelry by Barbara Vincent

Sterling silver nautical sailboat necklace from the Barbara Vincent Collection

Set sail this spring in style with sterling silver nautical sailboat jewelry from the Barbara Vincent Collection- perfect for daytime or evening. These distinctive nautical designs reflect her passion for fine sterling silver jewelry and celebrate her enthusiasm for sailing and a coastal lifestyle.

"HOPE" sterling silver nautical necklace from the Barbara Vincent Collection

Choose from Barbara's J boat, sloop, schooner and sailboat racing with spinnaker flying and her most recent design simply titled "Hope."  These nautical designs are available individually as pendants for necklaces or as a collection. (see pictured above) Complete the look with Barbara's matching sailboat earrings.

Sterling silver hoop earrings with a rope design from the Barbara Vincent Nautical
Jewelry Collection. Designed to complement the "Hope" pendant. 

The sterling silver Schooner pendant. The Schooner is all dressed up under full sail
 and is polished to a mirror finish. A perfect item to dress up your wardrobe.
Available with sterling silver snake chain and matching sterling silver earrings.
A classic design from the Barbara Vincent Nautical Jewelry Collection.

"Schooner" earrings rendered in sterling silver from the Barbara Vincent Nautical Jewelry
 Collection. Polished to a mirror finish. Wonderful paired with the matching pendant.

Sterling silver charm bracelet with nine nautical themed sterling silver charms.
 From the Barbara Vincent Nautical Jewelry Collection!

The sailboat collection is also available in 14 kt. gold.  Click here to preview the total Barbara Vincent Nautical Jewelry Collection exclusively at

Customize Your Cabinets with A Monkey's Fist Knob

The monkey's fist cabinet or drawer pulls is a great way to add a nautical touch to any coastal interiors. These are produced in Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA by  marine artist Joe McNelis. Joe also creates exceptional bell ringers and even some of the finest fancy knotwork covered picture frames and you will see some of is exceptional artworks in future blogs.

These hand-tied rope monkey's fist knob is a perfect way to dress up your yacht or nautical home. Use them on kitchen cabinets and drawers, bathroom fixtures, as chest of drawer pulls or box knobs. We've also used them as towel hangers- anywhere that you can use a decorative knob. These pulls measures 1 3/8 inch in diameter and one 3/8 inch projection. They are also paintable so you can custom color them for your nautical interior.

Coastal Creations & Design is a blog created by Skipjack nautical Wares & Marine Gallery. Most of the products that are featured in these blogs are available on our webstore or at our physical location in Olde Towne Portsmouth, VA.  You can visit our webiste by clicking on the link posted here. http://www.skipjackmarinegallery.com/  We invite your comments and suggestions. We hope that you will share your favorite posts with us as well. Click here and visit Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/pages/Portsmouth-VA/Skipjack-Nautical-Wares-Marine-Gallery/282110578778