By: Theresa Merkling

 Shells in home decor - Minis

While out on one of my shell excursions, I got to thinking that there
were probably people in the echo who are land locked and/or haven't
done much travelling who are probably wondering what in the world you
would do with shells in a mini (or real sized) home, so, I thought
I'd assemble a few ideas that occurred to me. . . hope some of you
can find this post useful:

   1) many homes have a Florida room. . . this is kind of a sunroom
with casual furniture, maybe rattan, and lots of plants and sunshine.
Shells work great in this kind of setting. . . some uses would be as
an ashtray, filled with dirt and having a plant growing out of it
(full sized conch shells are famous for this), glue lots of mini
shells around the edges of a mirror or all over a vase. . .

   2) sea fan can be trimmed and painted a decorator color and either
hung on a wall plain or used in an empty fireplace or used in a
floral arrangement like you would use ferns . . . flowers can be made
out of suitably sized shells painted flower colors attached on the
end of wires with fake leaves attached as stems.

   3) in my real house, I have some clear glass containers filled
with assorted shells, coral and ocean tumbled glass that make
pleasant bit of design.  Also have a clear jar lamp base filled with
ocean stuff in my room.

   4) outside, I use coral pieces around the aloes for a rock garden
in my tiny front yard. . . I've also seen people line flowerbeds and
walkways with conch shells. . . crushed shells for driveways

   5) large shells can be polished with mineral oil and set on end
and coffee tables as decorations

   6) another nice display method is a collectors case (balsa wood
strips on a wood back to make compartments - clear plastic for a
glass lid)  this can be placed on a coffee table in place of books or
hung on a wall for display.  A real ambitious person might make micro
labels to identify each shell (Latin and English names - would
require a bit of research)

   7) in St. Augustine, FL, the oldest city in the US, and many other
places as well, some homes are made out of cocina bricks.  Cocina are
tiny, shiny shells that have some resemblance to clams.  They are
broken up and mixed with mortar to make lovely cottages and also
larger buildings.  They have a whitish or pinkish look and often have
those curved terra cotta shingles on the roof.

  8) imagine the story line for your people in a house with lots of
shells. . . they could be living at a beach house in the tropics. . .
a fisherman's cottage in New England. . . have Carribean pirate
ancestors. . . be a biology professor . . . an oceanographic museum.
. .
   9) in the Carribean, many tourist places sell large conch and
helmet shells with intricate carvings on the glossy segments.  When
we went on a trip to Turks and Caicos, BWI, I had an opportunity to
visit a conch farm.  There, they sold, among other things, jewelry
made from the pearly pink inner part of conch shells.  I got a small
heart pendant. . .
   10) tiny shells can be placed in the bottom of a mini aquarium