How To Style A Teakwood Bowl For A Coastal Look

I recently got the most beautiful hand carved teak wood bowl from Katrina & Co, and I’m sharing how I styled it for a casual coastal feel! This is a simple look with a relaxed vibe, and it’s extra perfect for Summertime. I know so many of you like easy, effortless decorating as much as I do, so I had to share this quick, 2-minute decorating idea with you. 

How To Style A Teakwood Bowl For A Coastal Look

SUPPLIES NEEDED: 

• TEAK WOOD BOWL – Start with your empty vessel. If you don’t have a teak wood bowl, no problem! A dough bowl or even a wood tray can get you close-enough to recreate the general feel. 

• COARSE BEACH SAND – Add coarse beach sand to the bottom of the bowl. I grabbed mine in the floral section at Walmart for just a few dollars. I’ve already used it for several seasons to fill things like mason jars, glass hurricanes, etc…

• CANDLE – A chunky glass candle holder has a certain appeal, but any candle in white or a oceanic shade of blue will do. I stole the thick glass insert from a metal candle stick for my purposes, and added a white pillar candle.

• SEASHELLS – I raided my shell stash and used a select few so that they could truly shine, going for the less-is-more approach. my abalone & oyster shell are my favorites in this arrangement. Jim and I got really lucky on a junking weekend, when I spied a five gallon bucket full of abalone shells and inquired about them. We bought the whole bucket, and Jim polished the inside of the shells up for me! Walmart has bags of seashells that will give you the same general feel if you don’t have access to larger shells. Find them in the same section as the sand. 

• GLASS FISHING FLOATS – I’m very fortunate to live along the coast, and fishing floats can be found in most little vintage shops and antiques malls, as well as along the shoreline if you are lucky! You can also find them online, just beware that 95% of them will be touted as “vintage Japanese fishing floats”, but few actually are. They are all pretty none the less. 

HOW TO STYLE YOUR WOOD VESSEL:

I styled my teak bowl in a very carefree manner and I did not over-fuss with it. I gently poured some sand into the basin, off-set the candle to the left, simply shimming it down into the sand, and added my largest shell (the abalone). Then I proceeded to add in the 2 glass fishing floats, and lastly the smaller of the shells, the sand dollar and the lone starfish.

There are NO hard and fast RULES. Simply place things where they look pleasing to your eye. I primarily use a combination of color and visual weight to determine where and how I place pretty much everything in my home. I like a certain balance.

Decorating is kind of like art, in that it’s very subjective. The most important thing when decorating your home, is that it feels good to you!

THE BREAKDOWN:

If you happen to admire how my wood bowl contents are arranged though, I’ll share my process with you. You can see how the two largest items, the candle and abalone are the core of the arrangement. The glass float in the front/center, is flanked by the natural/light colored shells, starfish and sand dollar. Nestled into the back/center, is a single netting wrapped fishing float to add some visual interest and balance to the overall arrangement.

I look forward to restyling this teak wood bowl for many seasons and years to come. It’s absolutely beautiful in itself, and for me, I consider something like this art. It’s presence in the center of my living room kind of radiates a raw, natural beauty. The wood grain and it’s organic texture emits such a calm, relaxing vibe.

I’ve been very much feeling the “less is more” vibe for some time now, and it’s reflected everywhere in my home (with the exception of my potted deck garden, that is stuffed with flowers). I’ve deleted several pieces of furniture, including two sets of shelves I previously had loaded and styled, for a lighter, airier, less cluttered feel. That’s typical of me seasonally after Winter, but I think it’s going to stick.

In fact, I’ve been feeling the pull of another Home Décor Storage Room purge coming on. Day to day, I’ve found myself doing less frequent large scale redecorating—preferring smaller, less drastic changes that don’t require me tearing my entire house apart and putting it back together.  

For everyday, I’m finding myself wanting a little more time to pursue artistic outlets like painting, creating and doing projects out in the shop. xo Shan 

I’ve included convenient clickable shopping links below for you. Some may be affiliate links. Click here for full disclosure.

SUPPLIES: 

• Teak Wood Bowl from Katrina & Co [click here]

• I found Glass Fishing Floats on Amazon [click here] & Etsy [click here]

• My Exact Coarse Beach Sand [click here]

• Bag of Sea Shells [click here]

• Abalone Shell [click here]

SOURCES: 

• My Coffee Table [click here] (under $100)

• Sofa Pillows, mine are off white[click here] (comes in 8 colors) 

• Slipcover Sofa, Pillow Stack & Ottoman – Grandin Road

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