Fall Flower Arrangements

Decorate your coastal home for fall with a fresh sunflower arrangement. These flowers invoke the fall spirit while maintaining a coastal cottage flair. Enjoy the cooler weather and take advantage of the beautiful days before winter!

Bring the Coastal Outdoors In

Use accent pieces such as shells as accesories and as accent pieces. Sea glass can introduce some inviting colors to your home as well. Remember that coastal themes generally utilize colors that are found naturally at the beach. Think of the blues of the water and sky, greens of the sea and seashore plants, browns of the sand and driftwood, and so on. By following this as a guide when you pick pieces and colors for your coastal decor, you basically can't go wrong.

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike is a massive storm that appears to be taking aim at the Texas coast, with evacuations already underway. The Red Cross is moving relief supplies to Texas in anticipation of Ike's landfall and is urging residents and visitors to prepare and listen to directions from public officials. The best way you can assist the Red Cross is to donate some money and an easy way to simply donate $5 via text. Click here for an information form from the Red Cross regarding hurricane victims.

Home Forums

The GardenWeb Home Forums are a great resource for learning about others experiences with home items such as pressure washers, appliances, flooring materials and many other home items. When you have a coastal home it pays to do some research to determine if it is really more cost effective to spend a little extra money for a different material or an upgraded item, such as an air conditioning unit that is made for coastal environments. The coastal environment is harsh on many of the typical household appliances and hardware. Thus, taking the time to do a bit of research may yield a longer life for the item and also result in a better return on the money you spend.

GardenWeb Home Forum

New Insurance Coverage and Tropical Storms

If you own or are purchasing a coastal home, beware that insurance may stop writing new policies during active tropical storm and hurricane threats. For example, in Florida you may here an insurance professional refer to a tropical storm or hurricane "storm box" and once a storm enters this box - that is the company's box drawn on a map around a large geographical area - the insurer will temporarily suspend issuing new coverage. For additional information, visit the Florida Insurance Council.

Collecting Sea Beans

The waves and winds generated by tropical storm systems offer beachcombers an opportunity to search for various collectibles. Seashells are frequently sought, but sea bean collecting can also be lots of fun and challenging. An additional reward: sea beans are thought to bring good luck! Read this article giving some tips on how to beachcomb and collect sea beans.

Installing Hurricane Storm Shutters

Protecting your home from tropical systems is important for coastal properties. This video from Lowe's provides information about installing hurricane storm panels. This is just one of the hurricane shutter varieties that is available. There are, among others, roll-down shutters that are permanently installed in a housing above the opening and also accordion shutters that remain in place and ready to simply close upon a threatening storm. Both of these shutter systems are more expensive than the hurricane panel protection system.