Around Home: Nature Table

A while back, I posted about this wall unit, our new to us find from Amsterdam Modern. The longer it is in our house, the more I love it. Let me tell you why.

I have shelf space! I have room to display stuff! Its' revolutionary I tell you.

For 8 years we lived in a 600 square foot beach cottage. It was probably the servant's quarters for the mansions on the next block. We had very little extra space there for anything. And since the house was so tiny, we had to carefully edit anything we had out because otherwise everything felt cluttered.

But now, I have room for a nature table.

I have wanted one of these for a long while and finally have the space to do it.

Here are some of the things we have on our nature table:

Treasures from the sea: a feather, sand dollars, a favorite rock and a crab shell.

A collection of favorite rocks from beaches we've visited on our honeymoon, from Italy, Cambria, Carlsbad and many more. There is also a bone the boys found on Skeleton Beach.

From the woods: berries, seed balls form a sycamore tree, a tiny pine cone, a beautiful green beetle, a chestnut and a fall leaf.

A bowl of pine cones that we are adding to.

We go on a nature walk each week with out home school group and I ask the boys to find something to draw in their nature notebook and something to bring home for our nature table. They like the hunt. They like to stop and look at the things on our table. The best part of our table is all the memories attached to it: the bottle of sand, the rock with 2 holes, the piece of driftwood; they are stories from our time spent together out in the beauty of creation.

It brings the outside world in.

I like that.

Our wall unit isn't all about nature. You can see we have some of our favorite, vintage Fisher Price toys on display, some of my pottery collection, my cherished Charlie Harper Biology book and other things too. There are also empty shelves, because we are letting the shelves get slowly, as we find treasures that mean something to us.

From nature or the flea market, it is always fun to find a treasure.