Coastal Living Magazine - The Perfect Summer Read

I remember the first time I set my eyes on Coastal Living Magazine. I was at a Southern Living Party hosted by a friend and was trying to find some items that I could buy from the party that were in my price range. They actually had a publishing company and in the back of the catalog I spied the Coast Living Magazine subscription.

My husband and I were in the process of buying a beach house in Pacific Beach and everything I could get my hands on that I considered "beachy" I was. The layout in Coastal Living Magazine is gorgeous. Every picture captures the lifestyle and elegance of the coast and makes you want to pack your bags and head out to the water for the weekend.

For owners of beach property and housing, the advertising in the magazine is actually one of the biggest pluses. When you are looking to find the perfect outdoor shower or Adirondack chair and you live in Seattle, WA for instance, it's almost impossible to head to your local furniture store or Home Depot and find beach themed items. Even if you head to Macy's in search for linens or other items that fit with your theme, you may not realize that Nautica carries a beach line due to the fact the store is only displaying the most popular for your area. Coastal Living Magazine advertisers are "only" displaying the beach themed items and therefore you have a view of "just right" options for your coastal getaways.

One of my favorite sections of the magazine is that they always have a beach house makeover or a new house that has been decorated to the hilt. If you are looking for ideas to even create a beach themed room in your own home, this magazine is the ticket. I cut out pages and pages and put them into page protectors to seal up my dreams and come back to them from time to time for new ideas or to freshen up the look. For decorating ideas inspired by this magazine you can visit our beach house website.

If you love to garden, the magazine spends a lot of time focusing on incredible gardens and beautiful scenery that any home can leverage. They also show awesome landscapes including pools, decks, ponds, and overall greenery to make your home feel like a beach resort.

They also include house plans for beach front property that you can purchase to create your own incredible getaway. One of my favorites is the Tidewater Cottage which is 2196 square feet and has 3 bedrooms, 2 ½ baths and a porch that spans 560 square feet. There is even a screened porch on the home to keep mosquitoes and other creatures at bay. By visiting the site you can view a collection of house plans and choose the one that fits your family and even have a personal architect tweak it just a bit to fit your needs.

If you choose to remodel a beach house, I recommend a breeze through their before and after sections. My husband and I flip houses (at least one a year) for a hobby and extra income and I personally have used a lot of their ideas in making over the homes we are flipping. Our last flip we purchased for $250,000 and within 60 days we sold it for $320,000 in 3 hours. I attribute a lot of this to the incredible design in our bathrooms and gorgeous redo of the outdated kitchen which was all directly inspired by Coastal Living.

Another endearing factor to the magazine is the fact you can find a getaway even if you don't own one. Coastal Living constantly brings you the best of the best vacation homes, condos, and resorts which they have investigated thoroughly and found to be incredible value and overall experience. The provide all of the information you need to make that call and book your summer retreat over the phone or on the internet.

If I haven't given you enough reasons to try this inexpensive magazine subscription, the hours of solitude you'll receive just from looking at the pictures will hopefully be enough to get you down the "aisle" in your grocery store to check a copy out before making your big "commitment!"