THE SWEET & SUNNY SEASIDE
Escape to Laguna Beach for home-grown grapefruit and charming table settings.
Escape to Laguna Beach for home-grown grapefruit and charming table settings.
Is there anything more pleasant than ocean breezes, warm sunshine and fresh flowers?
How about sitting at a cute table with friends, enjoying home-grown grapefruit and sweets? Put it all together, and you have the charming ambience of the home of Carmelit Green in Laguna Beach, California.
Just steps away from Main Beach, with a peekaboo view of the Pacific and surrounded by lush greenery abuzz with hummingbirds, the house has been Carmelit’s home for the past 12 years. Although small, the layout enables her to entertain indoors, on the patio that runs the length of her home, and in the mossy knoll just to the side of her patio.
Using a bistro table on the lawn as well as the dining table, she can easily entertain at least six guests at a time. “Our weather is practically perfect, so it’s easy to set up outdoor eating areas year-round,” Carmelit says.
A beautiful glass-front hutch is the ideal spot to display the many white dishes and serving pieces she has collected and curated through the years. Adding fresh lemons and a few snippets of chamomile makes the hutch just as refreshingly pretty as the table settings and adds to the efficiency of the room. “If I need something while entertaining, I just grab it from the hutch,” says Carmelit.
Simplicity is part of beach living, so Carmelit keeps her tablescapes minimal, with just enough color to make things interesting. “I love to use my white dishes and serving pieces and just add pops of color in the flowers, linens and food,” she says.
Carmelit manages the downtown flagship store of Troy Lee Designs and serves on the Laguna Beach Chamber of Commerce, so she supports local merchants as much as possible. “I love to pick up cookies and flowers on my walk home from work—it makes entertaining easier, and local fare is much more special.”
The trees in the yard are bursting with big, juicy grapefruits but they were not always the stars of the show. “I didn’t even know these grapefruits were edible the first few years I lived here,” laughs Carmelit. But now they’re a tasty go-to and perfect for sending home by the bagful with her guests.