The Beachcombing Table

By Lydia Justice Kimball

When Louis Armstrong sang the classic song, “What a Wonderful World” some years ago, I really believed he meant for it to include my home state of Alaska. My love for this place runs deep because of the beautiful mountains, fast running rivers, the auroras, wildlife, glaciers, and more. Life is good here. It’s in Alaska that I discovered the hobby of sea glassing and was excited to be on “the hunt,” especially on Kodiak Island, Alaska, in the mid-2000s.

In 2005, Hurricane Katrina damaged many of the trees of our close friends in Mississippi. They invited my husband, me, and our children to their house to help clean up the wood. My husband brought his sawmill and helped get the broken wood cut up and stored on the property. In exchange, the friends gave us some of the wood. Part of those logs were cherry. We brought the wood back home, and my husband vowed to someday build me some furniture out of the wood.

My husband has been wanting to make me a sea glass coffee table for some time now. Now that he has retired from his full-time job, he has more time to do woodworking projects—one of his favorite pastimes. So, my sea glass coffee table was “birthed” right before Valentine’s Day. It took him about three weeks of intense love and labor to create the perfect coffee table for me.

Its contents are like a colorful picture show of my life. Some examples include a starfish I recently bought at a shop in Kona, Hawaii. Another example is a nest, probably made of moose or horsehair I found in our backyard in Chugiak, Alaska, when I first moved here around 2008. It holds tiny shells, marbles that look like eggs, a piece of art deco glass, and some other clear pieces of glass worn by the ocean’s waves. There are also some bottle stoppers from Florida, among other things.

I look at it each day and realize the specialness of this gift given to me for Valentine’s Day. It was a winter project that turned out so nice and a treasure to value for years to come!

All photos courtesy of Lydia Justice Kimball.

Coastal and Beach Décor Ideas:

Check out how some beachcombers incorporate their love of seashells, sea glass, beach rocks, and more into their home décor. Articles ›

This article appeared in Beachcombing Magazine Volume 47 March/April 2025.