Sunday 19 July 2015

Pretty in print


I like to try and bring back a memento from each holiday we go on - it's not always particularly linked to the trip itself, but just something bought at the time, that I always remember it by. For example, on one pre-baby city-break to Bath, we bought back a butter dish. In Corfu, it was a pot stand. No correlation to the nature of the trip, just things we liked at the time. 

So when we went on our first family holiday last month, I wanted to bring something back and actually, Arlo chose this one, which makes it even more special. In The Hambledon, aka my favourite shop, aka shopping heaven (you can hear me wang on even more about why I love the place so much here) Arlo woke up just at the end of our visit to point this print out to me. It has a raa raa (lion) sitting on an oo-ee (elephant), so it ticked all his boxes, and he spent the next ten minutes doing his elephant impression in appreciation. It's also covered in balloons which seemed fitting seeing as it was the day after his second birthday. He loved it, and so did we, so we took it home, framed it (Ikea do the perfect fine frame that is the ideal match) and here it is - hanging in pride of place in the spare room, which since its spruce up was looking quite bare and in need of some wall adornments (you can never have too many frames in my book).

You can also see it from Arlo's bedroom when you look out the door, so I like the fact that it's the first thing he sees when he wakes up in the morning and wanders through to our room to wake us up. This is now a thing, because he's now tall enough to reach the door handle and escape let himself out of his room when he wakes up in the morning. While there are plus points to this (e.g. I don't have to actually get out of bed to go and get him when he wakes up now, I can just squeeze him in with us and try and eek out a few more moments of sleep in the morning) it's been happening daily at 5am, which is a minus point that kind of out-weighs anything else. More sleep please.






Home Etc

16 comments:

  1. What a fab print! Great that it fits so well in that Ikea frame too. I seem to spend my life always searching for 'the right frame' for something... #HomeEtc

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    1. Oh I am the same, I buy so many frames that never get filled because I'm convinced they'll be the perfect fit for something one day! These Ikea ones are great! xx

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  2. What a lovely idea to collect little souvenirs of your trips. I love the print (and the sofa/cushions too) and think all the colours work really well together X #HomeEtc

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    1. Thanks! Before the print was up the wall looked really empty and blank so I'm pleased to have filled it up with some colour xx

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  3. Such a lovely print. I'm a huge fan of white walls and bold prints/patterns. They add such a warmth of colour without having to go the whole hog and paint walls or wallpaper. Love the fact that you collect souvenirs. We do the same. We have a massive Zurich collage on our wall from when we lived there and it's one of my most favourite things in our house.

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    1. Thanks Rachel - I feel the same about white walls and pops of colour, I think almost every wall in our house is white for this reason! Wallpaper feels like a big commitment and it's nice to know you can change the feel of a space just by changing what's hanging on the wall. Love the sound of your collage - if I had my way I think I'd cover every wall in the house with photos to remember things by! xx

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  4. We do that to, always buy something on holiday so we'll always remember it. I think the last thing we got was a Spanish VTech Toot Toot Car from Madrid - it talks in Spanish! I really really love the print, it is so cheerful. And I have to say those stripy cushions with the blue futon looks fab! Sabrina xx #HomeEtc

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    1. Hehe - the Spanish talking car sounds good, will definitely always remind you of Madrid! That sounds like the kind of noisy toy Arlo would love :) x

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  5. That's a fab print - love it and it looks great in that room. We always try to bring something back from holiday too, it's a nice way to remember the holiday isn't it? #homeetc

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    1. I've loved hearing that others do the same as us, it's a nice tradition, isn't it? I love glancing round the room and being reminded of all kinds of memories xx

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  6. Weirdly, I had wallpaper that looked a lot like that print when I was little!! I was obsessed with the lion cos he had a triangle for a nose!! Amazing how that memory just came flooding back!! LOVE this Poppy — I've said it before but I love your home-style — it's really similar to mine :) Thanks so much for linking up with #HomeEtc — hope to see you again next week! x

    Caro | www.thetwinklediaries.co.uk

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    1. How funny that this had bought back a memory of your old wallpaper, that's so nice! I hope Arlo remembers this in the same way one day :) See you next week for sure! #HomeEtc xx

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  7. Fabulous print! I need to add more prints to the children's rooms but it's a bit tricky with the sloping walls in their eaves bedrooms... love the splash of colour against your son's white walls, really makes it pop! #HomeEtc

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    1. Thanks so much - I've been seeing lots of lovely wall decals lately which could be a good option for sloping walls xx

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  8. That is a fantastic print! I'm on the hunt for something similar for my daughters room at the moment as she is crazy for 'Raa-raas' too! Xxx #HomeEtc

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    1. Thank you! Yes it was probably a bit of a lucky find seeing as both Arlo and I love it - I hope this 'raa raa' phase lasts! xx

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