Integrating a travel theme into my home decor is something I’ve been working on ever since I moved out on my own. Working full-time means I’m not on the road constantly (thank goodness) but there are of course times when I really wish that I was. Whenever I feel myself suffering from being at home and not travelling, it’s easy enough for me to look around my apartment and feel just a little bit better.
I try not to bring travel themes into the apartment in an overt or tacky way (hopefully it’s working), but enough so that when people walk in they know what I’m interested and have an idea of where I’ve traveled to. As I travel more this may get harder though, I collect so many things while I’m away I might soon run out of room!
Photos
I’m a big fan of art. I love hanging beautiful pictures and paintings all over my walls, especially when it’s of places that I’ve traveled to and visited. Whenever I venture to a new country or city I try to find a local artist to buy a painting or photograph from.
It doesn’t matter how big or small the city is that you’re visiting, there are wonderfully talented artists everywhere. One of my favourite spots was wandering through Piazza Navona in Rome. There were so many talented artists milling about waiting for you to buy their artwork I could have stayed there for hours. All of the beautiful colours and different styles really blended together in the most fantastic way.
Whether you venture alone the Seine in Paris with the many artists with their commercial photos (often prints) lined along, or an alley way in Quebec City with proud artists freezing their asses off waiting for a sale, you are bound to find beautiful pieces of art anywhere. We typically never spend more than $20 on these (we aren’t buying Picasso are we?). Even though some of the art work we get are prints I still love them as much as if they were original pieces of art. Being able to look at them when I’m walking through my apartment, working at my desk or getting ready in the morning makes me really happy.
Albums
I have fallen behind in doing this but I love creating albums from the photos I take along my travels. The problem is, now I take so many damn pictures it gets quite expensive to create the books and takes so much time. It’s worth it though. The albums sit on the coffee table and act as the perfect conversation starter when we have company over.
Most of my albums were actually created through Apple IPhoto’s program. It’s so easy to use and connects with your ITunes so any purchases you make are all connected, it’s really quite simple. You can either choose to have the photos laid out for you by Apple or rearrange them yourself.
Of course there are many other companies and software programs that help you create albums as well (and are likely cheaper). For anyone who has ever been a victim of accidental photo-erasing, you know how valuable it is to go back tot he old days of having hard copies you can reference whenever you want.
Shot Glasses
This might seem like an odd one but years ago when I took my first real international trip I started this tradition and haven’t been able to stop since. You will find shot glasses basically anywhere on your travels. From Indonesia to the Bahamas to the South of Italy, you will find a shop that sells shot glasses with a name of the place you’ll be visiting on it.
Shot glasses are a tad more impractical when it comes to home decor but if you have a designated bar area they are perfect. Because I’ve collected so many along my travels I now have these shot glasses scattered throughout the apartment, much to Ben’s frustration. They became so much that now I’ve started collecting just the ‘country’ shot glasses rather than individual cities I’ve visited as well.
Travel Books
Obviously as a travel blogger I do my travel research mostly online. However, as a book lover, I still find a lot of value in having hard copies with valuable information that I can take with me and access in even the most remote of areas. DK Eyewitness travel books are some of our favourites. They all have maps that you can take out of the book and use while travelling. The books also all have beautiful pictures that make it fun to flip through.
Seeing as I collect so many regular books anyways, adding a few travel books here and there is pretty easy. I love having these on my desk as well for whenever I want to get inspired or remember certain information from somewhere I’ve been before.
How do you incorporate travel into your home decor? I would love to find some new ideas!
Great post. I always find it hard to have a toch of my travels in my homedecor.
thanks for the tips.
x