A photo of mine on the wall with help from Photowall

*This post contains an item gifted by Photowall

Every now and then I surprise myself and take a photo, or a series of photos that I’m incredibly proud of. And this is one of those times. Or rather, this is five and a half years after one of those times.

Since our holiday in Cornwall back in 2014 (yes, really) I’ve been thinking about framing one of the pictures from our holiday, but never got around to doing it anything about it. I haven’t even got as far as sharing the pictures here either. Sometimes that happens.

So when Photowall got in touch I spied the push into action I needed. And I think it’s turned out rather well.

The thing is, I even knew where the picture would go. On the gallery wall in the study-come-craft-room, which after a strong start was stalling. It’s a wall that I’ve been keen on creating for a while, and my plan to use black frames to unify the small space was working well. Of course, me being me and our house being our house, it wasn’t quite that straightforward. The gallery wall is actually on a sloping wall, which means adding some additional fixtures to the frame, so the top and bottom are attached to the wall.

MOH is used to this now, and I like to think enjoys the challenge! Or that’s what I tell myself anyway.

And it did turn out really well.

In fact the whole process was super easy. From uploading my picture on the Photowall site, choosing the size and cropping the image to work properly. My image was actually a colour image, and I converted it to black and white on the site too - it looks so much more dramatic doesn’t it?

My biggest dilemma was which size to choose - this is 50cm x 40cm - and the site guides you through creating your masterpiece, and if you’re not after framing one of your own masterpieces then there’s plenty of wall murals or wallpapers to choose from too.

It was quick to arrive too, the order was with me within a couple of days. If only I’d know that after our holiday in 2014, I could have been enjoying my picture on the wall for much, much longer already.

Try it for yourself with a 25% discount

Photowall have offered you a 25% discount, so you can try it for yourself. Just enter the code lifeat2021 when prompted, and you can use the code as many times as you want for a month after the date of this post. And you know what, I can’t wait to see what you create.

* With thanks to Photowall for transforming my photo into a stunning picture for my wall for the purposes of this review.

A shower over the tub

After the last post, from the dining room, you’ll know that the bathroom was MOH’s favourite room. It’s the last room in the ‘house’ and it was pretty spectacular. It was also hard to photograph, but that didn’t influence my decision, the dining room was my favourite. After seeing each of the rooms we dutifully dropped our tokens into the respective perspex boxes (a bit like you do in Waitrose).

It’ll be interesting to hear which room is overall most popular, I suspect it might be this one as it did have the wow factor. And it’s the last room of the Giant Houseplant Takeover.

As soon as you enter this room, you know it’s going to be special. Not only as the bathroom sink is the first glimpse you get, but also because people are reluctant to move on and vacate their viewing position. It’s understandable, but frustrating though I’m sure I did exactly that too.

I was surprised that MOH opted for this room as his favourite as he’s really not a fan of Mind Your Own Business, which I’m cultivating very happily in our garden to soften the edges of the slate and paving, and the edges of the sleeper raised beds. He’s all for ripping it up, and I’m sure is more enthusiastic about any ‘pruning’ that I authorise than I intend him to be. I’ll be able to remind him that he was a fan, next time he rolls his eyes at the MYOB though, won’t I?

The shower over the tub, as I’ve titled this post, was the main and spectacular centrepiece for this room. But it’s not just about the cascading water, which is pretty cool, look at the detail of the shower head, and how the plants behind the cascade echo the downward movement. It’s very clever, and not something that’s been thrown together.

I was fascinating by the bath structure too, and as you can see from the photo above it’s supported by a couple of posts, which gives it that ‘floating’ feeling. The blue also helps it both stand out and blend in to its surroundings. The plants throughout the exhibition were fantastic, but it was here (along with the leaves on the bureau in the living room) that my interest was really piqued.

A BIRD’S NEST FERN

I’ve not seen plants like the Bird’s Nest fern above before (it’s ‘Crispy Wave’ if you want to know more) but I’d very happily see much more of this, and seeing it closer to home (i.e. in my back garden) would also be welcome. Though the fact that it was in the hot houses at Wisley, probably means it won’t be so happy out side in all weathers.

Once again it pays to look up, as there were these quite large plants and their bound root balls above our heads. These reminded me of the snitch (or ball) used in the quidditch games in Harry Potter. I’m sure they’re probably supposed to represent something else, but that’s the first thing that came to my mind. I’m not quite sure what that says about my mind though…

It was good to end the tour of the house with a pop of colour from these Birds of Paradise-like plants, especially for me, you know how much I love colour. You already know which rooms were mine and MOH’s favourites, but which is yours?

Dining room delights

I’ll let you into a secret, which there is no point keeping until the end of this post as you’ll guess by the number of photos. This room was my favourite of the whole Giant Houseplant Takeover. It wasn’t MOH’s though, and in another spoiler, I’ve not shared that room yet (and there’s only one more to go after this post).

In truth, I was captivated by this room as soon as I saw it. Lots of people were, and I had to push my patience levels to the edge to take photos without hands and heads appearing, waiting patiently (which is unlike me) for people to move on, so I could nab their spot. But it was worth it.

Even on the day I’d toyed with putting my vote token against one of the other rooms, but deep down I knew which one had captured my heart. Not the kitchen with it’s cleverness, or the room that’s to come which was spectacular.

Maybe it was the drinks trolley, maybe the details - it was another room where looking up paid off. The light fitting though is very similar to the one we have in our dining room - clearly I was meant to like this room. Our light has five arms and bulbs, this one only 3 and apart from the length of the chain - and the plants for lightbulbs - it’s exactly the same. Spooky hey?

It was the detail as well as the plants. The ivy pattern on the cups and saucers, the frothy plant spilling out of the champagne bottle. We spent quite some time trying to work out what was in the glasses, but failed. Either way, we weren’t about to find out by having a taste (even if we could have got close).

It wasn’t even the “drinks globe” although that’s a classic that absolutely fits with the brown furniture.

Apart from the plants on the chairs, and the dodgy green liquid in the glasses, wouldn’t it be fun to have dinner here?