Baubles, Reindeers and more at the Ideal Home Show at Christmas

67,024 visitors attended the Ideal Home Show at Christmas and Eat and Drink Festival 2017 and I was one of them. Even though it felt like they might all be there on the same day as me, that number was spread over the four days. The show was smaller than the Ideal Home Show that's held each March/April but it was well worth a look round. I even left with my first Christmas present bought, and I wasn't expecting that.

Mostly because I'm either a last minute kind of girl, or an online shopper, but when I saw this gift I was sold, but more of that another day. Today it's another festive post, and yes I know it's still November, but I've a steady supply of Christmas posts to share with you, and let's be honest there'll be no use to you in the week before Christmas will they?

My favourite part of the show this weekend was the decorations section and wandering around spotting the trends - for me, it's reindeers, twigs fashioned into trees, cardholders and more and place holders, you read it here first...  I also couldn't help but fall a little bit in love with this army of silver Santas, and each seemed to have its own personality and were full of charm. 

I loved these decorations sitting down waiting for Christmas to arrive, and if I had a mantelpiece I'm pretty sure these would be on it, mainly because they just make me smile. I imagine them springing into action, sprinkling their Christmas magic as it draws closer. In fact I wouldn't have been surprised to have seen one of them with a cuppa...

And then there were the juggling - or are they waving? - Santas - this stall was a hit for me and I had to move on quickly.  It was popular with everyone else too, and having little patience for queues was a bit of a godsend for my purse, and helped me avoid the usual questions from MOH. He stayed home and spent his time making our Christmas puddings, time well spent and I'm looking forward to tasting those.

WAVING OR JUGGLING - YOU DECIDE

Reindeers were a plenty too, and this cheeky wooden chappie was my favourite. Clearly wooden decorations aren't new, but there was something about this one that gave it a more modern feel. 

A WOODEN REINDEER WITH CHARACTER

I've already mentioned wood and that was another theme I saw repeatedly through the show, these small festive message trees were popular.

WHAT'S THAT YOU SAY, TREE?

These garden ornaments reminded me of my agapanthus seed heads and sputniks at the same time, gorgeous aren't they?

THESE REMINDED ME OF MY AGAPANTHUS SEEDHEADS

We've already seen feathered birds in an earlier post and they were evident at Olympia too, this time in twinkly twiggy trees, which I would love to have as part of our decorations. But even I know that without a loft to store them in they're not practical, but maybe one day.

TWINKLY TREES AND MORE FEATHERS

The other thing I saw lots of was placeholders, maybe because we're hosting Christmas dinner this year, I noticed more of them than ever before. I was torn between a traditional wreath and a more modern bauble. I've an idea of how I can bring some of our garden onto our dining table and so I'm holding out for those, and will share how they turn out here nearer to the big day, as I'm hoping they'll be easy to do, as well as effective.

A WREATH OR..

BAUBLES - WHICH WOULD YOU GO FOR?

There were plenty of elves around the show, they're not for me, but I'd happily have this star - and I think it could be a year round thing, not just for Christmas, don't you?

One stall had faux Christmas trees of every size, including Christmas tree bunting, which I was very tempted by - complete with LED lights and a gingham bow the only thing putting me off was having to carry it home, perhaps I should have brought MOH along after all.

These jars complete with candles - LED or otherwise- looked great, and while they're probably not aimed just at carol singers, that's what they reminded me of - pretty aren't they?

So there's my pick of the decorations at the show this year, what do you think? Would your resolve have been weakened? 

Next week I've got photos of the Christmas room sets to share, and you know how much I love a room set, don't you?!

* This post is with thanks to the Ideal Home Show who provided me with entry to the show free of charge, but as usual all views are my own.

Totally tropical loos, Portuguese style

After a chilly day yesterday where I headed across London and back again by bus, tube and train I thought we could do with some warming up. And as there's not been an entry in the Loo Series for a while, I'm combining the two with a tropical loo from Porto. It was on the last night of our week in Portugal and the anticipation of the cabbage plate was still real.

Our hotel was a bit out of town and it was nice to see a different part to Porto. We arrived at the hotel late and it was the type of hotel that in its heyday would have been fantastic and super swish. It was perfectly clean and adequate but let's just say its heyday was a good few years before our arrival, which was a shame. 

We headed into the local town in search of a restaurant and stumbled upon what turned out to be the fanciest restaurant we'd eaten in the whole of our holiday.  I'll come onto that, but first let's concentrate on the loos.  In the Ladies I found myself sharing the space with this in bloom bird of paradise, beautiful isn't it?  

The decor was relatively plain with painted walls and what I first thought was wooden floor tiles on the wall. On closer inspection I discovered the wooden tiles were actually ceramic tiles, and that gave me a whole new appreciation of them. As that seemed less odd than having flooring on the wall - and yes, they were pretty effective.

The sink was a snazzy affair too, all angles and I was rather taken with it. Above the sink was a forest of pink orchids and it amused me to spot myself in the mirror through them, and when I realised my flamingo t-shirt felt right at home I couldn't help but smile to myself.

I said before it was probably the fanciest restaurant we'd eaten at, and of course by the end of our holiday our dress sense had relaxed too. While my flamingo top and white jeans felt perfectly fine in the loo, in the restaurant, which was full of LBDs I felt decidedly underdressed.

Oh well.

And look at that pudding, it was that kind of fancy restaurant.

Not in a bad way though, the glassware was a hit, but the dubious starters I was on my guard.

Back to the loos. The shared lobby entrance to the loos was something special too, a chair, mirror, some pictures and plenty of clocks.  And some more of those ceramic woodgrain tiles, this time on the floor.

So tropical loos, a flamingo top and plenty of time - that all makes for a great space, I'd say!

Post Comment Love 24-26 November 2017

Hello there and welcome to another #PoCoLo and Friday again so soon!  If you were here last week, thank you it was great to see you, if you're new here this week then hello you're very welcome - you'll find we're a friendly bunch and if previous weeks are anything to go by you'll find some great posts linked up.

It was a bit windy the other night wasn't it? I'd popped over to another of Homesense's new stores for a spot of shopping and could really hear the wind picking up, I was relieved when I peeked out of the window yesterday morning when there wasn't any damage. My jasmine which was growing up a bamboo wigwam was more horizontal than I'd like, but at least it was still in the garden!

It's also been a week that's felt more festive, and not just because of the shopping in Homesense and its baubles - more of that soon. In the cafe at work yesterday I was looking for something sweet and my usual go-to flapjacks were nowhere to be seen. But up stepped these festive cup cakes, and it was good, the flapjacks could be stepping aside for a while.  

There was some Christmas music playing so it felt perfectly ok to tackle one of these. The festive music is a little early for me, but I can make an exception, as could the person behind me in the queue, clearly there was some kind of solidarity going on!

Bloggers Showcase: Kim from Northumberland Mam

If you're a regular here you'll no doubt have read Kim's blog, Northumberland Mam, as she's another of our regular linkers, and you know how much Morgan and I love to feature our regulars, it makes it kind of special. Morgan is hosting Kim's full set of answers to our questions, but to give you a taster before you head off and find out more, did you know that Kim says bloggers are awesome people and likes to dunk biscuits in tea?  Me too, gingernuts are the best right?

Take some time to connect with Kim on social media:  Facebook  -  Twitter  -  Instagram

An InLinkz Link-up