We love to travel, and love to be surrounded by hints of vacation. And through the years, we thought we loved to travel because of the new places we get to see, new foods we get to try and cultures we get to discover. Maybe a tchotchke purchase along the way to bring home in hopes to always remember what a wonderful time we had in Florence or Ireland, or even Florida?
Yes, these are all reasons we still adore exploring new places. However, as we’ve gotten older we’ve realized that one of the leading reasons we love to travel is because of the inspiration we gain from our surroundings while away from our own humble abode. (And thank you Covid as well for helping us come to this realization when travel was taken from us for a long period of time!) Then, when we come back to our own dwelling, we are able to incorporate these simple, cultural touches into our homes.
They bring us comfort, happy thoughts and decorate our homes to share a piece of ourselves. There are so many ways to get that vacation vibe in your home. From functional pieces to those that will just make you happy to look at, come along with us to see how to merge vacation vibes with everyday living in your personal space.
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Hints of Vacation in Your Home
Visual inspiration – the kind that you live, feel, breath – may be the best kind. This kind of inspiration is always existent on vacation. You feel the sea breeze by sitting on a porch chair swing, you discover new materials by exploring different venues. You taste new tastes, smell new smells and feel all the feels…on vacation.
Sometimes when we return to our homes after a lovely time away, life can feel like a hassle, bummer or chore. We’ve learned that the best way to incorporate the vacation atmosphere in our homes is to use snippets from our travels. The things that allow you to taste the tastes or smell the smells.
Think about the pieces of vacation that really get us into the motion of fresh ideas. It may be as simple as a fabric pattern that caught our eye while eating breakfast on a terrace one morning. Or maybe it is the most treasured mascot from the place you visited, like a wooden Buddha carving from Nepal to hang on your dining room wall or a glass trinket box made from the merchants in Venice, Italy.
Or a porch swing that became part of your everyday happenings on your vacation by the sea. These things can all be instituted in your own home. It is about finding the right piece and then finding the right space to put it/them.
When you head on your next vacation, position your mind to think about what is actually inspiring you about the space you are experiencing. Then think about how you can possibly incorporate this back into your own house back home. Ask questions about where inspiring items came from – the concierge at your hotel or a local that runs a market shop are all great places to start. Find out where items were sourced, the inspiration behind them and how they came to be.
If you are one for illustrations, sometimes taking a sketchbook along to document what you saw can be helpful. When sketching, you may be inspired to document how this look can be transformed in your own space at home.
And, of course, a camera. We all carry one on our phones now, so this isn’t tough and doesn’t require much skill. Start an album on your phone in your photos folder for inspiration pictures from traveling. That way they are easily accessible and organized!
I’ve pulled my recent inspiration from scouring the internet and social media platforms for vacation destinations. I tend to find much home décor inspiration when researching our next vacation spot. Always keep your eyes open! Certain places or certain hotels may peak to your design aesthetic and you can snag your next design move simply from a posted Instagram photo.
How to Incorporate Vacation in Your Home
Through the years and travels, we’ve come to pin-point some key pieces that translate well from vacation mode to everyday home décor mode. Here’s an idea of what we’ve used (or thought to use) as a way to add hints of vacation into our house…
A Swing chair/s. Whether on a porch or in a family room, we think this is such a great “vacation” escape when you need to respond to a text or phone call, read a book or even have a cozy chat with a kiddo.
Air purifier with essential oils. When we go away and we love a scent somewhere, we always ask what the scent is. On our most recent trip in February, we loved the scent in our hotel’s lobby. We asked, and unfortunately, they have an intricate air purifier system.
So, since that isn’t in our cards right now, I decided to purchase a small purifier on Amazon along with a few different essential oils to grasp a nice scent in our home. We use it like we would a candle – when we need a freshen up, have guests popping over or just want to feel relaxed – we plug it in and get that “Ahhh” feeling.
A candle. This can have the same meaning and function as the air purifier. Easy, inexpensive and can really penetrate a nostalgic vacation feeling!
Magazines and coffee table books. We find we always love looking at these at Airbnb’s, hotels, etc. So, why not have a stack accessible? Take a breather every once in a while, and enjoy a quiet read.
Fabrics. We became obsessed with searching for the right fabric for our 3rd floor room’s custom window seat cushions. It is a tricky space and we want it to have a relaxing (vacation-esque) vibe since our kids will be using the space to hang with friends, read and do homework essentially.
Relicts from a faraway land. Maybe it is something you treated yourself to from the iconic Harrods in London or you felt inspired by the faith of the people in Jerusalem. Whatever it is, bring some form of it home and hang it somewhere you will see it to remind you of your wonderful travels and the people that inspired you.
Photos. This is the cheapest, easiest way to incorporate your vacation everything into your home. Framing favorite sites or memories around the house adds so much personality and so much joy.
Photo Books. We are obsessed with books, so we’ve decided to make beautiful photo books for our bigger trips, like Europe. They will be simple, but will document our experiences as a family and also help decorate and personalize our home. They are something we can thumb through while taking a deep breath on that swing chair!
Beauty products. We’ve found that some of our best hairdos and skin are when we are away! Ask where things are from if they are not labeled. If they are not for retail, ask the hotel manager if there is a way to purchase the product/s directly from the hotel.
On one of our trips, we used Himalayan bath salts in the bathroom of the hotel lobby. We asked where it was from and since they couldn’t sell us their actual Himalayan salt, I researched and found a variation! We currently keep it next to the powder room sink so guests can leave our bathroom feeling refreshed and lovely (us as well!)!
Places That Inspire
Europe is always in our top five. There is so much inspiration, heritage, architecture and design inspiration in Europe. And every City, every region speaks its own language while staying true to its specific roots. We’d lay any European inspiration down in our home any day! (Check out our French Style post!).
The United States offers so much inspiration. You wouldn’t think you’d find much ground-breaking design inspiration, but especially for a farmhouse the USA has so many wonderful lights of inspo.
Truly, anywhere you travel will lend personal inspiration in a variety of ways. You just have to be ready to look for it, translate it and essentially bring hints of vacation home to your own space.
