Day dreaming at the Ideal Home Show

I'm not yet a homeowner and although I rent I rarely personalise the property apart from a few throw cushions and none-permanent fixtures. I dunno, I just don't feel quite ready to commit to styling somewhere unless I know I'm going to be living in it for a few years - call me old fashioned! Still, that doesn't mean I can't appreciate day dreaming about my future home. Last week I had the perfect opportunity for some mental interior design when I attended the Ideal Home Show Exhibition in Earls Court. My lovely friend Kimberly from Swoonworthy and I had been kindly invited by Magnet to check out what the show had to offer. I hadn't seen Kimberly since my move to London so it was the perfect opportunity to catch up!

We arrived early afternoon and were greeted with a scene that wouldn't be out of place in John Lewis's latest advert. Fake snow and pine trees abounded outside the exhibition centre. Inside was similar with a whole area customised to look like a snow covered forest. Very cute without the accompanying cold weather!

Very sweet bath bombs by Pretty Happy Lovely Stuff.

In between gossip about work and general girly chit chat (she's going to kill me for saying that :-P) Kimberly and I took in the delights of the Home Show. From hot tubs and roofing to knick knacks and bedding, this place had it all - including an ice rink! While most of the stands showcased some genuinely lovely homewares, we did have some questions about others (E Cigarettes?)

My favourite stand was the opulent Moroccan Bazaar feature - I'm a sucker for anything Morroccan! I also loved the his and her bedrooms designed by Laurence Llewelyn Bowen. The colours were probably a bit too bold for me but there were definitely elements I'd love to incorporate into my (future) home. That bath tub is gorgeous!

Classic luxury from Moroccan Bazaar.

An LLB designed room - naturally!

LLB's 'her' bedroom

After a few laps of the ground floor we were exhausted! A short recharge session at one of the bars (non alcohol - we were working after all!) we decided to see what the upstairs had to offer. It was delicious - literally! One half of upstairs housed all the food stands and we were kicking ourselves that we hadn't started our tour of the show there first. (Apologies for the lack of images from my favourite section - I got too distracted, the curse of being a food loving photographer!)

I'm a sucker for food stalls of any kind and could happily spend a day (and a few hundred pounds) browsing all the treats on offer. Sadly, we didn't have very long to spend upstairs as we'd underestimated how much time we had left before Kimberly had to catch her train back up north (sob). We tore ourselves away from the food, had a quick look around the fashion section (disappointing) before we bid goodbye to the fake snow and cheery elves still waving outside and hopped on a tube home.

Sarah x

Did you visit the Ideal Home Show? What was your favourite part? 

Image credit: Demotix/All other photography my own