When we travel abroad, it is not unusual to want to bring it all home with us. How do we bring our travels home without ending up with a tacky recreation?

First- remember where you live and respect that. Regionalism can absolutely embrace our travels!

We are in the Pacific Northwest, which is why adobe homes with palm trees and terra cotta floors feel entirely out of place. They are. That doesn’t mean that our love of Mexico cannot visit our PNW homes.

I usually recommend keeping regional with the building itself and allowing travel to come through in decor.

1. Photographs

   One of my favorite ways to see that my clients have done a lot of traveling, is when they have special photos from their trips. Our photographs are the first thing to come OUT of a house when it hits the market because there is nothing more personal.

   This makes it a wonderful way to customize a space to be completely unique.

   Now, we don’t need an 80’s overdose of every year of your life, but a special memory here and there truly tailors a space.

2. Art

   My husband and I have a plan to bring a piece of art, no matter how small, home each time we travel abroad.

   Our first trip resulted in a small vase, smaller than my fist. We keep an air plant in it, and it may be the most precious and simultaneously unnoticed piece of art in our home.

3. Culture

   This is one of my favorite things, and quite possibly the most challenging. When we visit abroad, we may notice things like the way that the Japanese have a very distinct entry into their homes with slippers at the door. It’s a beautiful and comfortable way to enter a space, removing one's shoes. However, my own home has three entry points and we use all three regularly.

   These changes have to be integrated into our lifestyle.

   Which perhaps makes them more meaningful.

   Another way to bring culture into our homes requires real observational skills. Sometimes, it’s a feeling to recreate. This may be the best way to incorporate our travels because it is so much more subtle and artistic while allowing us to respect our regional qualities.

   A Pacific Northwest home in the mountains may have different qualities than a Pacific Northwest Coastal home- but both are PNW homes, right? Then, take that PNW Coastal home and bring in some Japanese influence and it may appear in a very subtle modern decor with a restrained and minimalistic atmosphere.

   It’s that something special that can’t quite be placed.

Like the photo above, we specialize in bringing a FEELING to a space. Usually that feeling is accomplished with the activities that we want to take place. When we want to bring our travels with us, it is often beause we want to capture that feeling.

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