A couple of weeks ago I was lucky enough to be invited to the Ideal Home Show at Kensington Olympia by Ekornes, so the Husband and I shuffled the kiddos off to the Grandparents and set off for a day packed full of interiors and homewares. Heaven! (Although possibly not for the Husband, who thinks than more than one cushion is too many. Pah.)
I love, love, LOVE getting the train to London, and even though we’re only a couple of hours away, I don’t go all that often – childcare and school runs and train fares all get in the way a bit too much. The journey is half the fun for me; two hours worth of crocheting, reading and watching the countryside zip past is ace – the best way to start any trip! The best thing was that the overground train took us straight there, so there was no need to go on the Underground – I have absolute Tube-Fear, and always avoid it if I possibly can – and we got the BEST pretzels ever at Clapham Junction station. There would have been a picture, except I was too busy shovelling it into my mouth. Blogger fail.
When we arrived, I found the Ekornes stand straight away; I’ve never really been familiar with the concept of ergonomic chairs, but the helpful staff explained that the Stressless chairs are designed to adjust to the movement of your body, meaning that you constantly receive the correct support in all the right places. The lumber support and adjustable height basically make them the perfect chairs for naps / watching Walking Dead episodes back-to-back / sitting up at your desk and doing lots of work, and most excitingly for me, they’ve just released a new design in Petrol. That’s right folks, they do a chair in TEAL. You all know I love a bit of mustard and teal, so when I saw this display, I almost felt it was like they knew I was coming:
Once I’d had a good sit down look around the Ekornes stand, we decided to wander around some of the other exhibits; my hands down favourite were the real-life homes, where you queued up outside and then got to nosy round a styled house, Through-the-Keyhole-stylee. We went in the Home for Life produced by House Beautiful, and the Future Proof House, which was built by Trivselhus by Esh, and I can honestly say that I would have been happy to stay in either one forever; geometrics, colours, wood, white and mid-century styling all had me drooling like mad.
The rest of the Ideal Home Show was dedicated to food (waaaaay too much choice – the Husbands face lit up when we got upstairs!) and the marketplace where you could buy things to take home. We had a wander, but didn’t have time to stop as we had to get back for the kiddos – any other day and I would have been sampling food and getting my nails done faster than you can say ‘interiors’.
As well as kindly supplying my tickets for the Ideal Home Show, Ekornes have also generously donated the prize of £100 worth of vouchers for online Scandinavian store Cloudberry Living for one lucky reader. If you’re not familiar with Cloudberry, pop across to the site and you’ll find beautiful homewares from brands such as Ferm Living, Markimekko and Sagaform – be prepared to want everything!
To enter, simply complete any of the options below, and you’ll automatically be entered into the competition. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Huge thanks to Ekornes Stressless for their generosity and for collaborating with The Owl and the Accordion.
Lovely competition, I've done all of the things!
Entered 🙂 x
Great show – I can never have too many cushions. Also entered, thanks for a lovely giveaway!
looks fantastic !! great giveaway x
They have some lovely things there, thanks for this.
They are super comfy aren't they! I love the pics from inside the house x
Looks like a great trip! I love that geometric bedding, such perfect colours! I couldn't trust myself not to blow the budget though! Katie xhttp://long-may-she-rain.blogspot.co.uk
Gorgeous items, love the bags, ty or the chance, amazing competition
Looks like you had a great time in London – I love your shoes and how amazing are all these inspiring room sets – wish I had gone now as I enjoyed the Christmas one. Great giveaway, have entered, fingers and toes crossedLaura x
all items looks so good !!
Amazing cushions, love them! The inside interior is beautiful, I have a similar beige footstool in my home from http://www.decur.co.uk but I just love how it's been co-ordinated in the room in the photo, amazing stuff everything looks so good.
Your blog is too materialistic for me. So many pictures of things to buy and lifestyles to buy into are not for me. I don't think it was always this way though?Jen
I'm not sure what you mean by 'materialistic'; two posts down there's a video of things I found in charity shops because I like thrifting and I like clothes (the clue is in the 'worn' and 'thrifted' tags in the sidebar), below that is a post about things I did and made throughout the month, and above this post are two talking about my daughters third birthday. I do post a lot of interiors and I blog about independent businesses because I like to get more people shopping with artists and makers – I have dropped the craft posts down a bit, because I have a job, two children and a father with Alzheimers and don't get as much time to sit around crafting as I'd like. Because, you know, bloggers are actual people who have responsibilities outside the world of the internet. My simple answer would be that if you don't like what I write, please don't waste your time reading it.
Brilliant response babe ^^ You are one of the least materialistic people I know! Xx