Decorating: 15 Inspiring Ideas to Showcase Your Love of Travel
Display your wanderlust loud and proud with these cosmopolitan decorating ideas
While some of us like to keep our feet firmly planted in one place, many of us suffer from some sort of wanderlust with varying degrees of severity. Whether you’re itching for a weekend trip to the coast or dying to finally embark on that year-long backpacking trip through Central Asia, the desire for travel and adventure is deeply ingrained in many of us.
Why not showcase your love of travel in your home, so you can enjoy the sense of the wide world, even if a trip isn’t on the horizon? Whether vintage and nostalgic or modern and cosmopolitan, travel-themed décor is a stylish way to express your love for life on the road.
Why not showcase your love of travel in your home, so you can enjoy the sense of the wide world, even if a trip isn’t on the horizon? Whether vintage and nostalgic or modern and cosmopolitan, travel-themed décor is a stylish way to express your love for life on the road.
Display your destination wish list
Source a print that lists your favourite cities that you plan to visit someday. Many online sellers will let you customise the city names, so you can have your very own travel wish list – or, indeed, ‘been-there’ list – prominently displayed in your home.
Source a print that lists your favourite cities that you plan to visit someday. Many online sellers will let you customise the city names, so you can have your very own travel wish list – or, indeed, ‘been-there’ list – prominently displayed in your home.
Work a world map into your wallpaper
A world map covering an entire wall is the perfect way to proudly display your globetrotting ways, while also providing inspiration for your next destination. Choose a colourful map like the one above, or go for sepia tones to achieve a more vintage feel.
Explore 11 unusual ways to decorate with maps
A world map covering an entire wall is the perfect way to proudly display your globetrotting ways, while also providing inspiration for your next destination. Choose a colourful map like the one above, or go for sepia tones to achieve a more vintage feel.
Explore 11 unusual ways to decorate with maps
Frame vintage travel posters
In the 1950s and 1960s, new disposable income allowed more people in the West to travel in ways they never could before. The tourism industry flourished, and agencies strove to attract customers with images of sandy beaches, mysterious mountains and exotic hamlets.
Capture the excitement of those early days of travel by sourcing and framing vintage or reproduction travel posters, whose retro designs have an undeniable appeal.
In the 1950s and 1960s, new disposable income allowed more people in the West to travel in ways they never could before. The tourism industry flourished, and agencies strove to attract customers with images of sandy beaches, mysterious mountains and exotic hamlets.
Capture the excitement of those early days of travel by sourcing and framing vintage or reproduction travel posters, whose retro designs have an undeniable appeal.
Rethink the globe
Although a freestanding globe is an obvious choice for the travel-obsessed, take your passion a step further and repurpose a globe for a new look.
In this home office, suspended globes create a cosmic mobile. You could also repurpose one into a pendant light or, with some crafty creativity, fashion stylish storage containers out of them. Think outside the globe!
Although a freestanding globe is an obvious choice for the travel-obsessed, take your passion a step further and repurpose a globe for a new look.
In this home office, suspended globes create a cosmic mobile. You could also repurpose one into a pendant light or, with some crafty creativity, fashion stylish storage containers out of them. Think outside the globe!
Show off your postcards
Travellers tend to accumulate postcards, often with the good intention of sending them to friends and family, but usually these cards end up squished into our travel guides because we couldn’t find a post office or just didn’t have the time. Many postcards tend to have beautiful illustrations, feature a city’s main attraction, and incorporate a region’s colours and designs.
You could either mount them on a pinboard for an eclectic look, as in this home office, or even frame them if you’ve collected particularly beautiful cards.
Travellers tend to accumulate postcards, often with the good intention of sending them to friends and family, but usually these cards end up squished into our travel guides because we couldn’t find a post office or just didn’t have the time. Many postcards tend to have beautiful illustrations, feature a city’s main attraction, and incorporate a region’s colours and designs.
You could either mount them on a pinboard for an eclectic look, as in this home office, or even frame them if you’ve collected particularly beautiful cards.
Create an artistic display with travel finds
If you’re an avid traveller, the accumulation of souvenirs becomes an inevitable consequence. Instead of cramming them into your wardrobe or forgetting about them somewhere in the basement, create an elegant display that becomes part curiosity cabinet, part museum exhibit.
Glass bell jars and transparent boxes help keep things tidy, and elegantly display your favourite keepsakes from abroad.
If you’re an avid traveller, the accumulation of souvenirs becomes an inevitable consequence. Instead of cramming them into your wardrobe or forgetting about them somewhere in the basement, create an elegant display that becomes part curiosity cabinet, part museum exhibit.
Glass bell jars and transparent boxes help keep things tidy, and elegantly display your favourite keepsakes from abroad.
Make sure your vintage camera is to hand
Photography is an integral part of travelling. If you happen to have a vintage SLR or Polaroid camera, display it proudly on a sideboard or shelf, preferably with some framed copies of your favourite holiday pics.
Photography is an integral part of travelling. If you happen to have a vintage SLR or Polaroid camera, display it proudly on a sideboard or shelf, preferably with some framed copies of your favourite holiday pics.
Employ vintage trunks
Vintage trunks and suitcases are a great way to combine storage and style. Source vintage trunks from your favourite second-hand shop or flea market, and place them in the middle of your living room as a coffee table or next to your bed for a versatile bedside table.
Discover the beauty and versatility of vintage suitcases
Vintage trunks and suitcases are a great way to combine storage and style. Source vintage trunks from your favourite second-hand shop or flea market, and place them in the middle of your living room as a coffee table or next to your bed for a versatile bedside table.
Discover the beauty and versatility of vintage suitcases
Incorporate exotic fabrics and designs
Source rugs, cushions, pouffes and fabrics in textiles typical of places such as Morocco, Mexico, West Africa or Scandinavia. Use pieces of fabric as throws, or to decorate a daybed, and layer an eclectic mix of patterns and textures to create a beautiful and cosmopolitan feel in a favourite corner.
Source rugs, cushions, pouffes and fabrics in textiles typical of places such as Morocco, Mexico, West Africa or Scandinavia. Use pieces of fabric as throws, or to decorate a daybed, and layer an eclectic mix of patterns and textures to create a beautiful and cosmopolitan feel in a favourite corner.
Keep track of world times
World clocks, which display the local times of major cities across the world, are a staple in airports, railway stations and travel agents. Choose three or four cities you’d like to keep track of, and stencil the names under identical clocks for a décor feature that will let you know exactly what time it is in, say, Hanoi at a glance.
You could go for more traditional timepieces for a classic feel, or incorporate digital clocks for a modern update.
World clocks, which display the local times of major cities across the world, are a staple in airports, railway stations and travel agents. Choose three or four cities you’d like to keep track of, and stencil the names under identical clocks for a décor feature that will let you know exactly what time it is in, say, Hanoi at a glance.
You could go for more traditional timepieces for a classic feel, or incorporate digital clocks for a modern update.
Take off with your wall art
Although this look is incorporated in a child’s bedroom, a large vintage biplane can work as an eye-catching and playful addition in almost any room. Keep the rest of the décor neutral to prevent any clashes. Paint it yourself for an original feature, or source wall stickers to achieve a similar (and less permanent) look.
Although this look is incorporated in a child’s bedroom, a large vintage biplane can work as an eye-catching and playful addition in almost any room. Keep the rest of the décor neutral to prevent any clashes. Paint it yourself for an original feature, or source wall stickers to achieve a similar (and less permanent) look.
Source vintage bus signs
Vintage bus signs are a beautiful way to reflect the excitement of travel. Source them from second-hand shops, online or perhaps even from specialised sellers.
Regardless of whether you put up a bus route you’re familiar with or choose one you’ve never even heard of, you’re bound to feel a yearning to hop on to the end of the line quite soon.
Vintage bus signs are a beautiful way to reflect the excitement of travel. Source them from second-hand shops, online or perhaps even from specialised sellers.
Regardless of whether you put up a bus route you’re familiar with or choose one you’ve never even heard of, you’re bound to feel a yearning to hop on to the end of the line quite soon.
Wake up to motivational quotes
A good quote or phrase can be the final push needed to get you planning that next Central American adventure. Place one of your favourite travel or motivational quotes in a beautiful font in your bedroom, so it’s the last thing you see at night, and the first when you wake up in the morning.
A good quote or phrase can be the final push needed to get you planning that next Central American adventure. Place one of your favourite travel or motivational quotes in a beautiful font in your bedroom, so it’s the last thing you see at night, and the first when you wake up in the morning.
Show off your best photos
Although nowadays most travel photos get uploaded to our preferred social medium the minute we get a good Wi-Fi connection, there’s still something to be said for actual, developed photographs.
Print, frame and group some of your favourite snaps for a personalised and cosmopolitan wall display that will be a constant reminder of the great trips you’ve made, and inspiration for travels to come.
TELL US…
Do you have itchy feet? How do you display your love for travel? Share your tips and photos in the Comments below.
Although nowadays most travel photos get uploaded to our preferred social medium the minute we get a good Wi-Fi connection, there’s still something to be said for actual, developed photographs.
Print, frame and group some of your favourite snaps for a personalised and cosmopolitan wall display that will be a constant reminder of the great trips you’ve made, and inspiration for travels to come.
TELL US…
Do you have itchy feet? How do you display your love for travel? Share your tips and photos in the Comments below.
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City maps allow us to see the careful planning and design that went into the construction of a city. They also tend to be visually interesting thanks to the series of grids, lines and forms they incorporate. Find a vintage map of your favourite city, or frame a current map that you used yourself for a more personal touch.