The Ideal Homes Show was, if I’m honest, a bit of a mixed bag for me this year.
While the Ideal Interiors, Ideal Home Improvements and Ideal Garden sections were all great, the Ideal Woman stalls were filled for the most part with absolute tat (seriously, I came for the design trends, why would I care about hair extensions and cheap nail polish?).
The Ideal Shopping section wasn’t as good as I’d hoped either, although the Ideal Food area made it worth venturing upstairs – particularly getting a chance to sample the incredible chocolates from Paul Wayne Gregory.
Still, there was plenty to keep me happy, and I will be sharing my views – and my pictures – over a few short posts rather than bore you all to tears with dozens and dozens all at once.
Today’s theme is one which was very prominent across the show: water. From a floating eco home to some absolutely gorgeous furniture made out of old rowing boats, it was all about the big blue areas of the map.
I was particularly taken with the Beach House, sponsored by Tingdene, in the Ideal Gardens section:
I absolutely love the shade of blue grey on the exterior walls
The porthole windows are fantastic, as are the chairs, which look like fisherman's nets
Ornaments don't usually do much for me, but in their place they can really tie a theme together
One furniture company, Unique Landscape Design, really appealed to my eco friendly side, making furniture out of old discarded wooden boats and washed up driftwood. Isn’t it beautiful?
The Driftwood Ball particularly appeals to my sense of shape
I wish I had a garden so I could put this gorgeous Boat Bench in it
Possibly the most spectacular thing that the designers of this year’s Ideal Home Show did was to create a Central Marina, on which there was a floating champagne bar, a couple of very swish looking boats and the eco house I mentioned earlier:
The marina's floating bar also feature a trio of singers
I know it's wrong to covet but I want this!!
I didn’t get any pictures of the eco house from Eco Float because I was slightly flustered by the extremely good looking director who showed me around, but here are a couple from their website:
Imagine waking up to that view every day...
The eco home was surprisingly spacious inside
I could go on and on but that’s all I’ve got time for today; I’ll probably post a couple more next week.
If you’ve been to the Ideal Home Show this year, what did you think about it?