Bringing Vacation Home: Holiday Feeling in Everyday Rooms

Vacation comes with the inevitable sticky ice-lolly hands to clean, and the perplexing question of how sand landed in just about every corner of one's home. But there are also those moments of marvelling at Hashem's beautiful world.

While my little ones were collecting shells, I couldn't help but marvel at the sheer beauty of each individual shell, with its kaleidoscope of colour. The layered stripes reminded me of the linear bands in natural stone.

It's common enough to bring the natural beauty of granite, marble and quartz slabs from a quarry right into our kitchen countertops. But less so with other natural elements. Which got me contemplating: how else can we bring nature's beauty into our homes?

A few ideas

Display a shell collection inside a lamp. Showcasing shells within a clear glass lampshade base makes a functional souvenir. Paired with a coastal coffee table it becomes a real showstopper and conversation piece — and it takes you back to that beach all year round.

Put the view under your coffee cup. We're accustomed to scenic paintings in a frame on the wall behind the couch. But thinking outside the box a little — and I barely know how to think inside it — why can't your view be right in front of you, under your mug and magazine?

A wave-shaped netilas yadayim sink in the corner of your living room will complete the beach scene at home.

A waterfall in the garden, if you'd rather relive the water hikes in a more upscale form, in both sight and sound.

A low-budget nature-themed children's room

Here's a makeover I did on a small budget. The room featured a brown wooden bunk bed (ugly, sorry), green floral Formica closets, and a few chipped tiles between the beds. Functional but nondescript.

I'm a big believer in upgrading rather than replacing perfectly good furniture.

Bunk beds. A lick of white paint, plus curved fence pieces I had my carpenter add, made all the difference.

Walls. I personally painted the clouds sporadically on the sky-blue wall.

Lighting. I took advantage of the room being plastered and painted anyway, and had my electrician add more electric points for both ceiling and wall lighting. Then two cloud pendant lights (AliExpress), a cloud night light next to each bed (Machsanei HaTeura), and a small white cloud shelf (Zol Stock).

Rug. The green grass rug completed the pastoral feel — and covered the chipped tiles.

Linen. Ocean-like linen brought the coastal feel into the room (ordered from Amazon).

And hey presto: a relaxing, calming environment for a boys' room. They are by now, of course, oh so calm.