One of the most wonderful aspects of good literature is that it makes you want to live inside it – so if you’re stuck for décor ideas, why not think about the locations from literature that you’d love to be part of your home? Say goodbye to reality as you part the pages of your favorite novels in the perfect setting for you to enjoy them.
The Shire
Bilbo Baggins is a character who’s attached to creature comforts. The hobbits espouse neighborliness, garden and house pride, and good natured traditional behavior. If you’ve read The Hobbit then you might wish you could join in with the feast that Bilbo is able to hold for the visiting dwarves, even though he’s given no advanced warning of the guests and their appetites. The trick to enjoying the same comforts as the hobbits live with is threefold; firstly, the garden must be immaculate. Though there aren’t any hobbit specific requirements, you must have short grass and coordinated flowerbeds. Then next requirement is food; to live like a hobbit in this respect you need a pantry, and you need to keep it full. Thirdly, you need pre-electrical equipment decorating your hobbit hole – that could be fire-blackened kettles, horseshoes, a fireplace with a steel fender, for example. You have some freedom here to make it your own, though you could make the references to the book clearer with a map of the shire or a replica Sting or Glamdring hung up.
Thames Valley
If you’re a fan of The Wind in the Willows then you probably wouldn’t like your décor to reflect Mole’s House, Toad Hall or the Wild Woods – like most of us, you probably want to bring the comfort of the scenic river into your living space. You could see if you could use Water Garden products to give your pond the flowing impression of a river, and you could look out for a model toad, mole, water rat and badger, who you could place in position by the water. This might be a great way of showing your friends and family your commitment to the idyllic scenes of the novel, without letting it take over the inside of your home.
Wonderland
Bring your favorite scenes of Alice in Wonderland to life in your home and garden with these suggestions. The novel’s quirky characters and scenes lend themselves brilliantly to home décor references, and with this novel you can go as explicit or as subtle as you want to. It’s relatively easy to find all different kinds of Cheshire Cat garden models, some of which could be hung from a tree. One other idea that’s been pioneered by some online fans of the novel is to turn a regular lampshade into the shape of the Mad Hatter’s hat. If you want to bring these ideas together then it might even be worth hanging up a house motto based on Carroll’s writing. Why not hang a sign that confirms ‘We’re all mad here’ above the front door?
