KEEP SUMMER MEMORIES ALIVE
A few creative ideas to display mementos of the season without cluttering your decor
Summer is winding down, and all the travel, outdoor adventures, festivals and visiting with friends we’ve been enjoying will soon be memories.
Although our free time is beginning to be consumed by back-to-school and work preparations, it’s nice to keep some sweet summer memories alive as fall rolls in. But if you aren’t a fan of clutter, then how do you display mementos without hindering your decor? Whether your treasured summer memories are of family, backyard parties or faraway travels, keep them fresh in your mind with these creative ideas.
Little mementos like tickets, bottle caps, labels and coins may not be worth the trouble if they end up filling kitchen drawers and cluttering countertops. Keep a few favourites to display in a memory or shadow box so they don’t end up lost in the shuffle of daily life.
Write a travel diary or an online travel blog. Both are excellent ways to store and organize your stories and photos in one accessible place that you can always refer to — especially when it’s minus 30 C outside and imagining a warm summer breeze is essential wintertime first aid.
Mail postcards to yourself from local and faraway travels throughout the summer. Make notes on the back outlining the daily details that made that place special, like the name of the café that serves the best latte. At the end of the summer, you’ll have a reference of everything you did plus a collection of the photos, postmarks and stamps from your travels. And just think how popular you’ll feel getting mail every week.
Did you capture a great mountain-view picture? Enlarge, print and frame it as art. But choose only one image — not 10,000. Remember the 500 slides your parents made you sit through as a kid, or think of how you feel when a friend uploads too many photos to Facebook.
Online services offer interesting ways to save your memories. Create a hardcover coffee table book. Print off a few and, when the weather gets chilly, give them to your travel companions to remind them of your summer adventures. Or customize your phone case with a favourite summer memory. Being able to glance at the best vacation photo each time you use your phone will make you want summer all over again.
Some summer souvenirs aren’t worth keeping. Think twice before you bring these clutter-causing trinkets and “treasures” home.
A piece of wedding cake destined for the freezer — unless it was from Meghan Markle’s wedding last May, in which case, if frozen for 20 to 30 years might be worth 10 bucks.
Exotic souvenirs, parchment art or coins. In most cases, you won’t frame the art, the coins are unusable and those exotic souvenirs will not blend easily with your decor.
Cheap booze. Hold on, what am I saying ? Always bring home the cheap booze.
Do you have a decor dilemma or want to give feedback? You can contact Karl Lohnes on Facebook or Instagram at Karl Lohnes Designer or via email at klohnesdecor@sympatico.ca. Karl has worked as a home decor expert and product designer for 25 years. He appears Thursdays during the 8 a.m. hour on Global News Morning Montreal.