November 25, 2016

IKEA Christmas Lighting 2016- Setting the Holiday Mood with a Flick of a Switch

November 25, 2016/ Claire Spence

IKEA Belfast kindly sent us some Christmas lighting to start setting a holiday mood.

The star shaped STRALA shades can be swapped with your regular lampshades on either downward hanging bulbs, or table lamps.

There are strings of colour changing star lights which I used in a bowl to create a centrepiece, or they can be used traditionally as a string of lights on your tree.

Finally the stand alone candelabras are perfect for windowsills, or as a feature on your table. All on sale now in IKEA UK.

STRALA white star on roof fitting, LED candelabra

December 01, 2015

Christmas Has Hit The World of Kitsch House

December 01, 2015/ Claire Spence

Long-term World of Kitsch readers will probably already recognise these decorations from every other year, but if you've only joined me in the past 12 months, then let me show you my Christmas goodies.

This is is the second year with our fake Lidl tree, and I've seen the same one in stores again this Christmas. It's decent for a fake, and necessary as now it's just Smix & me, I can't carry or saw & prepare a real tree like previous years.

If you are after a real tree then IKEA is your best place to get one. They sell them fairly cheap and you get a voucher to spend in store in January with no minimum spend, to almost the price of the tree too. You'd be mad going anywhere else.

My decorations are a collection of vintage birds bought on eBay, giant candy canes, pudding baubles and oversized retro style lights.

Pheasant with real feather tail, vintage from eBay.

No tree is complete without a Christmas craft by your little one. We don't have a star so every year I top the tree with this angel Smix must have made in nursery or P1. I like themed trees and to a point mine is, but you always need a few personal, dare I say it, messy & mismatching ornaments to set it apart from a tree you'd see in the window of a shop.

My white birds are from Tesco a few years ago, but they had them last year again so if you like them it might be worth checking your local store to see if they've migrated back for this winter too.

The foot long, glitter candy canes were a really lucky discount buy when Dickson's Garden Centre in Bangor was closing down. I've three of them and they are definitely my absolute favourite ornaments.

Named Christmas baubles for the family seem to be the new big thing and you can support a local business by ordering a personalised bauble from Baked in Belfast. They also hand paint beautiful Christmas plates and platters with family names.

Christmas in my house without a touch of tack would be no Christmas at all. I have this ugly deer bauble from the 70s who hides amongs the branches of the Christmas tree.

My top tacky item however is this singing Santa & reindeer that jumps along and for some reason features a light up face. My Mum brought it back from Tenerife & it's horrified us ever since.

My stag head barometer is a bit 'Bates Motel at Christmas time' in the hall.

I loved the print on this advent calendar, £1 from Tiger Stores. I also got the matching wrapping paper at just £1 a roll.

Smix's Christmas tree is a village of little cardboard houses I got from Lidl, and filled with sweets & tiny toys. Dec 1st was this cute gnome snowglobe from Tiger too.

Okay, so don't laugh at Smix's room tree! His old one got binned in our house move last February, so we needed to go buy a replacement at tea time tonight. Tesco only had green 6ft ones, so we tried B&M Bargains. Weirdly they didn't have their trees with each pre-built so you could judge what you were buying, and you can see why.

This 3.5ft black tree was £6.99 & it is..well...lacking in Christmas spirit to put it mildly.

Smix seems pleased with it though, and along with singing lights decorating his window, he's all set.

Merry Christmas from The World of Kitsch, Claire & Smix!

September 28, 2015

IKEA Belfast's Christmas 2015 Teaser

September 28, 2015/ Claire Spence

Available in store soon. Is there anything you've got your eye one?

October 13, 2014

Exclusive Early Look at Ikea's Christmas Ranges for 2014. There are Owls & Foxes!

October 13, 2014/ Claire Spence

A little peek at what Ikea is currently bring stocked with for Christmas 2014. Some items will already be in stock from 1st October, so get stocked up early. Being a red & white stripe junkie I'm thinking of making my present wrapping all brown parcel paper with red & white stripe cable string decorations this year. Classic.

What catches your eye? Check out the ranges here.

Loving the classic gold.

Plain green wrap with gold ribbon would look swell.

Adore these prints on parcel paper.

These doodles remind me of the Moomins.

Wine bottle boxes

IKEA also sell real Christmas trees at very reasonable prices in December, more on that when I know the date it starts. As for now, you can get a head start with buying your decorations.

I am useless at making gingerbread houses, but every year I give it a go!

Foxes and owls.

The bird houses are so cute. I think I'll buy a couple of packs and hang them outdoors all year round.

A young ambassador with his Ferrero Roche?

Hairy faced babies, what's to be frightened of??

August 20, 2014

Your Own Home Catwalk For Your Little Performer - Ikea Väntad LED Rug

August 20, 2014/ Claire Spence

Michael's big obsession this past year has been discos. He has a mirror ball, disco lights, and all he wants for his seventh birthday is a home smoke machine (really).

We spotted the Väntad rug in Ikea Belfast Kid's department & knew at once it was his sort of thing. It's a black and red runway rug with inbuilt LED lights. They are energy efficient using 85% less power than regular bulbs, so your children can play all afternoon with it and you don't have to worry about electricity bills.

The rug is non-slip, so no matter how energetic their stage show gets, no-one is going to end up slipping. You'll also be pleased to hear there is absolutely no assembly required. In fact Michael unrolled and set it up in his room by myself while I was still unpacking the car.

It costs £35 and would make a really showstopping display should Santa want to pick one up for Christmas morning.

December 04, 2013

Ikea Belfast Will Be Selling Real Christmas Trees for £25, Plus You get a £20 Voucher For Use in January

December 04, 2013/ Claire Spence

A real, full-size Christmas tree for, well, sort of for a fiver. From 7th December you can pick up a real tree from Ikea, Belfast, for £25 and they'll give you a £20 voucher to spend in the new year.

We took advantage of this offer last year. You pay inside and get a token, take it to the tree lot in the car peak and pick any tree, big, small, 6ft or 3ft, and the staff take your token and give you your £20 voucher for after Christmas. Now this isn't even a '£20 off if you spend £100' type voucher, this is an actual £20 voucher you can walk in and spend on anything come January. So if you usually buy bits and pieces in Ikea anyway, it kind of means you're getting a real Christmas tree for just a fiver out of pocket.

Last December we got our Ikea tree on the 1st, and it lasted really well. Very little needle drop. So we will see you this Saturday morning, if you too decide it's too good a deal to miss.