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Red Is Not Just For Christmas

We moved into our home in quite a hurry in 2010 with a toddler and a newborn – a proper little family. We hadn’t time time or the money to spend on major renovations, so it was very much a case of do what has to be done and moved the furniture from our rented apartment over, sharing it among the rooms as suited us at the time.

The Bavarian wouldn’t be an interiors fan, so the matter of how to decorate was largely left to me. I’m not complaining. It was fun and, being on parental leave for the first nine months in this house, I had time to settle in, see how the light fell and the rooms changed during the day. My collection of interiors magazines increased immensely.

Early in that first Winter – a cold, snowy Winter that I will never forget since it saw us stranded at Frankfurt airport for three days – I decided we really needed curtains for the three street-facing windows in out livingroom/playroom. Off I went, with my small budget, and bought three pairs of red linen curtains in Ikea. Hung in time for Christmas, they immediately gave a festive air to the room and my love affair with red began.

But red is not just for Christmas. The vibrancy of it works so well with other colours – bold blues and greens, stark white or black for instance – that we now have pops of red throughout the downstairs of the house. From the tea cosy’s red apple pattern to my tea tray to my precious Kitchen Aid mixer, from the children’s vintage chairs to the hall floor to lunchboxes, reds abound in this house.

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The latest addition is our VQ Retro mini digital radio. You might know that I was on the lookout for a radio for the kitchen for a while and fell in love with the Emma Bridgewater Blue Daisy pattern. The thing was though, that it just didn’t suit the kitchen and the red would pretty much fit in in any room or even outside in our summer kitchen. Even our shed is red!

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With bluetooth, digital radio (DAB) and FM and the possibilty to use battery power or a power cable, this radio is a lot more versatile than our last one.  The boys love to grab my phone and put on some music or a story on You Tube and listen to it through the VQ over their after school snack.

I on the other hand love to use the bluetooth function to hook up with Irish radio and have a taste of home in the background as I do my boring household chores on Friday, my day off. In fact one of the first uses the VQ got in our house was listening to Mayo play Dublin in the All Ireland Final. We, of course, we on the Mayo side.

Right now, Driving Home for Christmas is sounding through the kitchen on Cork’s RedFM (hah, red again!). We won’t be home for Christmas, that is to say not in Ireland, but we will be in our own home – the eternal emigrant problem, where to call home – no doubt listening to some broadcasts from our favourite stations, thanks to the wonder of bluetooth.

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Depending on what we are up to, the radio can be moved about with us. I even took it along on my craft weekend with the girls a few weeks back, so we could have music in the background as we sewed, crocheted, chatted and generally enjoyed ourselves.

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I’m not generally one to treat myself or self-gift but this little beauty was a good buy. After much humming and hawing about a new radio, I’m delighted that I went for something pretty as well as functional.  A bog standard radio wouldn’t make me smile as often as my VQ does.

[We bought this VQ radio online from a German online retailer for approx. €75, in case anyone is wondering about the price].

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13 thoughts on “Red Is Not Just For Christmas

  1. Oooooh VERY nice 🙂 Looks lovely. Love our VQ dab radio – it’s perfect for our kitchen. And what a gorgeous gift this one would make too. Happy Christmas lovely and thanks for linking up so much this year we really appreciate it xx Jess xx

    #HomeEtc

  2. Hi Fionnuala, love the touches of red in your home and I really want one of those cute radios now!! I have the radio on constantly when I’m at home. Usually Radio 4 to help keep me in touch with the real world (!) but at the moment I too am loving the festive tunes. Lovely to meet you via #HomeEtc this year – maybe someday we’ll meet when you’re home in Ireland. Happy Christmas! K

    1. Thanks Keira. Lovely to have met you too, and to have discovered some more NI bloggers through your Insta feed.
      Thanks for joining in with the #AdventCraftSwap too. I’m so happy it is going well. Can’t wait to open mine.
      I’ll let you know next time I am over in Ireland. Not too far from Drogheda up to Belfast 🙂

  3. I am with you, I really love red. The first flat Pete and I rented together had two red sofas in the living room so by default red became our colour for accessories and it was lovely. Your radio looks gorgeous, I hope it blasts out many festive songs and you have a wonderful Christmas Xx

  4. Hi Fionnuala! Lovely to be popping back to your blog. I have this thing about radios. We have a lovely Roberts one but I still look at all of the lovely designs whenever I’m in John Lewis or whereever. i love your red one! Really cute design. I always forget to put mine on though and I do love listening to music. #HOMEETC

  5. It’s weird isn’t it? Red is not prevalent in my home but blue — in lots of different shades — definitely is. And white. That is ALL over our home!! Crazy when I have two little boys buy hey!! Old habits die hard. love the fact your shed is red (mine is white, oddly enough)!!! #HomeEtc xx

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