This undated photo provided by Melissa Smuzynski shows a framed poster paper of vintage luggage tags hanging in a travel-themed nursery. (Melissa Smuzynski/parenthoodandpassports.com via AP)When Melissa Smuzynski learned that she was expecting, she wanted a nursery that reflected her family’s love of travel. But when she and her husband, Damon Lane, went shopping for appropriate decor a few years ago, they didn’t find much.
So they improvised, using luggage tags and airmail envelopes to create wall hangings. They found a fun suitcase to display in the room and decoupaged a table with maps and travel-oriented scrapbook paper. The look came together pretty easily and inexpensively, said Smuzynski, who gave birth to daughter Avery in February 2015.
“It was more budget-friendly than if we had gone with a pre-assembled theme. This reflected who we are,” says Smuzynski, who wrote a blogpost about the effort on her website, parenthoodandpassports.com. “Travel has always been a significant part of our lives.”
In just a few years, the trend seems to have taken off. “When I go into Hobby Lobby, there’s an entire section that looks exactly like her room,” says Smuzynski, of Oklahoma City.
Many interior decorators, home-goods manufacturers and trend spotters have embraced the travel theme. Some people decorate with pieces they bought on vacation or that remind them of past trips. Others simply go to the store for furniture, lighting and other elements that evoke the look and feel of places they’ve visited.