You all know how I'm mad for photos, travel and interiors. So what better to combine all three! I'd been meaning to do something with our favourite snaps taken on our adventures around the globe for a long while but I couldn't quite decide what and how best to display them in our home. That was until I discovered the Little Square Gallery who creates beautiful, bespoke pieces of artwork made up of your own little squares. The end result was something far beyond my wildest dreams, and well beyond what I'd ever be able to manage on my own. And after a few excited weeks of waiting for the finished piece to arrive, it's here and I honestly can't stop looking at it and all the memories captured within. 

We've had a few empty walls in our house but I didn't want to rush into a display. At the top of our stairs especially I wanted to involve a travel element. Something that we'd see every morning as we wake up and would make us smile looking back on those happy times {especially this past week with that crazy weather and being house bound with a nasty chest infection}. I started by sending Natalie, owner of the Little Squares Gallery, details of our space and our favourite photos. She suggested that 36 squares would be a good size and I liked the fact that it was square - some are rectangular but you can choose different configurations. 

I thought it would be easy to select 36 of our best travel snaps but it quickly became clear that we had too many to choose from! I wanted a mix of photos of us both as well as the destinations, and details that remind me of different things - so the gelato against tiles in Lisbon or the striped sunlounger & shells in Mauritius. I actually ended up sending a few extra ones across to Natalie in the end as I really couldn't choose, plus I hoped it was helpful for her in creating the overall look. 

She then carefully curated a gallery for us, editing each photo so that the colours of each destination all work together visually and subtlety. So much care has been taken to create a gallery that works aesthetically {I know that it would take me forever to choose an order that works both colour and subject wise}. Then each little square giclée print is individually mounted on an art board to create a subtle floating effect. This is the first thing that my husband noticed, the soft shadows behind each square that make each photo stand out more in their own right. I think it's this which really sets it apart from some of the other 'collage' print outs that you can find online, and the reason that I love Natalie's work so much. It's clear that she really takes pride in creating each gallery as a true labour of love. It's such a quality piece of artwork that I know we'll treasure forever. 

Every print is then framed skilfully using a handcrafted wooden frame. We chose white which I think works to let the photos stand out even more. There are photos of all of our very favourite places in the world on there from the past few years, cycling in Palm Springs together, paradise in The Maldives, our anniversary weekend in Lisbon, the magical Amalfi Coast, a sparkly sea and little fishing boat from Greece, us standing outside the Colosseum in Rome, sunsets and a hand heart from NYC, a favourite little scene from Venice, bikes & shutters in the Ile de Re, sign posts from the Bahamas & Australia and of course vintage Fiat 500s, gelato & floor tiles - possibly 3 of my favourite things ha! I wouldn't have thought to include any black & white images but when Natalie sent over the proofs to check we were happy with everything she had applied it to a couple of the photos which just seemed to work {including my favourite ever photo of Ben!}. 

I'm so, so thrilled with the finished piece which is why I wanted to share this review. I really want to support more small brands, Natalie is a mum of 2 and I'm always inspired by women who make a business out of something they love. 

We've hung the gallery this weekend on our landing. It's the kind of artwork which really speaks for itself and would look amazing {and more than substantial enough} on it's own, or you can add a few extras around it. We've used an Ikea picture ledge for it to stand on to allow us to add another travel piece next to it. 

If you're in any kind of dilemma about how to frame your most treasured photos, rather than letting them disappear on our phones, in our virtual clouds or moving further down our Instagram feeds then I really can't recommend Natalie enough. I hope that we'll add to the collection sometime. It would also make for a really special gift and can be used for creating art exhibits from your children's artwork too which I think is a really lovely idea.

You can find more on The Little Square Gallery website here, and Natalie's Instagram here.

P.s. a sign of our old wonky walled house - that skirting board bend in the photo above!

R <3 xx 

{This is not a sponsored post but I was very lucky to receive a gifted gallery. All words & opinions are 100% my own}