On Saturday, my three boys and I hotfooted it down to London for a very special housewarming party.
Our friends at the Great Little Trading Company have just created the very first GLTC showroom and we were very privileged to get a sneak preview before the doors open to the public.
It’s in Wandsworth, south London, so was a bit of a trek from the wilds of Northamptonshire but SO worth the journey.
The outside was humble. No banners, balloons, bells or whistles. Just a couple of signs to let you know it was there. But open the door and it felt like we’d literally set foot inside one of their catalogues.
It made me think of the song from Willy Wonka:
Come with me and you’ll be
In a world of pure imagination
It was such a strange sensation. To be seeing product that you’ve only ever experienced in a 2D format — either in print or online — in the flesh, felt quite surreal.
To be able to reach out and touch things, pick them up and hold them — get a real feel for the scale, quality and finish of things — was fantastic.
And the space that everything was in was incredible.
A huge showroom sectioned into ‘rooms’ showcasing lots — if not all — of their fabulous homewares.
But this was no ordinary showroom. It didn’t feel like a shop. It felt like a home.
And testimony to this was the fact that within minutes of walking through the doors The Twinkles — who are sometimes a little bit shy when they first walk into a new place — made a beeline for a table set up with little trains and buses and began to play.
Totally at ease, totally relaxed totally at home.
The boys got dressed up for the occasion in their party finest.
We had such an amazing day.
To see all of the lovely product, up close and personal — rather than on a computer screen or paper — was such a treat but best of all was meeting the gorgeous, welcoming Great Little Trading Company family for the first time.
We’ve been conversing on email and social media for a few months now, so to give them all a big hug and chat to them in real life was brilliant.
As was catching up with the other members of the testing team.
We were treated to gin cocktails — and I’ve mentioned before how much I love gin ;) — Champagne, cakes plus the best goodie-bags the boys have ever been lucky enough to receive.
It really was a really special day and we were so, so thrilled to be part of it.
But catching up and gin cocktails aside, I think the very best thing about the day was seeing how animated and engaged all the children were.
Living up to the specially made badges they’d been given, the littlest members of the testing team played, laughed and did an admirable job of roadtesting the new GLTC showroom.
I’ve made a little film to show you a snippet of our day. If you find yourself in south-west London, do go and pop in to check it out. It’s well worth the visit and I promise you, you won’t want to leave.
It feels just like home.
Caro Davies is a former art-director turned writer and content-creator, and editor behind UK lifestyle blog The Listed Home. She writes about home-related topics, from interiors and DIY to food and craft. The Listed Home has been featured in various publications, including Ideal Home, Grazia, and Homes & Antiques magazines.
Wow it looks amazing. We love the GLTC and this looks like heaven. Love the rugs and those storage boxes as lights are fantastic.
It’s such a fab space — lovely to see all their products in one place! x
Oh Caro, I love this post!! And the video is brilliant. Didn’t we have the best afternoon??!! Such a fantastic company and also fantastic company! I’m actually considering moving in to the showroom :) xx
Aaah it was SUCH a fab afternoon wasn’t it? We’re so, so lucky to be part of such an amazing team! Wish I’d taken more film footage — I was too busy chatting to you!! :)
What a beautiful range of gorgeous products. I am looking forward to reading about the GLTC products you will be testing! :)
They have some really lovely things!! I have spent hours looking at it on their website — it was so lovely to see it in real life! :)