Wooden walls and other uses for old planks

I have written before about how much I love the Retrouvius approach to decor. 

The salvage-focused company has two halves: a shop, selling well chosen, rescued furniture and lighting, storage accessories and more, while their architectural interior design arm, puts their talent for reusing old things to practical use. They are particularly good with wood.



Their latest design project was a

The USB typewriter: would you?

Well, would you?




Old typewriters are beautiful things. And recycling beautiful old things is a beautiful thing. And this Smith Corona Sterling isn't the only old-school machine that Pennsylvanian techy inventor, Jack Zylkin, has transformed into a fully-functioning USB keyboard for any PC, Mac or iPad.

Look, here's another one he's pimped.




They go for around £400-700, depending on the

Small luxuries: Robert Shadbolt postcard set

I've just found these very nice limited edition postcards by illustrator, Robert Shadbolt. They're gocco (a Japanese technique, sort of a cross between screen-printing and rubber stamping) and are themed around the artist's impressions of Tokyo.

They will set you back the grand sum of a fiver for the set – a special yet marvellously affordable present, especially as each is numbered and

Storage as art, by Note for Seletti

I'm in the middle of an extended spring clean... Actually, I'm always in the middle of an extended spring clean. Where does all the mess and clutter come from? It's not me. Definitely not me.

So on that theme, do you ever fantasise that a new thing for your home will change your life? I get it lots about things from Lakeland. But today I'm having it about this.










As far as I can tell,

A 1950s colour palette in Memphis

Just been trying to file the rest of my holiday photos from the epic US road trip we did last month. The filing has been as epic as the trip, as I'd just bought a new camera – new toy and all that. 

Anyway, just came across the photos of the 1950s interior at a cafe we went to in Memphis. The Arcade Cafe is the oldest in the city, so the menu informed us (relatively modern by British standards,

Poundshop!

You might have read about Poundshop before – this brilliant design initiative, where new and established talent create bespoke items to be sold at £1, £5, and £10 in a temporary shop – has been going since 2010.

And there are just two days left of Poundshop 7, at the Chinese Art Centre, Manchester  – as it ends on 22 June. There's also an online version of the shop if you're not local. I think

Excellently unusual portraits

This morning I saw a particularly brilliant Facebook post by Emma and Sarah, my lovely neighbours that they have kindly given me permission to share.

Their friend's mum – Bath-based Liz Ladd (contact details below) – has knitted them a pair of dolls in their images. Sarah, on the left in the photo below, is a barrister – and so is knitted wearing her courtroom wig and gown. Emma has a swish of

Rop van Mierlo's animals

Cheapskate decorators never waste a good postcard. And these unusual and endearing animal watercolours, by Dutch graphic designer Rop van Mierlo, would make a lovely collection of framed prints for a child's bedroom wall. 


Don't you think? Or just a wall in the room of someone who likes nice depictions of animals – and from the number of animal-themed items that crop up here, you may rightly

Off the wall

A mini post from Abi today.

Remember my zingy apple green kitchen makeover? Well thanks to the lovely Kate giving me this rather splendid Hatch print poster for my birthday...



...I now have another print to put up on the walls. I had it framed and it's going to look lovely in there don't you think?






And another ace birthday present came courtesy of my fabulous husband – also for the

What's the most provocative thing in this picture?

As I've mentioned recently, I've joined the world of co-habitation. Because he's moved into a ready-made house, rather than us finding somewhere jointly, decisions about furniture, re-painting or what to put on the walls could have become unfairly loaded (or just unintentionally insulting).

But it's been great. I'm enjoying changing things around together – and want it to feel like our home, not

Introducing... A Place Called Home, by Jason Grant

We've just moved bedrooms and there's now a trail of furniture to swap about and all sorts of things to be looked at with fresh eyes – but no budget for buying anything new. So I'm most inspired by a beautiful book just out last week, A Place Called Home, by Australian stylist Jason Grant (Hardie Grant).

It's perfect since the ideas – presented with barely any accompanying text – are all about

Matt Sewell does Mini Moderns – competition!

Do you know Matt Sewell's birds? I first discovered the artist/ ornithologist through Pedlars, who were selling prints of his beautiful garden birds illustration.

That, alas, was a limited edition, though you can still buy his lovely individual drawings in the same style (scroll down to see one). But today we're all about his charming, Charley Harper-ish wooden birds, below. And this new set of

Introducing... Crafty Magazine (and a great flat I wrote about for them)

I have been meaning to post up some snaps of a new magazine I've recently written for – it's called Crafty. 

And if you like making stuff, you might like it. I like DIY and fixing things, but I'm not the biggest crafter, so my contribution was about what I do better – nosing around other people's homes.



But sticking with the magazine generally, for a bit, here are a couple of teasers. It's

The joy of a tidy kitchen cupboard

Did anyone else have as unglamorous (yet deeply satisfying) a weekend as I did? I spent it reorganising the kitchen cupboards. 

God it felt good when it was done. But less so when we started...



And phase one of the improvements is this...



There are more changes coming, ones that will make better photos as they involve replacing shelves and moving cupboard doors several – key – millimetres

Ikea's unusual new Huset range

What's unusual about this new range of Ikea living room furniture, below? Well, for starters, the whole lot costs just over a tenner.

But there's a catch...



None of it is big enough to sit use – unless you're a doll.

Isn't it surprising Ikea's only just thought of selling teeny tiny versions of some of their furniture? Even that rather plain stalwart of a sofa looks more exciting when you

Hatch Show Prints Nashville

I've already plundered a few of my holiday snaps from the recent US road trip (did you see the amazing Shack Up Inn in Mississippi? Loved that place!). There will be more plundering – we just saw sooooo much great stuff.

In today's post, may I introduce you to Nashville's legendary poster shop, Hatch Show Prints. Our friend Ashley used to live in Nashville and has some of their bright screen

Fabric of the day

It's been a while since I browsed the Ikea fabric department. And I'm rather liking these new-ish designs...



HÄLLEKNOPP, £4 per metre



STOCKHOLM, £6  per metre





TRÅDKLÖVER, £7 per metre



Because I'm a very lazy sew-er (I have a machine I was given on my 18th birthday. Back then I was an enthusiastic sew-er. It is currently rather dusty) I'm thinking the top and the bottom ones would

Father's Day gifts

Last week, I wrote a thing for the Independent about the difficulty of finding good house-y man-gifts – what with father's day (June 16) looming and all, it's chap-friendly one could be a thing to consider. 

There wasn't room to publish all of the nice things I found in my research. So I thought I'd share the lot with you here. 






For snap-happy chaps, or just fans of lovely looking antique