Object of the day: old French bowls and plates from The Peanut vendor

These beautiful plates range in date from the 1930s to the 1950s and are available from The Peanut Vendor (whose owners' wonderful home I wrote about AGES ago, here).

The online and actual shop (in north London) has a big batch of these beauties fresh in... for just £4 a-piece.












Affordable enough to start a little collection...

Check them out at The Peanut Vendor, and get in quick as

Spotlight on... Lundtofte cutlery

What have you had handed down from your family that you cherish? I remember, when I was little, my mum and dad getting out this amazing 1950s Danish wooden and stainless steel cutlery set when they had people over for dinner. 

Even as a child, I could appreciate the smooth tactile handles and their nicely tapered shape. The set now belongs to me (see it below). And what you don't want to with

Object of the day: hexagon brass bottle openers

On one hand, £27.50 is a lot to pay for a bottle opener.

On the other hand, when it looks like this...



...it doubles as a miniature sculptural work of art. This isn't a bottle opener, it's a beautiful object to add class to coffee tables, pzazz to show-off shelves and a general air of design-savvy smugness to its owner. AND it opens bottles.

Seems almost a bargain now, don't you think? I

The Insider: Pretty Pegs does table legs

You may recall my previous posts about Pretty Pegs, a Swedish company that ingeniously makes gorgeous, unusual replacement legs for Ikea sofas.

It's a sort of interiors perfectionist's version of the classic fashionista trick of buying a high street coat and replacing the buttons to designer-ish effect.



Well if you liked those, you'll be excited to know that the company has just launched a

Back soon...

Long lost family visiting... 



Daily service will resume in a few days! But do feel free to browse the archive highlights below meanwhile.





Check out some: gorgeous, sunny graphic prints; Shipping Forecast fandom; excellent architecture-inspired drawings; a mini makeover; bad student bedrooms (my own); a house of two halves (one half is c-r-a-zeeeee) and what Living Etc. looked like in the

Out & About: Dulwich Open House

Last weekend was a whirlwind of art in south London – and this weekend, much of it continues, as the Artists Open House event revs up for its final weekend.

I couldn't afford much (but it's nice to look), and saw a fraction of the things I wanted to see – it's quite a tiring thing to do, especially in last week's driving rain – but nevertheless here are a couple of highlights.



Above: the

Spotlight on... drinks trolleys

Drinks trolleys are having a bit of a moment right now. 

And hurrah – as there's just something so glamorous about devoting an entire piece of furniture to stiff liquors, sweet liqueurs and fancy cocktail stirrers...



After an extended hankering, I finally got a drinks trolley. But then impractically positioned it by a radiator (useless for the fantasy ice bucket) and turned the bottom part

Object of the day: Karlsson wooden wall clock from Howkapow

Got to love a good wall clock. And especially one placed somewhere a little unexpected, away from the trad kitchen wall scenario.

I have one on the wall by the bed – astonishingly, we look at it before checking phones for the time. Anything that encourages a bit of old-schoolness has got to be good.



Clocks in cloakroom loos, halls, or as part of a picture display – all ideas to try.

And the

Real homes: copycat front door

This door belongs to my friends, Adam and Maggie, an example of their mastery at finding brilliant things for their home for next to nothing.

I went to dinner there at the weekend and asked about their incredible late 70s smoked glass and angular chrome early 80s dining table: £1 on eBay. The story reminded me to take a photo I'd been meaning to take at their house for ages – this one, of their

#cheaphometricks: Oxfam's amazing woollen blanket range

Last weekend I was in my local Oxfam shop and came across some new woollen blankets. They were really nice.

I found them in the new section, and spent a while trying to decide between colours before picking this one: pure wool and just £12.99.






When I got home I checked on Oxfam's online shop to see if they were on sale there, too (you didn't know Oxfam had an online shop? Junk hunters, you

Surface View collaborates with the John Hinde Collection

I've written about Surface View and their brilliant wall murals before. 

Highlights, for me at least, have included gems by Hemingway Design and George Stubbs' Whistlejacket, from SV's National Gallery collection. I didn't think it could get any better – and then I heard about the new John Hinde collection...




Regular readers may know of my Hinde infatuation. And if not, and the name means

#Cheaphometricks: when is an Ikea sofa not an Ikea sofa?

When Saustark Design has been at it. This Munich-based company has taken the Ikea hacking trend to a clever, commercial level.

Now you can pimp your Swedish buy by adding a customised loose cover in the fabric of your choice (as well as colourful new legs), to take the edge off the ubiquity of your purchase... I wonder how many of us do have an Ikea sofa? (And you can check the rest of your home

Exhibition: Clip Cut Gel, or masculinity explored through 80s barbershop photos

If you've ever gazed at those faded barbershop model shots, of men you can't imagine ever meeting, sporting hairstyles that never age beyond the 80s, then you'll love this new exhibition by artist, Julia Riddiough.

The angle of Clip Cut Gel is modern masculinity: male grooming, gender politics and the gaze and what it means to be a man today.



The photographs above, titled (from left to right)

Friday fig

I came across this graphic on Pinterest, thanks to Howkapow (do follow them, very good taste). 

I thought it must be a print they were selling in their nice shop. It wasn't.




So then I thought it must be a print some other nice shop was selling. Can't find it anywhere.

These figs make are good and happy. And they need to be nurtured and put onto paper and made available to the public so we

Thursday question: the "Jackson Pollock" oven – would you?

This oven has come to my attention and I thought you'd like to see it. 

I've written recently about some other jazzily coloured kitchen appliances and lots of you were enthusiastic about the idea.





I, on the other hand, am too wary of my fickle and faddy nature and have resolutely stuck to boring old white. But this is something else: could you have one like it in your kitchen? And what sort