Object of the day: Brighton Beach goes technicolour

Please do bear with the recent break in my usually regular posts. Things will be back to normal within a few weeks – but meanwhile, a quick find I'd like to share.

I've seen this print – or, at least, very similar – in numerous interiors shoots, and I have coveted it HARD.



Tonight, while researching for the Independent Christmas Gift Guide that I'm in the middle of compiling, I stumbled

Object of the day: Jacqueline Talbot tiles

Unusual tiles are a find. And these, by artist Jacqueline Talbot, are just that.

In 2009, Jacqueline experimented with photographing her paintings, intending to use them to create digitally printed wallpaper. But then discovered she could digitally reproduce her work onto tiles... one kiln later, and a business was born.









I think they're beautiful, and beautifully different. They aren't

Etsy UK is having a – real-life – exhibition

I've found some pretty special art over the years on Etsy – these affordable portraits are particularly memorable, as is the work of this Israeli artist (I've since bought two of her mini canvases and love them very much). I've also admired some rather unusual portraits on the site, too.

And now Etsy UK is hosting its very own art exhibition – a real one, not a virtual one. And here's my

Object of the day: Dutch tiles with tales

The best thing I saw at the London Design Festival last week measured 10 centimetres square and was based on a 16th century Dutch design classic. 







Yes, yes, there was so much to love at LDF 2014. The sprawling event, now in its 11th year, is the non-trade way through the back doors of the design world and, with six big fairs in different venues, various landmark displays of creativity, and

Object of the day: New Eley Kishimoto wallpapers

Weeeeeell, if I can't write about eye-popping budget-stretching wallpaper during the London Design Festival, when else? (The event started this weekend and goes on until next Sunday.)

I'm a big fan of Eley Kishimoto clothes, and the print mad design duo's expanding homewares range excites me greatly. And it's not for the faint-hearted...



This is my favourite of the wallpaper designs that the

Guest post: create affordable washi tape art with Hannah Cox of the Crafternoon Club

Today I'm pleased to be passing you into the capable and creative hands of Hannah Cox, pictured below, founder of excellently inventive hybrid, the Crafternoon Club (where cabaret meets craft – what else?).

Hannah, who has a prestigious Mollie Makes Handmade Awards trophy under her belt – or, rather under her (hand-sewn) apron – is sharing an affordable interiors trick to spruce up walls for

Object of the day: insanely cute animal wall stickers for kids

I stumbled across these door decorations from Finland on Etsy. 

If you're prone to being swayed by interiors trends (guilty) you might be thinking: wall-stickers, aren't they a bit 2011? Pah. Just try to think of trends while looking at these nice, friendly faces.








The vinyl stickers are made and sold by a little Helsinki-based company called Made of Sundays and cost around £28 each. What

Barbara Hepworth retrospective – and how to buy her art for £75

I'm a little breathless about yesterday's news that a big Barbara Hepworth retrospective is coming to Tate Britain next year. 

I saw Hepworth's work some years ago, in a show at Tate St Ives (in the town so dear to me): the Tate Britain show promises to be very good indeed, but the Cornish branch was possibly the most spectacular building in which to view her curvaceous, earthy work – and not

Throwback Anaglypta wallpaper – from just £8 a roll

Anaglypta might conjure up visions of 1960s interiors, but the wallpaper company behind the original textured wall embellishment was established in 1887. 

And Anaglypta is currently channelling those early years with Book 39, a re-release of some of its elegant designs from the late 19th century and the 1930s.



They add gravitas to a room, don't you think?



Quite a different effect to the

Bad week? Reach for Mr Bingo

I've had better weeks, filled with less bad news. But nothing quite cheers me up like a browse through the Mr Bingo back catalogue and, quite apart from my own excuses, I currently have an official one too...

... since the illustrator known as Mr Bingo is giving a talk next week in Bristol that promises to be an entertaining event if you're in that neck of the woods. Sadly I'm not, so here's a

Introducing... Jen Collins, illustrator and ceramicist

I haven't yet got the hang of Instagram – I know, late in the game, but blame Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest and life – I have no followers and can't work out how to find people...

... but I have already made my first lovely discovery and may just find myself hooked. (Do come find me by the way, and share your tips!)



Above: sitting tigers, £50 each

Glasgow-based illustrator/ceramicist Jen

Object of the day: Slim Aarons photography made affordable

I have previously lusted here over Slim Aarons' gloriously glamorous seventies photography. 

But have never been able to afford it... until now.



Just when I thought digital wall print experts, Surface View, couldn't get any more exciting (you may have seen my breathless post about their John Hinde range a few months back), they pull another corker out of the bag: yes, now you can get your

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

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

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)

Object of the day: Kimmy Hogan's sleeping Dachshunds

This is pretty much the cutest illustration of a dog you will ever have seen. Right?

The print is titled The Dachshund. Appendix 4: Sleep Study and it was drawn by (no surprises) a Dachshund-owning artist named Kimmy Hogan.



Sleeping dogs, especially little ones, are particularly endearing and Kimmy has captured that aspect beautifully, in this very simple series of line drawings.

Kimmy, who

Object of the day... Louise Wilkinson plates

These plates are just two from a small collection by designer, Louise Wilkinson. 

I'd like them all, but these – marginally – are my two favourites.



Nice aren't they? In dinner plate size they cost £19.50 each. Below are a couple of the sweet side plates, priced at £14.50.



Louise launched her range at Liberty in 2012 and will be exhibiting at Tent London later this year. See more and buy

Object of the day: M&S melamine

You could of course use these bright and beautiful melamine plates for a picnic, as intended, but wouldn't they look wonderful hung on a drab wall?

They are eminently affordable and available in the Summer range at Marks and Spencer.



Rio Dinner Plate, £3.50

If you follow me on Pinterest, you may already have spotted a mini gallery of plates on walls. If not, and you're after some inspiration

Spotlight on... Vernon Ward

Here is my bargain of the month. A beautiful Vernon Ward framed print... for just a quid!

I found it in Suffolk countryside, for sale in the on-site shop at an amazing converted barn we stayed in (more of which another time). It's my second print by the same artist.






Vernon Ward lived from 1905-1985 and was a member of the Royal Society of British Artists. Though he was born in London, many

Spotlight on... themed playing cards

Contributing editor, Abi, gives very good gift. 

And she's just pulled off a double-whammy with two beautiful sets of playing cards. A while back, she gave me this most excellent John Hinde Cornwall-themed set.







Hinde's studio, in case you don't share my – and Martin Parr's – obsession with it, is the prolific producer of pretty much every British holiday postcard you've ever bought –