Object of the day: Rose & Grey golden pineapple

It's quite pointless and a little silly, and way too on-trend.

Three great reasons to love the new golden pineapple ornament from Rose & Grey.



And I know you'll like it, since people got very excited by the decorative fruits in the the mad, bad and beautiful Les Trois Garcons chateau sale I covered a while back.



But don't stop here, because pineapples are the new foxes, which were the new

Object of the day: making kitsch look classy

They're kitsch and kind of silly. But also kind of brilliant.



These ceramic indoor animal-shaped planters are new in at Urban Outfitters. Some of the homewares at UO can be a little studenty and these could, of course, fall into that category (there's also a pink plastic flamingo in the new indoor garden range...). 





Nothing wrong with a pink plastic flamingo, of course, but full-on kitsch

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

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

Merry Easter

May your weekends also be filled with DIY, spring cleaning, picture framing and hot cross buns!

See you after the bank holidays.

UPDATE: due to extreme DIY-ing over the weekend (in that I only finished painting the bathroom at about 9pm last night), normal daily service will resume tomorrow. Look out for a myriad of cheap tricks from a £3 idea giving doors a design edge, to clever interiors

Spotlight on... the Dala horse

I bought this little chap from a second-hand shop near my house as a Christmas present, but he never made it out of the house. 

I should have known myself better, given my love of all horse-themed house items.





At the weekend, as part of my more houseplants mission, I picked up the leafy example you can also see in the photo below (from the Morden Hall nursery – a very nice place, by the way

Real homes: what a difference new cushions can make

I've been charting the finishing touches to my kitchen for what seems like ages. But these things take time, decisions aren't always fast – things have to be lived with, tried out, and experimented with... 

But I'll admit that the kitchen cushions – seen in their before-ish state, below – have been an issue for several years.



And it's not like I haven't had some excellent, expert guidance 

Object of the day: HAY's S&B yellow bath mat

My bathroom doesn't have much colour in it, and as there's so much colour around the rest of the house I like it that way. 

But it could remain a pale, calming space and still handle a cheer-up with one of these sunshine yellow bath mats by HAY.



£18 from Clippings

And if you're feeling yellow even more than this, these anaglypta-ish bathing brights might appeal too (and if you can't find

Object of the day: Tesco round wood stripe tray

Trays can be so much more than trays. I'm currently collecting some to fill my new kitchen display shelves: I like nice things to look at, but useful nice things to look at are even better.

And this pleasingly coloured, spring-like wooden number from – gasp – Tesco, would enhance a wall as much as it would a spread of summery drinks and al fresco hors d'oeuvres. I also like the idea of a

Object of the day: horse hangers

Perhaps inspired by Les Trois Garçons' haul earlier this week (particularly the wall-mounted unicorns), I have my heart set on these.

Regular readers will know of my fondness for an equine accessory. But is this a step too kitsch?





Neighhhhhhh! It is for sale in the US at Etsy (from a shop called Equine by Lauren) along with a range of similar designs featuring different horses (this, I

Object of the day: stuffed drawings

This crazy looking little figure would look good on a shelf, especially in a kids' bedroom (but don't let that limit you). It's like a Donna Wilson creature cushion on acid.

And if children's brains are as free as a hallucinogen fuelled mind, then it sort of is. Because this stuffed character is modelled on an original child's drawing. Brilliant, no?


Thorody, the fabric company that makes them

Object of the day: Russian nesting dolls

Meet Panda, Penguin and Raccoon. Monochrome nesting dolls hand-painted in Russia.

Aren't they nice? You could get them for a child, but who'd appreciate them more?




They're from a sweet little online store in Canada (check out their sheep cushions!) and cost $38 Canadian dollars, around £34. Find them at Babasouk.ca. International shipping available. You could also try US-based Wee Gallery,

Worst Christmas decorations ever (or the best?)

Our Christmas tree is looking far too sparse. So sparse it could be mistaken for a deliberate attempt at stylishness, which I think is a shame this time of the year when you can get away with so much more. 

Last year we had these chaps as our tree topper. This year... any suggestions? While I was searching for inspiration (OK, while I was procrastinating about doing my tax return) I found some

Competition: win a limited edition lava lamp in time for Christmas

While we're on the Christmas present tip (I've been posting a different, affordable gift idea a day all month in case you've missed them), this could be the solution for that teenage niece, just-out-of-home-er, or godson on the list. 

A lava lamp: what do you think?



While I probably wouldn't have a lava lamp at home myself these days, I do have a very soft spot for the things, as illustrated

On the 11th* day of Christmas... old-school tea-towels

Have you ever not loved getting a tea-towel as a present? I like a gift that you can use every day – and I know that each time I use one of my own tea-towels, given as a gift, I also think of the person who gave it to me. Which is nice.

Tea-towels are also an excellently easy way to revamp a kitchen: instant (and practical) art. Who will you give yours to – and will it be one of these heavily

On the tenth* day of Christmas... Future & Found's enamel vases

Good for toothbrushes, small bunches of flowers, planting hyacinth bulbs in, worktop cutlery, pencils... or just for looking at, lined up on a nice shelf.



Enamel vase, £15, Future & Found

And if these float your boat, you might also love these graphic Polish bar mugs, two of which I recently bought to display (and use) in the kitchen.

Post by Kate

* It's the tenth day in (this) blog's world

On the eighth* day of Christmas... give the gift of copper

Its price makes it a little tricky to place as a festive gift: the £60 mark puts a present into the upper bracket of other halves, "big" birthdays and family (or is that just me?). 

So I imagine there may be more of you who'd fancy this for yourselves than have someone in that category on the present list who'd appreciate a beautiful, shiny copper mirror. But do let me know if I'm wrong.

On the seventh* (blogging) day of Christmas... Vanja Bazdulj cups

This weekend in south London the HQ of Cavaliero Finn, dealers in well-curated yet affordable art and art-driven homewares, threw open their doors to host a festive open house/festive shop. 

I was gutted not to be able to make it, but was out of town at two massive car boot sales out of town (more of which to come) and didn't get back in time, alas. Next best thing, I thought, would be to pick

On the fourth day of Christmas... Danish concrete accessories

There's been a leap day: being a day behind made no sense, so there was no third day of Christmas and we're straight onto the fourth to line up with today's date. 

And if you are searching for a gift for lovers of brutalist architecture – this could be the best £7 you spend this Xmas.






This simple concrete house shaped ornament is a very stylish stocking filler or minimalist gift for that

On the first day of Christmas... Mia Fleur horse bookends

For the month of December, I'll be doing a Christmas-present-a-day countdown here. 

Partly inspired by writing the Independent on Sunday's home and garden gift guide – and having a zillion lovely extras there wasn't room to include – each day there'll be gifts for him, gifts for her, or maybe a little reward for for the busy shopper. Ahem. Here's number one.






Horse head book-ends, £48, Mia