A bit of a Christmas gift guide

This year I've once again put together the Christmas interiors gift guide for the Independent. 

In case you missed it, and are looking for some inspiration...





You can see more of the wondrous Oxfam blankets here, and read more about Louise Wilkinson and StoryTiles here. To find the online version of the guide, with click-through shopping links, here it is on the Independent's website (and

How to be tidy (and some storage porn)

I'm still on a high from the massive garage clear-out; a few scary cupboards inside got a healthy de-clutter. 



But, while it's all good for the weeks following a big blitz like this, if you’re anything like me (untidy at heart) you’ll soon be wading through mood-dampening mess in no time. I’m in awe of tidy people: what are their
secrets? 





Above: Future & Found's bright and cheerful

(Ridiculously kitsch) Object of the day: John Hinde tin box

I'd gone out to buy something from the DIY store, but it had just closed.

On my way back to the car I had to pass the farmer's market, which sells all sorts of random stuff, not just food. Serendipitously I thought (always a good approach to impulse buying) I passed a stall I often linger at, full of enticing old bits and pieces. No need to feel sad about the closed DIY store – here, surely, was

Before & after: Ikea mini drawer unit revamp

I've had these Ikea drawers so long that they no longer sell them (though they're in the ilk of the Moppe series). 

I put wheels on them back in the day, and thought often about painting them, just like the ones I overhauled in the bathroom – using odd old drawer knobs found on eBay and some white gloss paint. Years passed, procrastination flourished. Finally I have got around to fixing them up.

A bathroom cupboard makeover for £30

We have a lovely, very tall, cupboard unit in our bathroom that holds all our towels and other bathroom gubbins. 

It was actually two units (a wardrobe and drawers) from Ikea that my handy husband stitched together and, hey presto, perfect height storage...






Alas, a joyous union MDF and steam do not make and so after a few years the doors got blown and warped and generally looked pretty

New Designers 2013

Yesterday afternoon I popped into the preview of New Designers, the annual exhibition in London showcasing emerging design talent. 



3,000 new graduates are selected to appear and share their wares with the public during the two-week period the show runs. It happens in two parts, and Part Two is the one I was interested to see, as it has a big interiors and illustration focus. It runs until 5

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,

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

Fuck your piles of books with things on top...

Hello, it's Abi posting today. Kate's recent post on colour-themed
shelves (and the nod to the witty FYNC website that knowingly mocks such interiors mag leanings) got lots of "yep, guilty as charged" reactions. Including my own. 

With permission, we'll post up some of your own excellent over-stylings shortly (so keep them coming) but meanwhile, browsing through FYNC again, I was reminded that,

Well hello, Donkey

I was given a really nice present at the weekend, it's this little silver-plated donkey, who doubles as somewhere to hang your small jewellery.

He's brilliantly odd-looking which is what, I think, makes him so nice. It was the excellent Abi who found him in a bit of a tarnished state on eBay (along with a twin, so now we both have one, hurrah!) and buffed him up with some Goddard's to this