When the boys were small I used to do a frantic clear out before Christmas to make room for the deluge of new stuff that was about to arrive. Out went the toys that were no longer played with, the clothes that were too small, the broken bits of plastic tat. The 15yo was always…
It seems appropriate for this first AD Break of the year to begin with a piece about recycling. And I’m also posting this the day after 12th Night (yesterday for the record) when new research has found that the UK alone has thrown away nearly 35m Christmas tree lights – enough to wind around every…
The last year has shown many of us that if we want new stuff we have to buy it online. With all but non-essential shops shut it has become the only way to get hold of anything whether it’s kitchen supplies, new shoes or even sofas. Now many of us were already shopping online and…
If you fancy buying, or seeing, a new piece of art for your home then take a look at The Crossover Project. Founded by journalist Roddy Clarke (who was on a sustainability panel I chaired during Clerkenwell Design Week) and Aurelia Islimye, of the Bleur Art Gallery, the initiative brings together the worlds of art,…
Today I wanted to share a couple of initiatives with you relating to sustainability. Did you know that currently only 10 per cent of the furniture and homeware items that are disposed of within the UK is recycled? Or to put it another way over 20 million pieces of furniture are thrown away in the…
Time for the monthly round-up of things from my inbox and we’re starting off with brand new company Colour Squatters, a new textile company founded by interior designer (and former journalist) Jill Macnair and textile designer Pablo di Francesco who met while training at the gym and starting chatting and, well, one thing led to…
The question of what to spend money on if you know your surroundings are only going to be temporary is a thorny one. Do you buy cheap furniture for your sitting room so you can throw it away when you have completed any building work and finished the decoration? Do you live with a kitchen…
At several points over the last year I reckon you have turned to someone you live with and said in tones of wonderment or exasperation: is there nothing this pandemic hasn’t touched? From babies never going to soft play, to teenagers learning to cut their own hair and shortages of cement and building supplies, there…
This, as befits a blog about interiors, is a post about a cushion. But it is also a post about what happened in Syria 10 years ago. And about what is happening now. Because this is not just any cushion. It is a cushion made by a woman, one of a group of women, living…
Now I don’t know about you but for the most part I like things to look like what they are. So I’m not a fan of tiles that look like wooden floors (I have tried but it never quite works) or worktops that look like marble but are actually a form of laminate. I have…