Love this #91 A Cardboard 'vase'

I’ve not seen these before, but as we wandered around the obligatory shop exit at RHS Wisley I’ll admit to being rather taken with these. Not only for their use of cardboard, but also because of their texture and functionality.

They’re made from recycled cardboard, and are described as a cardboard vase on the packaging. It looks as if they’re French, though so far I’ve failed to find a website for the company, or brand, cache-cache. I’ve found them on websites

They look to be pretty reasonably priced too. The taller necked vase in the background of the photo below is around 28 Euros. When I spotted them at Wisley, I assumed that they’d be readily available and easily findable online, but it seems shopping in person might need to be the approach if you’re interested.

There’s much to be said for the simplicity of this sphere, though I’m sure over time it would become a dust collector. But with such great form and texture, that could be endured, even just for a short while.

Love this #90 Contemporary Upholstery

At Grand Designs Live earlier in the year there were plenty of smaller and unique stands which I could have spent much more time looking around. Somehow though I’ve shared very few of those here so far. So it’s time to put that right.

These traditional chairs, have been given a modern look with this contemporary upholstery by Ray Clarke. Every time I look at these pictures, even now, I can’t help but smile.

I think I’d be sitting down on them carefully though.

And did you see the signs? They’re more inviting than usual, aren’t they?

They definitely give that traditional ‘brown’ furniture a fresh new, and fun, new look. What do you think?

A new light that's right at home

Recently I took MOH along to a blogging event at Habitat to celebrate their new lighting range, which is definitely worth a look. I'm a big Habitat fan, and remember spending my teenage Saturdays mooning over their items. Back then I suspect my focus was on smaller items, but over the years, it's a shop I continue to go back to regularly.

The event, complete with its own hashtag #HabitatLightClub, was a great night out and it's not every day you can say you went to a club in the basement, in the light department of a Tottenham Court Road shop, now is it?  Well we did, and ssshh don't tell anyone we don't do clubs very often now, but we had a great night, and look out for a post next week on some of the light range and more from the store.

But before that let me show you the light we left with.  And yes, that was the other reason for taking MOH along as his parcel carrying skills are second to none.  Which was handy as the Bobby Metal floor lamp is made of sturdy stuff, it was easy to carry home but after I'd trekked him to Charing Cross apparently he was starting to feel it.

But you need some weight in a floor lamp, don't you?  

This weekend MOH realised his other job, and that was to assemble it. It was relatively easy, but I took one look at the picture instructions and tactically retreated to do something, anything - me and picture instructions really don't get on.  But he did a fab job, and with a lightbulb sourced more quickly than I expected it wasn't long before we were in business.

What I hadn't realised when I'd selected the light was how well it fits into our colour scheme. The grey, the almost brown red and the yellow, I know it sounds horrendous doesn't it, but look at the picture below and you'll see just what I mean.

And yes, that throw is an earlier Habitat item, which still is very much in use.

Here's a closer look at the weighted base, and I'm loving the knobbly shadow that's formed around four o'clock.  And to show it's not just the throw that's full of colour, the rug is too!

So with my lamp raring to go, there was only one thing for it. 

Yes, to get comfortable and stuck into my crochet again!  I'm not sure if I've followed the pattern for this square exactly right, but I'm liking the effect so it's staying, and will be part of the yellow Granny Square blanket that's underway.

What do you think?

* This is a collaborative post with Habitat, but all views and opinions are my own.