Furniture that's stylish, and good for the environment

Often at Grand Designs you find things you wouldn’t find at other shows, and often they’re things that, especially at Grand Designs, are good for the environment, but often they make you stop and admire them too. So that’s quite something, and the furniture in this post is all of those.

It was the lockers that made me look twice at the X-Ply stand, both their finish and the uniformness of the design appealed. I think they’d work really well in a hall, or a utility room, or even a craft room. I don’t have either of the first two, I’m closer to the second but there’s no room for any additional storage, sadly, but I think they’d be a great addition on their looks alone.

x-ply lockers sustainable storage

When I learnt more about the ethos of the company, I liked them even more. The company are committed to reduce the single use of plastics and so the X-PLY range has been developed using only recyclable materials - plywood, aluminum and steel - and doesn’t use any plastic in its construction.

They’re aimed at a more business market, but could be adapted for a home use too, whether that’s the desks in a home office or the lockers just about anywhere really. The desks come with pre-cut cable holes, which is a great way of getting rid of messy leads and something that’s usual in office spaces and less so in home environments, but there’s no reason why, is there?

x-ply desking plastics free furniture

The team desks - basically large desks that more than one people could work at - would be great in a large home office, or even as an informal dining table. And thinking about it more it’d also be great in a craft room for laying out quilts, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself here though, it’s not as if I’m a mega-quilter is it, I’m still making slow progress on my scrappy quilt…

x-ply desks adorned with succulents

So what do you think, could you, or would you incorporate these into your home?

A welcome basket for guests this Christmas

I don't know about you but when we go and stay with friends or relatives it can go one of two ways. I can be uber organised and remember to pack everything I need to take, or more than likely I'll be rushing around at the last minute randomly throwing things into my bag. Then it's hit and miss as to whether or not I actually throw the things I need into my bag or not...

And I'd like to think I'm not alone, although I expect my guests are slightly more prepared than I ever am.

So when Wayfair challenged me to put together a welcome basket for my guests this Christmas then stepping up to my role as host I used my mid-range self as a basis for what to include in my basket, but first I needed to choose a basket.

After plenty of deliberation I opted for this fabric basket in petrol by Zeller. Our spare bedroom is a mix of pale blues, mid aqua and neutral calming colours, but I thought adding a pop of blue would make a nice change - and it does.
a welcome basket for guests from wayfair

You'll know by now that I'm not much of one for sticking to rules, so I'm using a side table as a bedside table and I love the strong shape it gives.  The brilliant white top show off the colours of my basket and of its contents.

A simple side table as a bedside table complete with a zeller basket from wayfair full of goodies for my guests
The unfinished legs give it a modern and effortlessly stylish look and feel, and it's also available on the Wayfair site.

So what's in my basket?

  • Slippers! We've wooden floors throughout our house and if you're not used to that, then it can be cold underfoot, and they are the most often loaned item to guests.
  • A small patchwork quilt because there's nothing worse than being cold in someone else's house is there?  It's only a small quilt, and there's another larger one on the open shelf unit, so I'm not trying to freeze my guests out!  
  • Some reading material and quite a selection at that. There's the magazines from this year's Ideal Home Show at Christmas and from Grand Designs Live earlier in the year.  Plus some classics - I've included The Da Vinci Code and Flowers in the Attic - sometimes having an old favourite to dip in and out of is welcoming isn't it?  I've also included a tongue-in-cheek book entitled "House Rules" not quite what you might think, but it's full of tips for running a smoothly oiled home - I think I could do with reading it again!
  • An eye mask as it has been said our bedroom is on the light side...
  • Some essential toiletries including cotton wool buds, cotton wool pads, make-up remover and my favourite thing to forget a contact lens case.
What's in my zeller basket from wayfair

On the side table I've also added a delicate glass jar with some brightly coloured alstroemerias, also known as Lily of the Incas or the Peruvian Lily, and a small fabric tray for jewellery and valuables. It's one I made a short while back and the colours match the new basket well.  It's a small thing, but whenever I stay away from home I'm always keen to know where my jewellery is, and that it's together, so if we needed to leave in a hurry I can easily pick it up in one go. I'm hoping that I'll never need to know that, but when I do it's reassuring.

A posy of flowers, bedside lamp and a tray to put trinkets in

The final item that's an essential when guests stay is some fluffy towels, and this year I've gone for some of these funky and festive stag towels. Aren't they great?

Festive towels ready for my guests

So what have I forgotten?  What would you include in a welcome basket for your guests?  Leave a comment and let me know, as my once confident-that-I'd-included-everything-self is no beginning to wonder what I've missed!

 

* This is a sponsored post with Wayfair but all views and opinions are my own.

A beautiful storage chest

For quite a while I've been looking for the perfect storage solution for our spare bedroom. Nothing has quite been right. Back in October I'd seen a lovely wooden chest in the same place I was wowed by all the crockery, but it needed work and they weren't up for budging on the price and so I walked away, reluctantly. On our recent visit to Norfolk I headed back down there to see if it was still there, it wasn't, and I didn't feel as sad as I thought I would. 

There was another chest there, this time tin rather than wood. Again though it was tattier than I'd like and I wasn't sure how we'd repair it. This time I'd gone armed with measurements and it was the right size for the space I had. We did a lot of umming and ahhing and once again walked away. 

But a seed was sown. 

It wasn't long before I was looking on eBay for tin storage chests, and I was amazed at what I found - as I so often am when I discover you can buy almost anything on there. I mean you can buy bricks, as well as lovely storage chests...

And yesterday I arrived home to a very large cardboard box. Inside was this:

Inside the large cardboard box was this beautiful storage chest

Yes, a beautiful storage chest, sold as a 'second' on eBay. 

unwrapping further revealed the chest

It's newly made, but made to look slightly more lived in. And that's a great compromise for us. I was keen for something that wasn't too pristine, while MOH preferred something brand, brand new. I didn't tell him until it arrived that it was sold as a second and it came with some added character.  

And a lovely chest - sold as a second on ebay - was revealed

And it fits perfectly in the spot too. 

Moving it into position

I'm really pleased with it, it was just what I wanted but wasn't able to articulate. The inside is lined with a plain brown material, which means it won't need any work and can be put straight to use storing the bedding for the spare room.  

A look at the detail on the top of our new storage chest

That means no more lugging the pillows and duvet down the stairs each time we use the room, and you don't know how happy that makes me. It's just a small thing, but it's often the small things isn't it... 

A look at the front of our storage chest sold as a 'second'

And filling it with the bedding will start off a new batch of Spring rearranging, as the space the bedding is taking has already been earmarked and the new-last-December Christmas tree will be moving in. 

The new storage chest in situ, waiting to be filled

Yes, I'm finally getting my act together! Well, almost... 

Home Etc