Hygge Nook

Chevron cushions

I know, I know, I'm a terrible blogger, but I did just buy two of these gorgeous yellow (ochre? mustard?) and white chevron cushions for my living room. I hope they provide some lightness and balance to the teal curtains and cushions and the black sofas that otherwise dominate the room.

I love Madeline Weinrib but her designs are just too expensive to buy in the UK so I thought I'd never get my hands on pattern like this, plus the UK is far behind when it comes to affordable geometric prints. Last night I had a tiny brainwave and remembered Etsy - the source of just about everything. This morning, two of these babies were purchased for $13 each. Bargain!

 

This lamp stalking lark is getting serious

Do you remember the kitschy dog Ben de Lisi lamp I wanted that went out of stock? I got it. I got it. I got it. Happy dance. When I first saw it I intended for it to go in the children's room but a lack of sockets means there's no where to plug it in unless it's just put there for show. Here it is...

And to make the postage worth it, I 'accidentally' purchased this cushion for my office chair.

I'll save you from squinting, the type says 'Live what you love'. And you know what, folks, I am. Though it's always good to have a cushion to remind me, especially one which ties in to my profession: writing.

Both were on sale - the lamp was £32 (it comes in black too) and the cushion £14. And you know what else? Oops. I bought this London skyline oven glove (£14) because I needed a new oven glove. Honest. Then I checked out and postage was free. Yay. At that point I returned my debit card to my wallet and stepped away. To do another happy dance, natch.

Child's cardboard book storage box

 
I'm pretty excited about my latest find. I've been searching for an affordable and good-sized book storage container/ display unit for a long, long time. Some searching on ebay today brought me to Big Book Little Book Cardboard Box, one of those so-simple-why-didn't-I-think-of-that-already ideas. The book holds up to 40 books, claims to be super tough (and reviews reflect that), it's cheap at £9 plus free P&P, plus it's made from 80% recycled materials and 100% biodegradeable. Gotta love the green stuff. Okay, I have to admit the brown shell isn't the most appealing but the designer has made it that way to keep those crucial eco-credentials and I think it could be jazzed up quite nicely. Fabric, perhaps? Some 3D letters?

High gloss tray

 
I'm having a day off work today and so far it's been perfectly lovely. I'm crocheting up a storm, watching some TV, playing with the little humans of mine and, um, indulged in a little online shopping. I've just purchased two of these high gloss white melamine trays by Zak Designs at Gifted Penguin. They were marked down to £11.99 so not too pricey. My idea is that I'll use them to define the space on our bedside tables which sit below our new white wall lights. Hmmm. Okay, all that white on white might be a bit too bland so I'll have to think how I'll colour them up a touch. A little vase, maybe some fresh flowers? A picture frame?

Teatime lamp

 
I've been stalking this lamp for a while. I just love its slightly crazed Alice in Wonderland tea party style. But at £100 it was just too much. Fortunately homewares stalking does pay off as I've snagged it for 37% off in the sale. Wow, it's easy to look clever with maths when dealing with the nicely rounded original price. Also, sale is a great word, isn't it? Not as great as free but I'll work with what I have.

The idea is that the lamp will be a fun addition to the children's bedroom makeover which will be commencing shortly. I also snapped up some star shaped fairy lights on sale which will also go in their room.

Put out the lights

It's only day 12 in the Hygge Nook house of 2011 and already something has been achieved on my not too unreasonable 2011 house to do list. Let me introduce you to the ghastliest bedroom lights known to casas.

 

Let's just really drill home how phenomenally awful the lights are:

 

Pretty grim, right? We've lived with them for over a year. The shame.

And now let's say goodbye, see ya, adios! As it happened replacing the wall lights wasn't too hard considering Mr Hygge has some electrical knowledge and was able to remove them from the walls after taking care to disconnect the power supply to the upper floor first. We wouldn't want him fried, after all. If you don't have the skills, call a pro.

A little web browsing found two simple, stylish wall lamps for a bargain £15 each from Homebase. I wanted something very simple, non-dating and non-intrusive so a frosted glass shade was the way to go. As we're currently renters I didn't want to install something pricy that I would mind leaving behind so this price should ensure a very reasonable cost-per-use by the time we've moved out.

 

The light is a lot more diffused now thanks to the bulbs being softened behind that frosted glass, though it does throw the light up and is unfortunately exposing a great blob of dried paint a couple of feet above the one on the right that I'd previously never noticed in daylight. A small price to pay for a fairly satisfying end result. I hadn't really considered pairing them closely to the capiz chandelier so the fact they really complement each was more accident than design.

 

I'm not ashamed to say we both woke the next morning saying we both loved the end result. Sad, but true.

From A to Z bookends

From all the lovely things my daughter received for Christmas, these A and Z bookends have to the loveliest as well as thoroughly practical. (What did I say about no more typography? Let's ignore that.) S is very into her reading but unfortunately there simply isn't space for a bookcase in her room. These have solved a bit of a problem by making her most current books more accessible. (Alas, there are dozens more books in a big basket.)

 

If you have a six-year-old, or like me love having a good root around other people's bookcases (and I will squint at the screen to see which tomes are on my favourite bloggers' shelves) you might be wondering which titles are sandwiched between these chunky bookends. They're Enid Blyton's Mallory Towers, Darcey Bussell's Magic Ballerina and classics such as The Railway Children and Anne of Green Gables.

Which books do you remember as particular favourites from childhood?

Bedside tables (at last!)

 
I've mentioned before that I've really struggled to find nice bedside tables and have made do with a cheap as chips Ikea Lack table for a while. On a wander around Ikea I spotted the Hemnes side table in a living room set. Despite the absence of a pull out drawer it was pretty spot on. Thanks to the clean lines and white painted solid wood, if I tire of them later, they can be repurposed into any other room.

Boyfriend was promptly dispatched to collect two. And has assembled them. *Heart*

Love print

I was looking for some new wall art for my younger children's room. It had to be something non-gender specific (so pink and blue were out), non-aging so no character prints and well-aging so that it would last a good long while, or at least be transferable to elsewhere in the house. Time and again I came back to this lemon LOVE print, even though I swore there would be no more typography prints in the house. My daughter really likes it and it's currently hung over her bed, pending the big room overhaul.

 

It cost $25 from MadebyGirl at Etsy.

For now I've hung it in a spare frame we had stashed in a corner and unused. I'm not sure I'm totally feeling the black but it will do for now. What do you think? Stick with black or go for white with a white mat?

White vase

 
I'm constantly on the look out for simple white objects for the house. I find them more relaxing, have a longer life span and are easier to integrate than many coloured objects. Is it easy to find white things though? I don't think so. When I spotted this white glass vase in Homebase with its classic hourglass curve I knew it would be perfect and the £3.99 sticker clinched the deal. It's been sat on my windowsill for two months without anything in it, but a quick trip to the supermarket at the weekend found me snapping up this bunch of silver twigs from the Christmas decorations aisle for just a few pounds. I may well separate the branches and hang baubles on them over the next month.

Do you have any cheapie purchases that you just love?

(Sorry for the low light snap btw, it's a symptom of winter in London.)