Category Archives: Design, designers and online finds

H&M Home collection!


Yesterday the postman made me cry a little bit. With joy that is. I received a lovely catalogue of the Hennes & Mauritz home collection!, available online NOW!

 

 

Natural Collection

Natural Collection

In line with great H&M tradition the collection is hip, colourful, stylish and DIRT CHEAP!
Tea towels and dish cloths for a mere €3 or less, pillow sheets for as little as €3,99, duvet covers for €29,99! To be fair, they only measure 1.40 x 2.20 which is too small for most double beds, but still.
Tea cloth with shopping cart

Tea cloth with shopping cart

Cushions, throws, plaids, table linen bags, baskets, towels and bath mats; they have it all!
The collection consists of four different lines; Graphic, Colourful, Natural and Classic.
Check the online shop on their website.
Natural Collection

Natural Collection

 They launched the online shop this week in Sweden, Germany, The Netherlands and Austria. It is not known yet if the collection will launch in other countries too.

 

On the Edge planter


On my quest for ideas for my own possible balcony I found this smart planter. 

'On the Edge' by Michael Hilgers

'On the Edge' by Michael Hilgers

Aptly called ‘On the Edge’ and designed by German designer Michael Hilgers. It is a modern take on the traditional window planters. The pots are designed to hold themselves in place on the railing of a balcony, Made from water-resistant polyethylene, they can be left outside during all seasons.  The pots can rest on any railing with a maximum thickness of 60mm, which is actually not too much, many wooden or concrete/brick railings will likely be too big. Two separate compartments offer multiple planting options.

The crafty design is perfect for those city dwellers with limited outdoor space, but can easily be used in gardens, patio’s, roof terraces and even indoors.

The can be bought online here.

Radiators; a hot debate


In colder climates, a radiator is an integral part of every single room. Or at least it should be. Very few houses only have the one hearth in the living room still.  In a lot of cases radiators mean an eye sore in a further very well thought through concept. It took surprisingly long for designers to come up with alternatives for the usually rather dull and ugly metal thing that we see underneath most windowsills. In the eighties we saw the rise of the so called design radiator. Most people only put these in their bathrooms though. They made for lovely warm towels after stepping out of the shower.

Another trend in the eighties was to lower your radiators into the ground and covering them up with wooden or metal grates or screens. Endless keys, coins and buttons would end up in them. Floor heating, where a web of heating was put under the floor, was something that only the very few could afford as it was costly and it took a lot of energy to heat through the floor. Nowadays they are more common and easier to install and also heat up easier. We have heated floors in our bathroom for instance.

Yet in order to really heat up a house in a sufficient and cost effective manner one can hardly do without the good old radiator. I personally don’t mind the traditional radiator, I think they look nice with their hint of industrialism and nostalgia. Preferably the old ones that require a static duster to clean. However, for those in need of a signature radiator, check the designs below.

Joris Laarman for Droog Design

Joris Laarman for Droog Design

Ciussai

Ciussai

 

The design of Ciussai can be hung up on a hook, rolled out to cover the entire room or even be placed in your bed to heat up your linen before you go to bed.

Flora by Caleido

Flora by Caleido

MOON by Oreca Design

MOON by Oreca Design

Wallpaper, the ever lasting trend


Trends come and go, but some things just remain in vogue no matter what. Wallpaper might be one of them. Sure, we had a brief stint of minimalist metals and plastics in the eighties where everything just had to be white white white, but shortly after that we revived all the decades of years of yore and not so yore and somehow wallpaper outlived these revivals and is still in fashion in trends today. 

Funny that. Wallpaper is a nightmare to put on our wall, especially if the decor needs to fit precisely with the slap next to it . But to get it off is even more of a dread. Try steaming off jute! (I predict jute wallpaper will be the rigueur of interior trends in the very near future by the way)

But wallpaper does provide instant and very dramatic results and can change any blend and dull room into a stunning and richly decorated boudoir, something paint can not always provide for. But wallpaper can also give your home a more personal signature. So if you are willing to spend time and a few years of your life on a ladder holding a 3 meter long roll of sticky paper, then these sites might inspire you.

Bold and big patterns are still, or is it again, part of most collections of most wallpaper designers. A significant trend is the bohemian or eclectic pattern. Patterns as if created in a drug induced trance or doodling while on the phone such as the Topo Azul wallpaper in the Allang the Gallant collection below.

Topo Azul, part of the Allang The Gallant collection. Design: Ana Montiel

Topo Azul, part of the Allang The Gallant collection. Design: Ana Montiel

Further to the doodling trend, there are wallpapers actually designed to be drawn or painted on. One example is the Tick-Tock wallpaper for sale at Minimoderns.com. Great for in kids rooms or for the wall next to where you call your mom. 

Tick-Tock

Tick-Tock

To make sure you don’t miss a single appoinment ever again Dutch designer Christiaan Postma designed this wall sized diary. 

Christiaan Postma

Christiaan Postma

 Swedish designer Lisa Bengtsson designed a wallpaper pattern that has been around for a while but still deserves a spot in this line-up. It is drenched in nostalgia and might turn out to be a bit too much if you do your entire room with it, but it’s fantastic.

'The Family' by Lisa Bengtsson

'The Family' by Lisa Bengtsson

 You can see more of Lisa’s work here

A fun, yet very 2002, way to spice up a wall is to create your own wallpaper with your favorite photographs. Most online photo development and gift shops offer the possibility to upload a photograph and have it turned into wallpaper to fit on a specific wall.

Wallpaper of your favourite picture

Wallpaper of your favourite picture

 

This does however mean that you can also have wallpaper made from pictures or drawings you or your kids made. Endless possibilities therefore. Just make sure to scan the design in high resolution and upload it into any online tool that creates wallpaper. Examples of such tools are to be found here, here and here. The last one actually does not allow you to upload the photograph of your choice but asks you to forward it to them. In general this trend has not reached the US as much as it has Europe, the Netherlands in particular.

More classic and traditional wallpaper can be found in the collection of Eijffinger, the Dutch importer and distributor of interior fabrics and wallpapers. Also

Eijffinger

Eijffinger

 

Dutch speaking interior buffs might like the online wallpaper shop Behangwereld. Literally a world of wallpapers. From understated stripes, to baroque patterns and decorative wall stickers. They also carry many big names like Eijffinger, Esprit, Voca and AS

Esprit home collection

Esprit home collection

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AS; Creation Chateau

AS; Creation Chateau