Don't Just Stick To What You Know..Branch Out

Feb 24 2008

Tricks Of The Trade

Jazz up a plain room with wall stickers for a serious designer quick fix. We have them in our Glasgow office and they're fab.

This dramatic Fern Living Branch design costs s60 from 95 Per Cent Danish - call 0800 085 9084 or visit www.95percentdanish.co.uk

Simply peel off the backing and carefully press the design on to your wall for an instant revamp. In the TV biz we call them "wall tattoos". Now you know.

Smooth operator

Always running into your ironing board and fussing about where to store your iron? Lakeland have the answer - The Iron and Board Store, a hanging rack which, at s12.99, shouldn't break the bank.

Best bit is it avoids burned fingers as the iron cools due to the way it holds the hot plate against a metal wall panel. From www.lakeland.co.uk

STYLE BIBLE

what's hot in the shops

Marie Claire Maison Colour by Bridget Bodoano - s19.99, published by Quadrille

Colour is the key to successful interior decoration. Use it carefully and you can evoke memories, create moods, change the sense of space and bring warmth or coolness to any home. But use it wrongly and the damage can be overpowering.

Created in conjunction with trendy interiors mag Marie Claire Maison, this book is packed with useful tips and gorgeous pics of urban spaces, period town houses and gracious country residences.

OK, so you can buy less expensive travel blankets but the cheap and cheerful ones can be a bit "crunchy".

Not so this Country Check blanket in 100 per cent lambs' wool from uber-cool Scottish manufacturer Johnstons Home.

It costs s395 but will protect you from the worst of the winter chills. It's available in turquoise, green or brown by clicking www.johnstonscashmere.com

If you hanker after country style remember touches of floral work better than all-out country garden. A few carefully-selected accessories is often enough to set the mood. This New Rose Bloom oven glove from Cath Kidson is just a tenner. Log on to www.cathkidson.co.uk

For a gorgeous Oriental look try this Tea Garden wallpaper in soft green and raspberry with a stunning blossom design.

It costs s15 a roll from John Lewis but we've seen this kind of look at The Chelsea Harbour Design Centre for four times as much dosh.

Visit your nearest John Lewis or jump online at www.johnlewis.co.uk

Retro styling and unknotted string balls in one? Cue the Enamel String Dispenser, s8.95 from www.countryelements.co.uk

Looking for all the world like an oldfashioned flour jar, it's simply fab. Just pop the ball of string inside and thread through the wee hole in the lid for easy use.