store profile: house 2 home, crows nest

This discount-shop-with-more is one of my first stops for basic and even decorative homewares. Although House 2 Home is a chain, the store on Willoughby Road in Crows Nest, Sydney, is phenomenally well run and the team clearly includes a buyer with an eye for decorating finds.

These decorator pieces, from candles to white china to furniture, are all priced far more reasonably than most places I know that stock the same items, and the store is well organised, tidy and brimming with great staff.

      

 

Store Profile: House 2 Home, Crows Nest

Always good for: a wide range of glass vases and candleholders, various white china, candles, quality party supplies from napkins to lanterns to gift wrap, storage boxes, canvases of all sizes, attractive wooden chopping boards and assorted linens.

Check in now and then for: quite wonderful lamps, wall art, furniture and decorator items
I have even seen: vintage metal cinema chairs for far less than at mainstream vintage stores
Location: 98 Willoughby Road, Crows Nest NSW, (02) 9436 1010
Website: not really

a word on natural fibres and one for the home: patterned sheets

As you may have noticed, at 'where can we find it' natural fibres always win. They breathe better and as such feel so much more pleasant against the skin. My shopping often presents as a sudden dart across each store to the designs that grab me, followed by an unruly scramble for the care tag. Sadly, this ritual often ends in a tag dropped in disgust. I do not wear polyester. My baby, the Pea, does not wear polyester. We do not sleep on polyester and nor is our dining table ever clad in polyester. And while this may seem a more than slightly obsessive rant, I feel smugly glad of my vigilance every time I touch the fabrics in our home.
In my incessant lusting over linens I came across this gorgeous trio:

 

I adore good white sheets, especially embroidered ones, and find them so easy to wash; a good soak in Napisan is sufficient to remove most stains. Having said this, however, I bought some ticking stripe sheets from the range in the second picture and have found that they age really well. As for the third picture, I'm trying to restrain myself. How lovely and how timeless.

I have bought two sets of sheets from ezibuy and experienced prompt and efficient service. There are free shipping deals available.

Let's all get that lovely-hotel-sheet feeling every day. What sheets make you happy?

one for the home: the rosy glow

Any room, whatever its size, looks better with many little pools of light rather than a general glare. I like intimate low light just where and when you need it.

Roger Banks-Pye, Colefax and Fowler Interior Inspirations

 

I think one of the most important ways we can turn our houses (or small, scrappy units) into welcoming homes is by the judicious use of warm lighting.

One of my favourite purchases, made about two years ago, has been this string of lights from Typo. Originally bought to bolster the mood for a celebration, I have since used my two strings of lights in a few ways around the home, most successfully using one string as a headboard-cum-bedroom light. The coral flowers create the most lovely rosy glow, perfect for helping me to relax at the end of a long day, and quick to ward off the winter blues. At only $19.95 a pop (and sometimes $10 on sale), they are a lovely and surprisingly durable find.

The photos above show the light string in the harsh light of a grey winter's day; even unilluminated, they are a fun and eye catching addition to our bedroom.

Gladly Typo still stocks this gorgeous and affordable buy and you can purchase these gorgeous lanterns at Typo's website.