Browsing Category

Spotlight

Spotlight

HUMBLE ONE

20th November 2020

Since moving two-and-a-half years ago, whenever winter arrives I’m reminded of something that I’d like to change about this house: the lighting. Looking around the house on these gloomy winter days, particularly in the sitting room where I work, and which only gains daylight from the neighbouring room, I always wish that we had more integrated lighting. As an aside, but also linked to this, I also wish we had more plug points, especially with two of us now working from home, as the number of sockets you find in an old house just doesn’t cut it for how much tech we need to plug in and use, far less the additional lighting required for long hours at a desk. If we were redoing this house from scratch, I’d start with the lighting and work from there, focussing on the darker areas that would really benefit from well considered lighting, including our work spaces.

While thinking about this, I happened across these modular, battery-powered Humble One lights, which are perfect for the tables, shelves, and nooks in your home where you’re unable to plug in. Right now, I’d sit one of these on the shelf above my desk, where a portable light would illuminate the whole corner of the room.

Continue Reading…

Spotlight

HORTICUS

27th July 2020

This summer, as our tiny back garden has sprung into life, I’ve realised how much this greenery has impacted on our mood during these strange months we’ve all been living through. I don’t think I’ve ever appreciated this as much. And while I’m no gardener (that’s the Other Half’s job), I’m looking for ways to bring that greenery indoors all year round. As once we move into autumn, far less winter, I’m going to miss my leafy view and the sense of calm it brings. Which is why this new modular living wall system from Horticus caught my eye.

Continue Reading…

Spotlight

LACE MARKET TILES

18th May 2020

Last summer, back in the days when life was still ‘normal’ and we thought nothing of getting in the car and going places (remember those days?), we went to visit Holyrood Architectural Salvage in Edinburgh looking for something for the garden. As we were wandering around, I spotted an array of vintage tiles that were arranged by pattern in small batches, and as I was looking at them, admiring their rich hues and retro feel, I was wondering what someone might use them for. As that’s a problem when considering period tiles: finding enough of the design or style you want to work for the project you might have in mind.

Continue Reading…

Spotlight

COLLABORATIVE MOODBOARD PROJECT

7th May 2020

One of the things that’s really struck me over these weeks of lockdown has been the need for creativity. Personally, I’ve been taking more photos, creating more stories on Steller, and feeling the need to write more. For me, it’s been a means of keeping my head positive and focussed, and scrolling through Instagram and talking to friends, it’s clear that I’m not alone in this.

And as many of us are now spending more time at home – pretty much all our time in the last six-plus weeks – chances are that we’re also looking around and considering the improvements we could make, and the creative interior projects we might embrace. Textile designer Claire Gaudion responded to this when launching her Collaborative Moodboard Project.

Continue Reading…

Spotlight

BEACH FINDS BY SAMANTHA ALLAN

18th April 2020

I started collecting beach finds when I was very young, walking on our local beach with my Dad and our Corgi Smut. My family moved to the coast when I was just three, so the sights and sounds and scents of the beach feel as if they are wound into my DNA. I had a collection of shells that grew and grew over the years, some picked up on our walks but others, including an entire collection of sea urchin shells, that my parents must have bought somewhere, although looking back, goodness knows where. I’m not sure what happened to them when I grew up. I’d like to think that they were passed on to someone else, but I guess they were thrown out, a childhood hobby that I’d outgrown.

Continue Reading…

Spotlight

BACK TO NATURE

8th May 2019

I couldn’t resist this new wallpaper collection from Mineheart when it popped up as I was scrolling through products for the weekly interior news page I compile for a newspaper. At a glance, this ‘Back To Nature‘ design by Australian illustrator Courtney Brims feels like a classic flowers and fauna design, but then hang on, is that a snake I see…?

Continue Reading…