Urbanara

Today on shops i love I wanted to share with you Urbanara. A online homewares brand who’s ethos is to provide high-quality lovely statement items for the home with striking textures and style, without the sky-high price tag. The range is incredibly varied and includes linen and fine cotton bedding, beautifully quilted bedspreads, luxury blankets and throws, stylish table linen, delicately handcrafted porcelain and soaps hand made with love.

"URBANARA is changing the face of retail by taking things back to basics. With a focus on quality and design, we source modern, high-quality homewares and accessories from around the world, direct from the people who make them. Our product scouts regularly scour the globe far and wide to find exciting new products. We always work with strong, experienced suppliers and produce in small batches to minimise stock. By cutting out all the additional margins that traditional retailers add on we can offer you high-quality products at their real price, delivered direct to your doorstep."

At the end of last year Urbanara kindly asked me if I would like to review one of there products. I chose the beautiful Arolla bedspread. The 100% cotton white Arolla features a sweet intricate floral embroidery motif, completed with soft, scalloped edging. I adore it and it is perfect for my guest room...









Have a sweet day!

Emmaus, Brighton

Yesterday I reviewed Flea market chic, the thrifty way to create a stylish home by Liz Bauwens and Alexandra Campbell. If this is your kind of style you will love the fabulous place that is Emmaus Brighton

Emmaus is not your average charity, it is a community of people working together...

"Emmaus Brighton & Hove is the largest Emmaus Community in the UK. We have 40 resident Companions who staff our two shops and café. We are situated in Portslade, Sussex 4 miles west of the centre of Brighton.
Emmaus Communities enable people to move on from homelessness, providing work and a home in a supportive, family environment. Companions, as residents are known, work full time collecting and reselling donated furniture. This work supports the Community financially and enables residents to develop skills, rebuild their self-respect and help others in greater need."

"If you've been to visit us at Emmaus Brighton then you'll probably have your own story to tell about what makes Emmaus special. It might be the bargains in our Second-hand superstore. It might be the peace and quiet in our secret garden. It might be the egg and chips in our cafe, or having a chat with one of our Companions who live and work onsite...the list goes on."

At the back end of last year I went to visit Emmaus, Brighton for the first time on a recommendation from one of my most stylish friends. We spent the morning perusing around the large sprawling complex with a series of different self standing shops on site offering goods for sale. Our first stop was the Emporium full of the best in vintage, retro, handmade and upcycled. There were the prettiest hand embroidered cushions, brightly coloured crochet blankets and perfect shabby chic bedlinen alongside fine china, glass and lovely retro furniture.
Then it was on to the secondhand superstore filled to the brim with clothes, bric-a-brac, furniture, kitchenware and more. Alongside the secondhand superstore was also the Good Will Co-op whose members, between them produce 100’s of items ranging from painted glass jars, knitted items, wooden bird boxes, jewellery, patchwork quilts, cushions, funky leg warmers, bags, cards, and paintings. "All the handmade gifts carry the name of the person who has given their time and creativity to make and as such connect the maker with the recipient of the gift."

Then it was time to rest our weary legs so we stopped off in the stylish Revive cafe for a cup of tea and a bite to eat. Each table is adorned with hand knitted flowers and the walls adorned with art! A beautiful place to admire your purchases...

After tea we were invited to see the fabulous new project "The Green house"...
"Continuing with our ethos of making the best of what we’ve been provided, we intend to focus our efforts on “greener things” and launch a new garden range of plants, shrubs, herbs as well as garden related furniture, tools, books, etc. We will give the products the Emmaus “upcycled” touch and transform planters, terracotta pots and any weird and wonderful objects for use in the garden or on a patio. You will find unique products and great ideas for your garden."
From the preview we were shown "they definitely have nailed it", I can't wait to return to get my hands on some great new treasures for my garden!











To stay up to date with all that is happening at Emmaus, Brighton, including secret sales and more follow them on Twitter and to see more photos of the treasures you can find at Emmaus check them out on Pinterest.

Have a sweet day!

Daisy Park - store visit

Today I want to share with you some photos of my lovely sponsor Daisy Park's beautiful store that I was delighted to visit just before Christmas when my elder sister and I went to visit our little sister in north Devon. Upon entering the wonderful store I was greeted by so much pretty eye candy from my favourite brands like Cath Kidston, Pip Studio and East of India all of which is wonderfully styled. Emma the owner, buyer, seller and everything in between welcomed me with a big hug and we hit it off from there. My nephews Samuel and James were kindly treated to some Christmas chocolates which they were delighted with as were me and my sisters! I am now looking forward to my next visit as there really is nothing like seeing the array of gorgeous products up close and personal.









Have a sweet day!

HomeSense

On Thursday I attended a bloggers event at the Staples Corner branch of HomeSense in North London. It was my first visit to a HomeSense store and I loved it!

HomeSense is the sister company of TK Maxx and provides top quality glass and tableware, soft furnishings for the living room, a huge range of bedlinens, professional cookware, bathroom accessories, lighting and much more for your home including seasonal products. Like TK Maxx, HomeSense operates a policy of opportunistic buying and a no-frills set-up to deliver a unique off-price concept, that offers one-off pieces, familiar brand names and designer home products at knock-down prices.

We started off the morning learning about how they buy and source goods differently than the rest of the high street which enables them to retail there great finds at 60% off RRP. We were then all generously given a £50 voucher to spend in store, I immediately headed to the Christmas section where I found rows upon rows of gorgeous Christmas decorations. From there I headed to the baking section where I found cutters, edible paper and decorations that I have only ever seen in craft stores Stateside. I couldn't stop smiling and filling my basket with all my lovely finds. After we had all finished shopping and perusing aisles and aisles of unique, gorgeous treasures we were taken out for a lovely lunch at Parlour. I am now trying to work out when I can visit a HomeSense store again as I was so impressed with all the unique finds!





Later today I will be showing you a few of the Christmas decorations I bought...

Have a sweet day!

Life's a Party

Today on shops i love I wanted to share with you another highlight from The Spirit of Christmas show, Life's a Party. A stand full of gorgeous dutch party products from paper plumes to quirky paper boats all in an array of fabulous colours and prints.

To help you celebrate your party, we have scoured Holland for the best party products. We are now able to bring to the UK, two of Holland's leading designers: Sabien Engelenburg with her colourful bunting and poms and the beautiful paperwork of Jurianne Matter.

Looking for Christmas gift ideas and decorations?
Check out the Life's a Party store for more party ware.

Have a sweet day!

Pedlars

Today on shops i love I wanted to share with you another highlight from The Spirit of Christmas show, Pedlars. What really grabbed my attention was all the pops of neon from the Christmas crackers to the wooden birds.

We are Charlie and Caroline Gladstone and Pedlars is our business. Our home is in the Highlands of Scotland. We have six children, ranging from 23 to 12, and five dogs and some horses. As well as Pedlars, we own and run The Hawarden Estate Farm Shop and The Glynne Arms, both of which are in Hawarden in North Wales. We are organic farmers and the authors of The Pedlars Guide to the Great Outdoors.

Looking for Christmas gift ideas?
Check out the Pedlars store for more gifts for him, her and the home.

Have a sweet day!

Thornback & Peel @ Spirit of Christmas

Old favourite Thornback & Peel had a stand at the Spirit of Christmas show where I got to see there new gift boxed 12 christmas cards printed with a stag, a partridge, a turkey, a goose, a deer and a sprout stick. They also had a great selection of quirky printed tea towels, hankies and notebooks.

Looking for more Christmas gift ideas?
Check out the Thornback & Peel store for more gifts for the home and cute stationary.

Roots Living

Today on shops i love I wanted to share with you probably my favourite stand at The Spirit of Christmas show, Roots Living.

Simplicity, elegance and quality. The world over, these are the hallmarks of Scandinavian design, and this is my passion. My name is Charlotte Kjeldsen, I'm from Denmark and I started RootsLiving to bring my favourite designs from Scandinavia to the UK.

It was like a little slice of Copenhagen! Roots Living had the prettiest wrapping paper from Rie Elise Larsen, the cutest printed tea towels in an array of gorgeous prints and colours and piles of stylishly printed boxes from Bungalow. But asides from those lovely treasures they also had rolls of hand printed paper like the sheets I used to make my Pretty box frames, but this time in red!

Pretty box frames

Looking for Christmas gift ideas?
Check out Roots Living store for more gifts for the home.



Have a sweet day!

Petra Boase @ Spirit of Christmas

Old favourite Petra Boase had a stand at the Spirit of Christmas show and as usual it was full of whimsical happy bright treats! They had some gorgeous new bird fabric prints with pops of neon and a whole bunch of pretty honeycomb paper decorations. They also had some great stocking fillers like the budgie embroidered badges and cute bird hair clips.

Looking for more Christmas gift ideas?
Check out the Petra Boase store for more gifts for her, home and children.

The Gorgeous Company

Today on shops i love I wanted to share with you my first highlight from The Spirit of Christmas show, The Gorgeous Company. I loved all the textured gifts in cream and off white from the plumes of feathers to the hand crochet cotton angels whose heads are filled with lavender.

The Gorgeous Company was found in 2010 by Vija & Quentin Mackay and built on a passion to bring Gorgeous items to others, believing that Gorgeousness and uniqueness do not need to cost the earth. We have sourced items that we choose to have in our own family home not only through aesthetics but wherever possible also through materials, sustainability and provenance.

Looking for Christmas gift ideas?
Check out The Gorgeous Company store for more gifts for him, her and the home.

Have a sweet day!

Daisy Park

Pip Studio 32cm plate

Essenza Elementi duvet set

Today on shops i love I wanted to share with you one of my lovely sponsors Daisy Park.
Daisy Park is run by Emma Paisey and was launched in 2007 born out of a desire to make internet shopping fun and personal. Based in rural and beautiful North Devon, they are inspired by simple design and love the shabby chic country style. Daisy Park sells a host of gorgeous labels including a massive selection of one of my favourite brands, Pip Studio. Everything is organized by easy to navigate categories and brands which makes finding a gift for yourself or others a dream. You can see why this beautiful store has one so many awards!


Have a sweet day!