My Friend’s House took delivery of its first book for reviewing purposes, last week – Wonderwalls by (Supermarket) Sarah Bagner – and can report that it likes it. Sarah’s intro explains that the walls – or more broadly, the ideas for display – that she selected to showcase are honest expressions of their owners’ personalities and stories, rather than status. True enough, what’s nice about the book is that it highlights interiors that don’t feel on trend. Like so…

I don’t find wicker to be achingly of the moment, anyway.

Another plus: Most of the houses featured are not ones published a million times before. Including, a good few from Tokyo (not the crisp white box variety). This one, which belongs to a Japanese horror and manga author and illustrator, is a fine example…

And this one, a designer’s house…

Yes, that’s a nest on the table.

But there are also interiors that would hit the broader good taste button for most people – of course they’re from Scandinavia. See Fillipa K designer Asa Sternerhag’s Stockholm house for more information.

Lets not leave it on that note though, when we could go out on screaming heads and can can legs.

Bottle Top Bill

Saw this bit of pavement art that I’m calling pavazzle, in Herne Hill at the weekend. It reminds me of something I wrote about years ago, which you could easily copy if you have 10,000 bottle tops and a lot of patience. Art student Sebastian, from Stockholm, was only 22 when he made that splashback […]

You offend me

In the aftermath of LDF I find myself grimly fascinated by horrible house stuff. So, in this spirit I have a question for you today. Which disgusts you more, a bidet? Or a novelty urinal? Cast your votes or fess up if you have either one explaining, I implore you, why?

Earthy ware

News flash: this hand-made ceramics collection is brand new to Couverture. You know, Emily Dyson’s lovely chi chi shop in Notting Hill that used to be on the Kings Road. The designer Dawn Vachon is from Melbourne – G’day! – and she’s created a stoneware range of cups-and-saucers, bowls and jugs, in a lovely blue-grey […]

History in neon

The Park Hill estate is a well-known social housing project in Shefflield. It’s a Grade II brutalist building, designed by architects Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith in the 1940’s (and built by 1961), taking inspiration from Le Corbusier’s  Unité d’Habitation and incorporating the ‘streets in the sky’ concept, which was pioneered by architects Alison and Peter Smithson. […]