I have a weakness for bright things and back in the 70’s everything was bright be it clothes or homeware , there was something about that time that really made you forget about being seen as tacky with something so bright. This Olive colured and Olive shaped jar is the perfect example of this the design is bright funky and desirable, measuring at about 10 inches high this jar can be used for anything really even just decor. It would look great in a minimalist two tone kitchen , might even add a little spark to the place.

You can find this and lots of other vintage homewares at Oxford Tea Party , who are based on Oxford (no surprises there).

Keeping your home tidy is a constant battle between you and “things” which seem to appear from nowhere in a place where they have no right to be, this is especially true if you have children. With children comes responsibility , this we all know but what people never seem to realise is how much clutter can accompany a little person. Once you have got over all the baby-ware and are just about coping with nappies will come the toys.

Over the years the toys multiply and multiply until you think one day “where do I put all these things ?”. Well with these handy stackable storage boxes from very.co.uk (the new name for littlewoods direct) help is truly at hand. The really nice thing about these boxes is that with them being colourful and bright , and coming in boys and girls colours you can get your child to take some responsibility for doing their own tidying up. It will be almost like a new toy to them and clutter will be gone forever (we hope).

At £35.00 for the three boxes seen above the price is right too , more information here

Doing the dishes can be a mundane task and not matter how much you enjoy it (or say you do) it eventually will become a chore. That is precisely why something like this rubber washing up bowl brings a smile to your face. You can trust our scandinavian friends to come up with some really cool ideas around the home. So the washing up bowl from Normann of Copenhagen is no real suprise.

A great novel idea that gets rid of the need for those forsaken plastic washing up bowls forever, I mean which ultra cool modern city dweller would want to have a plastic washing up bowl in their sink, it will ruin the buzz of the place surely.

Available in various colours including Pink, Black and Red you can get your hands on one from mylivingspace.co.uk for £56.00

Want to spruce up your home? Add a splash of colour with new curtains from The Natural Curtain Company. They offer custom curtains, roman blinds, ready made curtains and matching fabric.

Custom Curtains

If you live in London, a representative can come and measure your windows for free, and help you decide which products are right for you. But you can easily do this on your own. To determine the width, simply measure between the finials of the pole you’ll be hanging your curtains on. For the width, check their website for easy directions to measure, based on inside recess, outside recess or fixed-to-frame curtain styles.
Once you’ve got the correct size, you’ll need to decide on the fabric and liner. There are 15 colours in cotton, 28 in linen, five in silk, velvet, and many more designs in cotton / linen mix.

Roman Blinds

Roman blinds are a popular and attractive alternative to curtains. These gather into gentle pleats when raised, and look softer than common vinyl mini-blinds. The Roman Blinds offered by The Natural Curtain Company are available in custom widths and lengths to fit your windows perfectly. And you can choose from all the fabrics offered in the custom curtain line, including cotton, linen, silk and velvet, in a wide variety of colours and patterns.

Ready Made Curtains

The Natural Curtain Company offers ready made curtains in cotton. Just pick the colour and they will finish them off in the length you specify at no additional charge! They are offered in three standard sizes, with three different lining choices: cotton, thermal and blackout.

Fabric

To complete your room design, purchase matching fabric to make pillow covers or other décor. You can purchase lengths of fabric in all the colours and patterns offered in their custom curtain line.

There is nothing like a good old fasioned wooden product, and with eco being the IN thing there is no excuse for not buying eco homeware.

These Alder wood and Juniper Salad servers come spatulas are handmade from a fully sustainable and managed resource.

Before you start thinking “they are just salad servers” they well may be but they show that eco doesn’t have to be bland , or boring and can be practical too.

More eco products will be appearing on homecheeq soon, we do try and get the right mix of really trendy homeware with the more everyday use homeware.

As always so you not left wondering where to get these from go over to Eco-Motives.co.uk and pay £15.00

Retro seems to be the new Modern with everything going retro, from motorcycle helmets to homeware. This retro radio alarm clock is a great example of mixing the modern with the old.  Using retro design with a modern digital clock and radio you get best of both words.

It looks great from the front or the back.

This great design won’t cost you the earth either you can pick one up for £22.95 from Ochigo.co.uk who also have a great variety of other clocks in both retro or modern design.

Has there been an easier way to chop garlic then just rolling the Garlic Zoom over the top of your kitchen counter a bit like a toy car? I think not! The simplicity of this little device is perfect for easily chopping garlic on demand and it looks great too.

Simply load it with garlic and pull it back and forward a few times and you have an end product with very little fuss and no extra mess.

You can lay your hands on one of these from the colloco.co.uk website for £7.95. It was a really hard decision to pick this out from the site as there were so many other great products for sale, colloco.co.uk is a bright, funky yet functional website worth  definite look.

There has to be a mention to the designers of the product chef’n who’s mantra of Tasteful Ingenuity comes through on this product, some other great designs on the site too.

This is not the first time we have featured Salt and Pepper shakers on homecheeq, before you think it we are not obsessed by them.  This set is handmade in Stoke-on-Trent , and in keeping with Stoke’s past the outcome is a beautiful ceramic product.

The graphics are applied by hand, and they look brilliant giving a little taste of England to anyone that uses them.  The design is both functional and aesthetically pleasing, designd to fit togther side by side each pot has it’s own image.

If you want one of these then you will need to look online somewhere , a site like Bouf will sell you the set for £18.00  The actual design comes from Liverpool based designers drpd

We all like to lay back a little and even though the summer is almost drawing to a close , there are still a few weeks for you to lay back and enjoy that summer feeling.

The thing with summer is that it is best enjoyed when totally relaxed, so to get you in that mood this giant cushion from Suffolk based Runaway Coast. The cushion measures 150cm x 150cm and is made from 100% cotton, whats more the covers are fully machine washable.

You can get more information from the Runaway Coast website and if you want one it will cost you £95.00

I love a good old cuppa and who doesn’t? well ok there may be a few people out there that don’t like a cup of tea. The worst time of day is in between cups of tea especially in the morning. So the best way to remind yourself of the fragrance of your favorite cuppa is to use this Tea scented candle.

So the only smell is not tea , but this Black Tea candle has a rich and dark scent of musk, bergamot, pine and tea. That sounds lovely to me.  I wonder if they do one with milk and two sugars.

The candle complete with holder and a burning time of 40 hours can be yours for £18.00 from Utility Design