Little Big Bell

15 Apr

How to style a desk space for less with my top 10 Homesense finds.

How to style a desk space for less with my top 10 Homesense finds.

Following on from my recent living room post, to celebrate Homesense’s 10th birthday, I thought I’d share with you my next 10 Homesense finds.

This time it’s a style a desk post, for the revamp of my workspace.

I know I’ve blogged about my workspace many times, but I thought I’d show you how I would add to it for less.

I’ve used my existing work desk and chair, but you could find similar at Homesense too. Unlike other retailers that buy seasonally, Homesense buys throughout the year, which means there’s always something unique to find at the store.

I must admit, I love the thrill of “the hunt” for something quirky and cool. My new 10 Homesense finds are also my 10 ingredients for a cute workspace. The total cost was less than £120. Here’s what I bought:

Art prints
Canvas art
Colourful storage
Books
Fabulous mug
Desk stationery
Photo frame
Jug for flowers
Faux flower
Fluffy rug

I’ve combined some of my new art prints with existing ones. The 2 typography prints on the right and the scenic canvas art at the top were from Homesense. Can you believe my ‘Rebel Rebel’ and ‘Good thing’ art prints were £7 each with the frames? I absolutely adore the colour palette. Isn’t that minty green divine? The canvas art print caught my eye for its beautiful blue and white tones. It’s the perfect piece to have for instant calm, when work gets too stressful. Something like this would usually cost in excess of £80. I got mine for an amazing £19.99. No desk area is complete without storage. If you don’t have drawers, then boxes can come in handy. I was so excited to find these colourful boxes with brassware. I got the large box for only £6.99 and the smaller one for £5.99. Homesense doesn’t just sell home decor, they even have a section selling books. I found lots of interesting titles, with the added bonus of beautiful covers that would make great props and decor to style a desk. Another desk essential is stationery. Any excuse for me to explore the stationery aisle and I’m there. I was totally spoilt for choice and finally settled for a rainbow clip board A4 note pad at just £5.99. You’ve got to have a tea or coffee break whilst at work right? I’ve picked this cute pink mug to go with my desk decor. It really was a steal at £6.50 from an original rrp of £12.50. As you can tell, I like to layer my desk. So I have the back layer which is the gallery wall, followed by a middle display layer with objects of differing heights, to add interest. The front layer should be relatively clear for efficient working.

I’ve already mentioned a few of the objects I use for the middle layer of my desk such as the storage boxes, books and mug.

The other two decorative accessories that I got from Homesense was a photo frame and a jug with flowers.

I found the beautiful turquoise blue frame for less than £5 and that gorgeous jug was only £6.99 from a rrp of £18. That’s a great saving don’t you think? I’ve placed a faux Peony, also from Homesense in the jug. The Peony came in a large stem with 3 to 4 flowers at £2.99. Lastly, to complete the look of my workspace is this cute fluffy pink and white Moroccan inspired rug. So much better with the pink don’t you think? I got mine for £49.99. Hope you’ve enjoyed my post on How to style a desk space for less with my top 10 Homesense finds.

I will be back before the end of the month with another Top 10 Homesense Finds room reveal.

In the meantime, if you want to find a Homesense near you, there are over 50 stores in the U.K. Find your closest one here.

( All styling and Copyright photography are by Geraldine Tan, editor of Little Big Bell. This is a sponsored collaborative post with Homesense UK, but all views are my own).

11 Apr

My top 10 Homesense finds for a floral revamp of my living room.

My top 10 Homesense finds for a floral revamp of my living room.

I’m really excited to reveal my living room makeover on a budget in collaboration with Homesense to celebrate their 10th anniversary this April.

Do you know Homesense? If not, then you are in for an amazing discovery of a brand that for a decade have been offering the extraordinary to everyday homeware. I still remember the excitement of first discovering Homesense. I’m now totally hooked. Homesense is part of the TK Maxx family and now has over 50 stores in the UK. It operates a similar ‘off-price’ concept to TK Maxx, but for furniture, homewares, accessories, pets, toys, stationery and more.

The products sold are sourced from thousands of vendors around the world.

What I love about Homesense, is that ‘thrill of the find’ feeling you get when you discover that one-off, on trend piece at a huge discount.

The other thing that I’d like to emphasise is the unparalleled quality of the products on sale. Everything I’ve bought from Homesense is in perfect condition, and I often find myself in awe of it for the price that I have paid. The buyers for Homesense really know how to seek out top homeware brands. What you’ll see sold are high quality renowned brands that have been negotiated to the lowest possible price,up to 60% off.

With new deliveries arriving throughout the week, there’s always something new to discover every time you pop in.

As a Homesense advocate, I’ve been asked to show you my top 10 Homesense finds for 3 styled rooms over April.

I thought I’d kick start the celebration with a Spring refresh of my living room.

As this makeover is on a budget, I have kept my basic living room furniture the same, although Homesense do offer a range of quality furniture which were very tempting! I wanted to show you how the look and feel of the room can be easily updated just by replacing the rug, cushions, lampshade and throw.

I’ve done all of this at a budget of less than £200. I was over the moon when I found this gorgeous faded denim blue rug with pops of pastels and pinks.

A 4×6’ rug like this would usually retail from £150-£300, and I’m proud to say that I only paid £39.99 for it. See how wonderful it looks when set against my cushions. Talking about cushions, I went slightly overboard on them. As far as I’m concerned, there is no such thing as too many cushions ( although my husband would beg to differ). I’ve decided to embrace the Floral theme in my decor. Just look at those vibrantly coloured and painterly flower cushions. It really makes me feel so happy. Do you feel the same too? Now,on to the savings. Stylish cushions like these would usually retail at between £40 to £60. I’ve managed to get these at a fraction of that price.

The two beautiful cushions at the back are £16.99 each and the black one in the front is £12.99. Great Homesense finds right? Here’s a closer view of the others. The front two cushions (L to R) are £19.99 and £14.99 respectively. The one on the back (right) is £12.99. Homesense is not all just about furniture and home accessories, you can buy kitchenware too.

I wanted to show you this fabulous pastel coloured China teapot and sugar bowl that I found. I’ve wanted to add some China pieces, but these types of teapots normally cost in excess of £70.

I managed to get mine for around £20. That’s a steal right? I also managed to find a pretty gold and blue mug similar to the one that I’ve bought from a shop that costs £15, at just £4.99. A living room refresh wouldn’t be complete without a new lampshade.

There was an amazing collection at Homesense, and I was totally lost for choice.

I finally settled for this beautiful pink and green foliage lampshade, to fit in with my floral theme living room. A similar shade like this would usually retail upwards from £40 and mine was a wonderful £12.99. The lamp really goes with the cushions and rug don’t you think? Lastly, I have draped a brightly coloured floral print blanket at the end of my sofa.

This blanket is so super soft, I could just snuggle in it all day. It was a wonderful find at just £19.99. So, here it is. My top 10 finds from Homesense ( 6 cushions, 1 lampshade, 1 tea set and mug, 1 rug and 1 throw, all for less than £200).

Hope you’ve enjoyed this new floral look. There will be a second Homesense room refresh coming next week. I can’t wait to show you.

In the meantime, if you feel inspired by my Homesense finds, then you should check out your local Homesense here. Despite having bought loads of things recently, I keep wanting to go back for more as everything is such great value for money.

( All styling and copyright photography are by Geraldine Tan, editor of Little Big Bell. This top 10 Homesense finds post is a sponsored collaboration with Homesense UK. All views are my own).

02 Apr

The future of SUV design.

SUV design – the Future.

A while back in December, I announced that I was one of the judges for Hyundai’s Innovators of the future competition.

The competition sought entries to design the interior of a driverless Hyundai SUV based on the below criteria:

Is the design innovative?
Does the design have future proofing?
Is the design seamless?
Does their design take sustainability into account?

It’s a pleasure to announce the winner as Emily Armitstead, and the runner up as Thomas Chapman.

I thought I’d show you their amazing designs.

First of all, this is the winning design by Emily Armitstead from Leeds art University.

Emily is a multidisciplinary designer with a love for colour, material and design, which she says drives her creativity.

She has a passion for trend forecasting and research through colour and material explorations.

Emily works with jesmonite, resin, wood and also recycled materials.

She loves exploring the challenging qualities of materials, to constitute colour and texture.

Emily proposes a radical future vision for a Sports Utility Vehicle interior, based on her idea that with climate change, the future may be a place where daylight is scarce and extreme weather conditions the norm.

She describes her design as ethereal, a diversity of colour, texture and form that explores iridescence and reflection of light on surfaces.

The material ( above) that Emily has chosen for the car interior seems melted, frozen, thawed, cracked, cloudy and vaporous. She has designed her car interior with tranquility in mind. The car features rotating seats, holograms and voice control technology. I’d love to experience that surrealism of light ( as Emily describes it), via the recycled solar glass panoramic roof on an interior of crystalline iridescence. Isn’t this design stunning? Love her innovative use of recycled materials to create this gorgeous pearlised effect. Next up, is Thomas Chapman’s SUV design.

Thomas is a 3rd year student studying product design at UCA in Farnham.

He tells me that he has always enjoyed taking objects such as music boxes apart, then putting them back together. He felt this process of demystifying magical objects, has led him to his path in product design.

Thomas sees the driverless car as an aid to a dynamic family, in addition to being an extension of the home.

He likens his vehicle to the family’s assistant, a space where efficiency and relaxation could co-exist.

He illustrates his idea with a scenario of the car acting as an office when dropping a parent off to work, a family space for the school pick up, a space for conversation when both parents are commuting home and a place for relaxation when the day is done. His idea of sustainability and future proofing is explained by how the space can be easily updated without the need to purchase an entirely new car. I was interested to learn about his futuristic idea of movable furniture that are held in place by electromagnets when the engine is powered up. This is definitely a cool family car, a home from home, that allows for efficiency in addition to customisation.

Hope you have enjoyed reading about these 2 brilliant concepts.

Finally, I want to thank all the other wonderful entries. I certainly had a lot of difficulty coming to a decision.

Congratulations once again to Emily Armitstead for her winning SUV design.

( The photography, drawings and concepts belong to the respective owners Emily Armitstead and Thomas Chapman. I’ve had permission to use them for this post. This is a sponsored collaborative post with Hyundai, but all opinions are my own).

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