Lovely Things

Online shopping and mid-century design at Ikea

Hooray! Ikea has finally launched full online shopping for mainland England and Wales, so no more having to go to packed stores on a Saturday if you want your fix of inexpensive Scandanavian furniture. Browsing through several of Ikea's latest ranges uncovers a definite nod towards iconic mid-century design with the 'TIRUP' swivel chair (shown in Eldris black/yellow, £215), and the lovely new button-backed leather 'KARLSTAD' sofa (£499) which, as Retro To Go pointed out, looks very much like the fabulous Florence Knoll sofa from 1954.

Kitchen, dining & home sale at Liberty

Lovely Liberty has just announced a sale of up to 30% off selected kitchen and dining items, and 25% off some of their Liberty of London home ranges. Unfortunately despite the new Liberty of London online shop offering a selection of their gorgeous bags and accessories, there's no online shopping options for homewares at the moment. Pictured is one of the kitchen/dining sale items, a rather pretty blue-glazed cake stand on sale at £13.12, down from £18.75, but you'll have to pop into the store in Great Marlborough St, London to purchase.

Heal's Home Event - 50% off sale

Speaking of Heal's recently, if you haven't already, check out their Home Event, with some great discounts of up to 50% off furniture and home furnishings. 'Mu Mu' funky striped reversible bedding started at £50 for a single duvet set and is now from £25 and the lovely 'Mistral' sofa we featured, has now dropped to £1435 for the smaller size.

Grand Designs Live at Excel May 3-11 2008

Yes, it's that time of the year again - Kevin McCloud fanciers, get ready, because Grand Designs Live starts this weekend and runs til the 11th at Excel London.

New for this year, you can try your hand at some self-build techniques and check out some live building projects in the Grand Village including Kevin's week-to-build-a-house challenge and loads of eco-friendly ideas and five different carbon neutral homes.

There's the usual line-up of celebrity garden and home experts including Diarmuid Gavin and Naomi Cleaver, plus goodies like free seeds for every visitor who submits a personal pledge to reduce their carbon footprint.

Weekday tickets cost £10 in advance and £15 on the door (or £13 and £18 on the weekend), and children's tickets are free.

Mistral sofa from Heal's

Okay, it's official. I'm in love with a sofa...

Unsurprisingly it's green (yes, I'm still in the midst of a green thing), and I really love the modern take on 50s style and the sweet buttoned back. The 'Mistral' from Heal's at £1795 for the small sofa isn't exactly in the cheap and cheerful category, but I'm a sucker for a bit of understated retro glam.

It also looks comfy, which is foremost for me in terms of sofa-love. So I think it's time to meet in person so I can stroke its lovely arms, pat its lovely seat and decide if it's true love and I want to snuggle together forever, or just a passing infatuation brought on by good looks.