Showing posts with label lighting. Show all posts
Showing posts with label lighting. Show all posts

Monday, February 20, 2017

Cactus. Cactus, Everywhere

Botanica seems to be the big trend in interiors at the moment. I thought it was a 2016 thing, but it looks like it is set to continue this year following on from the many items we already saw springing (or is that sprouting?) from stores last year.

Cactus seems to be the most prominent of the lot, followed very closely by pineapple. Throw in to the mix monstera, philodendron, and palm leaf patterns. Bringing the garden indoors is very trendy at the moment, at least in terms of patterns and colour schemes.

Funny enough, it seems Europe has been rather slow to ride on the trend as this has been going on for awhile in North America. In fact some of items we've been spotting now have been on sale for years now across pond. But I'm glad they have finally made their way here to become mainstream, at least for now.

Cactus, cactus everywhere. From the high end like these three vases from Danish brand Hay by Linda Cofan and carried by Liberty London:




More recently, as lighting in LeBHV Marais in Paris...



These vases were also spotted in the above department store but have also seem them in other places like the mid range store West Elm:


And the fabulous Luka Luna also in Paris. I can only take a snap of the window display as they don't allow photography inside the store but if you find your way in the area between Hotel De Ville and Pompidou Centre this is well worth checking out.


Back in the UK, Ben de Lisi also have a cactus inspired range in the home section of Debenhams department store:



And like anything that is on trend, it has also trickled through to cheap and cheerful shops, like these at Tiger:



I have yet to buy any of the items above despite gravitating towards them each time I spot them. Hopefully the trend will last long and persist for a considerable time. They are fun and aesthetically pleasing, and perhaps may encourage gardening and to go for the real things.

Mark :-)

Monday, June 02, 2014

Let There be Light

We had been thinking about adding additional lighting to the garden recently - it can feel quite spooky almost after dark. So it was rather fortunate to receive an email from Philips asking us to try out part of their new solar range.

Philips have been investing heavily into solar power research and have street lights run from solar panels. Much of that technology and knowledge has found its way into these smaller scale lights.
Philips myGarden Solar light
Philips myGarden Solar Wall Light
They sent us 4 solar garden lamps, 3 of which had a separate solar panel - allowing this to be placed for maximum exposure to daylight, and with a 7.5m cable to connect to the lamp itself.  I found these very easy to install as it was simply a case of using 2 fixing screws for each item, and then connecting the cable. If anything there was too much cable as I didn't need to fix the panel too far from the lamps themselves. However these could be very useful if you were illuminating a passageway or somewhere else that gets little light during the day.