Today, we received another 200 sets of the Rob Ryan plates, while the driver was unloading our 39 boxes, he got clamped (£300! ouch!). At the same time, 12 (voluminous!) Ovetto recycling bins arrived and the lift chose that specific moment to breakdown (luckily temporarily....) Then a third driver who was delivering large bags of eco-friendly chips so we could pack all our orders safely while being good to the planet, went upstairs to get Genevieve to sign the paperwork while I was dealing with the *cr..* going on downstairs and left without leaving the chips with us....give me strength!!

So I have decided to have a little break to show you something I really love....using big letters like these beautiful red metal letters from House Doctor DK at home which is something La Maison Pujol in France is doing very well. I know that in terms of home styling, it's not new or groundbreaking and I don't care. I don't think a home should follow trends. A home should reflect your style, your lifestyle, your personality, your travels and everything you love in life and for me, who loves design, typography and food, these big, red and striking letters really stroke a chord when I saw them the first time. I think letters are a fantastic way to express your style with a touch of humour and you can easily use these ones separately to add little industrial touches around the home like Maison Pujol or simply give one of each to friends as a Christmas gift!

(C) Photos: top pics from La Maison Pujol photographed by Manolo Yllera, bottom image: Pia Ulin, Little Arrhus from Konfettiform, Via Little Blue Deer

Apres la journee d'enfer que j'ai eu (je vous epargne la traduction), je voulais vous montrer quelque chose que j'adore...l'utilisation de grosses lettres en deco a la maison, comme ces belles lettres rouges en metal de House Doctor DK, qui est quelque chose que La Maison Pujol fait tres bien (super addresse d'ailleurs pour un WE ou des wacances..).
Je sais que ce n'est pas tres nouveau, ni avant-gardiste en terme de decoration et je m'en fiche. Je ne suis pas de celles qui pensent qu'une maison doit suivre la mode. Une maison devrait refleter notre style, nos gouts, notre personnalite, nos voyages et tout ce que nous aimons dans la vie. Et moi perso, j'adore le design, la typo et trainer dans ma cuisine (pas pour cuisiner, pour manger!), alors forcement j'ai completement craque pour ces super lettres rouge vif des que je les ai vu! Le truc genial avec celles-ci, c'est qu'elles auront l'air super cool* dans la cuisine (accrochees au mur ou suspendues) mais qu'elles peuvent etre egalement utilisees separement comme La Maison Pujol pour ajouter des petites touches industrielles dans la maison ou simplement etre offertes a des amis comme cadeau de Noel!

*cool: (kool): Adjective;
1. Something regarded as cool is an admired aesthetic of attitude, behavior, comportment, appearance and style, influenced by and a product of the Zeitgeist.
2. Adjective overused by Karine who still thinks she is in her twenties

It's not new... I absolutely LOVE fonts and typography. It's a simple, visual thing which, with all its simplicity, can change the whole look of a room. This why I fell in love with Therese Sennerholt prints which you'll see in our little shop next month or the one I have at home. I love how fonts can be used to design gorgeous prints of the UK, Australia and New-Zealand, as wall decoration, on food packaging and on this subject, if you haven't visited Selfridges Food Hall yet, you must go! It's a visual feast to all the things I love food, design and fonts.
So when I saw that the lovely Grace was sharing her favourite fonts, I could not resist relaying them to you here.

Click here to read Grace's 35 favourite fonts (some of them are free to download for personal use)

Last time I went to Pulse (a UK trade show), I came across these superb alphabet candle holders. I'm a sucker for anything using typeface like this gorgeous Type map print by Bold & Noble so I got really excited when I came across these wooden candle holders and I was quite keen to add them to our shop.
After reflection, there is such a large selection of size and models (of course there is 26 letters in the Alphabet + the Ampersand symbol) that from a logistic point of view, I think it would be a nightmare for us to stock these....
However, I still think they are great and that you would be interested in knowing about them.
Each letter is made of birch plywood (very eco-friendly) and as they have all different fonts and sizes, they can be used in different ways: standing, lying flat, upside down and they can also be used with both candles and tea lights. You can even paint them for a more personal touch but I love them just the way they are.

Studio Yra is a collaboration between product designer Lina Meier and graphic designer Sara Keranen-Gramner who met while studying at London College of Communication in 2004. Lina went on to do a BA in Product design at Central Saint Martins while Sara stayed at LCC finishing a BA in Typography.
Their online shop is not ready yet but if you call them, you can get yours letters within a couple of days...and I forgot to say...a small letter is £25 and a large one £29.50 + P&P
I hope you like them.....

At the beginning of the year, I mentioned these two gorgeous DIY projects from Dutch magazine 101 Wooniden. The bathroom cabinet was a very simplified version of the Inside Out bathroom cabinet which won the Elle Decoration British Design Award Winner in 2007 and I loved the simplicity of these lights.

With a bit of help from Babelfish free translation service, I translated the Dutch instructions so to do this, you will need:

* To buy a large piece of MDF from your local DIY store (not too thin so it doesn't bend, I reckon 2.5 cm thick as a minimum should do the trick but go thicker if you can afford it).

* Paint the board with magnetic blackboard paint.

* Buy stencils from your local art supplies shop or online or magnetic letters and then make your own meaningful sentence like 'Today is the perfect day for a perfect day' which I read somewhere but can't remember where (sorry!)
My experience is that you can get alphabet stencils with the CargoD font at a relatively small cost but it's a bit too bulky for my taste.
If like me, you prefer a more contemporary & creative font like Arial ou courier, it's going to cost the earth especially if you want the letters to be big like on this board. So I suggest you type each letter you need on your computer to the size you want, print them and spend some time cutting them out to make your own stencil.
I'm also loving this coffee table made out of an industrial pallet and fitted with wheels, especially since we have a few of those in the B&F warehouse.

Thanks to Apartment Therapy for tagging us.