HOT SHOP: CACHETTE. A homeshoppingspy EXCLUSIVE!

If you have made the wise choice of checking homeshoppingspy today, then have we got a treat for you! You will only hear it here first, so listen up! Cachette is a new Anglo-French online store that launches this week (in both the UK and France) but until then we are giving you lucky people EXCLUSIVE access with a SECRET code letting you onto their site TODAY where you can buy before the rest of the public get there!  Scroll down for a few of my favourites and for the precious code…

1. Storm plate, £24.09; 2. Wooden spoons, £9.55; 3. Stoneware jug, £19; 4. Blue tray, £24.50; 5. Blackboard, £31.56; 6. Wooden labels, £10.80 7. Bamboo basket, £24.09.

Founders, Delphine (French) and Stephen (English) are a couple who decided to leave their life in London and move to the south of France to set up a new home and a new business (très bon!). They wanted to put together a collection of simple, eclectic and functional products for the home, handpicking items from different European artisans and unknown designers. You’ll find stationary, bathroom accessories, gourmet food, kitchenware and toys. Nothing on their site is mass-produced, it’s all uber tasteful and the code you’ve all been waiting for is ‘HOME’. Click here and type it in (must use caps lock) If you enter the code again at the checkout you can get 10% off too. Happy shopping! – Alice

Snail mail is BACK – postal chic

Vintage postcards are big news in the design world at the moment. In these days of instant text messages and emails,  postcards ooze nostalgic charm and represent a bygone era when communication took longer and was more thoughtful. There’s something so personal about receiving a carefully-chosen picture with a hand-written ‘wish you were here’ message scrawled on the back. I’m all for speedy texting…but bring back snail mail too, I say!

I’m a huge fan of Lucie Pritchard’s work and her linen postcard placemats and napkins (available from All Things Original) are so lovely – if you get bored of conversation at the table, you can just read the messages! Cloth Ears sells cute postcard make-up bags in it’s Paper Planes collection, as does Helen Ashworth of Rosie’s Armoire, while Cox & Cox does a fabulous seed tin with a vintage postcard lid, and a framed postcard art display.

Check out Lucie Pritchard’s gorgeous black and white postcard cushions – chouette! Postage stamps are cool right now too – I’m loving these funky stamp Britannia cushions from Karen Hilton designs. And, although it’s not strictly speaking a postcard, this brown paper parcel wash bag from Cloth Ears is too cute to miss! I’ve just got back from a very relaxing holiday in the sunny south west of France, where I spent many happy hours browsing ‘Brocante’ shops and hunting for pretty vintage postcards. I found two lovely Eiffel Tower ones (below) and the plan is to get some printable linen fabric sheets from our trusty friends at Crafty Computer Paper, and sew some cushions and bags. I picked up some great tips from Helen Ashworth of Rosie’s Armoire at the Country Living Fair a while ago, so it’s high time I had a go at making some of my own postal-chic accessories! – Ellie