Object of the day: sale special

I'm still smiling about the cushions I bagged in the Habitat sale for £4.50 each last week.

To capitalise on the high, here are some more sale goodies worth checking out.

These handsome pheasants by Exmoor- based Brit designer, Sam Pickard, feature on Swedish Åry trays in two different sizes.

Medium tray: £18.15, reduced from  £ 25.95 and small tray £11.85, down from £16.95, Theo-Theo.com

One of my favourite places to window shop – and the owners have a very nice home, too. Bergere dining chair £40, reduced from £50, from Thepeanutvendor.co.uk

A sale is the perfect excuse to buy something a little bit daft, like a 16-piece gold cutlery set, by Lisbeth Dahl. £39 down from £69. And this dinky little mirror, well, why not? It's only £19, down from £39. Both from Rockettst george.co.uk

The little home Dinotastic ceiling pendant for kids is super cute and now half price at £11 down from £22. Find it at Johnlewis.com

Perk up a wall with one of these bright beauties, a lesser-spotted number by ubiquitous Swedish designer, Maria Dahlgren. Harlekin birch tray £12 reduced from £18 at the ever lovely Howkapow.com

Happy shopping and merry weekends.

Post by Kate

Object of the day: Robert Czajka's mini cardboard animals

Yes, you could buy these for a small child... But would they really appreciate them?

Instead, you could embrace the small child in yourself, and chirp up an otherwise clean and sparse shelf or windowsill with these pleasing cardboard animals.

Designed by Robert Czajka, who also makes entire towns from card, these make-them-yourself beasts come flat-packed in 12 sheets of recycled cardboard. Each animal, once made, measures around 10cm x 10cm x 10cm and they cost £22.50 for a set of 20. Buy them at Theo-theo.com.

And if you like these, you might also like this other bit of style inspiration for toy animals (third photo down).

Post by Kate

More brilliant Barbican style

This is for those of you who enjoyed last week's post on an amazing Barbican flat (and from my stats that is A LOT of you...).

I spotted this ace modernist tea towel on the Theo website yesterday, while I was posting about his marvellous Polish bar mugs.

The tea towel costs £12. Love it.

Ogle the real thing here.

Polish bar mugs from Theo (and a sale!)

I absolutely love these amazing bar mugs for sale at the excellent Theo shop – 'Theo' being the alter-ego of designer, Thorsten van Elten. Who has great taste, not only in the things he makes himself, but also in the things he buys to put in this shop. 

Like these, which 'Theo' picked up on a trip to the Lodz Design Festival in Poland, which I heartily recommend you read about in a minute, here, because it looks, like, totally amazing. Total design porn with a nice eastern European edge.

But back to these little beauties. They are by Mamsam (don't bother with the link unless you speak Polski), who asked some local design talent to come up with graphic logos reminiscent of Poland's sixties, seventies and eighties communist past.

Aren't they just totally brilliant? They are £10.95 each – but in very limited supply, so get in quick. I'd like to buy a set of six and drink red wine out of them. Or vodka. Well, they are Polish...

You can also catch some Theo action in person at the festive pop-up shop at Somerset House, pictured below, which is open until January 6.

AND there is a sample and seconds sale happening – starting this evening! – and running till Sunday, in Bethnal Green, east London, where you'll find pigeon lights for £30 and antlers and plant cups for £25 among much, much more excitement. There will even be Gluehwein on the go. Get the info here.