Transport themed interiors

The joyful juxtaposition of incorporating something that symbolises escape into the refuge of one's home is partly what has made transport such a perennial theme for interiors. 

It also endures, simply, because it is a theme overflowing with aesthetically pleasing potential... See details of where to get these goodies – vintage travel trunks, graduate art and Japanese fabrics – plus more, in my piece in today's Independent. You can also find out more about the London Transport Museum's stunning vintage luggage racks in my post on them, here.

Have a great weekend!

Wall art for under a fiver

I've long been a fan of turning a sheet of wrapping paper into a piece of wall art. And now Rockett St George are making it even easier – by selling several frame-teasing gift wraps in one place. Have a look...

The company who makes the paper is Cavallini. They're based in San Francisco but sell in various UK outlets aside from Rockett. Here is a selection of the sheets they stock (but there are many more which you can easily find dotted about in little shops via Google): phrenology head; the skeletal system; Papillons; school room map of the British Isles. Each sheet is just £3 a-piece (though admittedly, the print quality is not all that, particularly on the skeletons – the bone names are barely legible. Manhattan's grids (see below) however, are super sharp. Each sheet measures 50cm x 70cm, meaning they conveniently fit into one of Ikea's standard-size Ribba frames, which are nicely chunky.

I have several bits of wrapping paper in frames in my house – including the skeletal system one, but also these nice birds and the afore-mentioned Manhattan map (both pictured). I also have some nice birds, a map of Manhattan and a stack of classic Penguin paperbacks. But I found them all separately, or in random shops I don't often go to. So for lazy homemakers with bare walls to fill: what are you waiting for?

See some more ideas and inspiration in a couple of columns I've written on related topics for the Independent on Sunday: "how to make your own art" and "how to buy art without breaking the bank".

At home with... The Peanut Vendors

Becky Nolan is one half of the couple behind one of my favourite shops, The Peanut Vendor. It is based in north London but the online version is just as exciting. And you can imagine that running such a stylish shop would equal a pretty special home.

So I asked Becky to share some snaps, which you can see below. It is a testament to how much you can do on a shoestring, and in a rented flat. Very inspiring indeed. Over to you, Becky…

Tell us a bit about yourself and your shop… I set up the vintage furniture shop The Peanut Vendor in 2008, with my partner Barnaby Read and we live together in Stoke Newington. We started the shop because we wanted to do something creative together and we've always loved finding old gems, whether it be furniture, records or clothes.  The whole idea about The Peanut Vendor is that we don't focus on a particular period of design, so our tastes are constantly changing. We love seeing how items from the past can become so interesting looking really set the scene for a room. 

Where do you live? We rented this flat back in 2009. We'd only been trading for about six months, so money was tight and we had to be "creative" with finding a place we could live in for a while. It's a second floor flat above an old Victorian shop, at the end of the road, on a nice street with a window in every room. It's always lovely and light. But the flat was pretty disgusting when we viewed it: stained brown carpet, fitted 80s cupboards and brown walls. We negotiated the rent down in exchange for ripping everything out ourselves, re-painting and laying down flooring throughout. We also knocked down the stud wall in between the very small living room and the useless spare room, giving us a normal sized living room.

Describe your decorating style... We are constantly bringing interesting things home, some stay permanently and some go back to the shop. I definitely want our flat to feel lived in and cosy. We want there to be a mid-century sort of feel, which I think is reflected in the chairs we've chosen and our sofa (we're still searching for the perfect arm chair). But we don't want to live in a house that is entirely dedicated to one period.

Show us some of your favourite things... 

We adore these chairs that this very cool elderly couple came in to the shop and sold us. When we told them that we were going to keep them for ourselves, they were over the moon.  The leather on the seat is very worn now, but when it finally goes, it'll be fun to restore them again.

The little blue lamp! It is tiny but so perfect in every way. The base is polished marble and the enamel, turquoise blue, champagne-style shade is so dainty. I haven't seen anything like it since we got it.

It's hard to see, but we replaced every single brass door handle with 1930s Bakelite door knobs and all the ceiling lights with traditional fabric covered cable. It's the little things that matter.

Where do you like shopping to find all this lovely stuff – and what else inspires you? Love the Historic Lighting company. We got large bulbs from here and brass fittings for our living room. When we went to Paris, we were so excited to visit Deyrolle, an amazing Taxidermy shop. The entomology room is incredible. You can choose a box and spend hours deciding what to put in it. The Geffreye Museum is down the road from us in Dalston. Every room has a different set up, going through the periods. It's fantastic inspiration and we like to copy their Christmas decorations too. 

GET THE PEANUT VENDOR LOOK

Taxidermy bird £125; 50s floral bolster cushion £25; Travel blankets (underneath), £25 each; WW1 first aid poster £100; Stackable vintage stools £65 each; Industrial-style hook rack £85

Buy filament light bulbs, £13 and fabric electrical cable, in various colours, £3.75 per metre from Historic Lighting