Object of the day: new Muji shelving

I can lose hours going into a branch of Muji. All those satisfyingly minimal solutions for storage you never knew you needed...

Sometimes I just like to imagine I'm really organised and, if I was, what I'd put in all those little acrylic containers. But this season it's Muji's wood that's got me going. And since last week was all about beautiful Japanese things that are hard to buy, it only seems right to share.

The new shelving range (on sale n the flagship London branch, Tottenham Court Road, and online) is beautiful in its simplicity. It's also designed to be configured to your space, so the wall beam above (these start at £12.95, depending on length) works well alone or in a long line or in any arrangement you fancy.

I really love these shelves and might have considered them for the bit of my living room revamp I have yet to polish and unveil (a long shelf along one wall for, well, that's what I'm working on). As it was I went for painted MDF but this would have added a nice warm feature.

So often, when people come over to the house they comment on the wall hooks I have up in the hall. They're really simple wooden ones that I bought in bulk in Ikea a few years ago (I now have lots of them lined up for coat and bag storage, as well as one on the back of each bedroom door and in the bathroom). Last time I went to the great Swedish megastore I didn't see them and am not sure they're still available there. But these understated hooks from Muji are a good second best. Unlike the Ikea ones, they only come as singles, but you might not feel the need to put them everywhere in your house as I have.

The range comes in this finish – natural – and also in a darker wood. I love this one the best.

The box shelf is £29.95. Wall beam as before.

A couple of years ago, when my house looked quite different, I photographed it for the Muji newsletter (I really am a superfan) and the focus of that was also storage. For a bit of a Throwback Tuesday, you can nose at it in this previous post if you're interested (please forgive the typo).

Find the new range here at the Muji website.

I'm up for doing the newsletter sort of thing for any other brands I love and have featured on this blog (or would happily feature on it), so do get in touch if of interest.

Object of the day: lovely lampshades from Chocolate Creative

Margarita Lorenzo, the stylist behind my new favourite shop, Chocolate Creative, has very good taste.

I discovered her thanks to a tip-off from a friend, the ever-inspiring Sinead Koehler, who runs south London's Crafty Fox Markets.

There are so many things on sale at CC I'd like to own. But I have especially fallen for these lampshades, whose designs are reprinted old postcards. Aren't they nice?

Lampshades are never especially cheap, and so I'd find it hard to part with money for one that wasn't extraordinary in some way. I think these fit the bill, and the slim version is not too bad at £45 (they go up to £90, depending on the size). The lamp bases aren't included but if you can't stretch to one of those too you might get lucky with a nice old one on eBay or at a car boot – though these, especially the low-slung one in the first image, for me, are rather chic. Or go for a pendant, instead.

Find them all and more at Chocolatecreative.co.uk

Object of the day: Kimmy Hogan's sleeping Dachshunds

This is pretty much the cutest illustration of a dog you will ever have seen. Right?

The print is titled The Dachshund. Appendix 4: Sleep Study and it was drawn by (no surprises) a Dachshund-owning artist named Kimmy Hogan.

Sleeping dogs, especially little ones, are particularly endearing and Kimmy has captured that aspect beautifully, in this very simple series of line drawings.

Kimmy, who is based in Australia, based the sketches on her own miniature dachshund, Rio.

And the good news? It may only be for sale in Australia, but Kimmy's stockist Elk in the Wood offers FREE WORLDWIDE SHIPPING. Woo! The print costs $40AUD (£22) for an A4 sized version and $75AUD (£41) for the A3 version.

Kimmy also has an Etsy shop, but she's on maternity leave at the moment. But you can still catch her at her beautiful blog, Whitewiththree.blogspot.co.uk. As I'm on a bit of a houseplants tip right now, I particularly enjoyed her inspiring latest post, on that very topic.

Post by Kate

Object of the day: Eduardo Barba prints

Some different examples of Eduardo Barba's striking geometric prints have featured here before. 

The Seville-based artist, a trained architect whose schooling seeps into his work, has created designs with a sharp 50s feel but without cliche.

 Geometric Exercise 3

A Rum Fellow, whose incredible Peruvian chairs I wrote about last week, seem to be the only UK shop to stock his work, and they have picked out some beautiful pieces to sell – and for just £25 a-piece for an A3 print.

What do you think?

The Braille alphabet

Geometric Exercise 2

Find these prints and more at A Rum Fellow

Post by Kate

Object of the day: Russian nesting dolls

Meet Panda, Penguin and Raccoon. Monochrome nesting dolls hand-painted in Russia.

Aren't they nice? You could get them for a child, but who'd appreciate them more?

They're from a sweet little online store in Canada (check out their sheep cushions!) and cost $38 Canadian dollars, around £34. Find them at Babasouk.ca. International shipping available. You could also try US-based Wee Gallery, which sells them and has outlets in various countries.

Object of the day: cable car peg holder

It's kind of childish. But it's useful, and cute. 

And if you can't have a bit of a joke on your washing line to distract you from the tedium of hanging out clothes you'll shortly be dashing out to rescue when it rains... well...

The peg holders you can get made from nice bits of old fabric are beautiful, don't get me wrong, but this is also weatherproof – even if your washing isn't. Cabina peg holder from Mocha, £12.50.

Post by Kate