Author Archives: topbird

1. 9 incredible ways to decorate your dinner table for a party: Part 1

   July 14, 2015 7:52 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Want to add a dash of style to your next dinner party? In a special four-part series, we’ve rounded up our favourite looks for decorating your dinner table. In today’s post, we show you how to use colour to create an eye-catching style statement.

   

   Photo by Honestly Yum.

   1. You don’t need to reach for the pinatas to create a modern Mexican-inspired fiesta. Take inspiration for your colour palette from the brightly-illustrated labels on canned jalapenos, and use them as vases to line the centre of your table. Fill them with succulents and flowers in yellows, pinks, peaches and oranges. Balance the look with a restrained neutral linen tablecloth, white tableware and tealights.

   

   

   Photo by Studio DIY and Sugar and Cloth.

   2. Make a bright and bold statement with potted cacti in white ceramic planters, combined with flower arrangements in bright pinks and oranges. Download the printable watercolour placemat and menu from Sugar and Cloth. Keep the rest of the table clean with plain white tableware and simple glassware.

   

   

   Photo by Kate Headley via 100 Layer Cakelet.

   3. Creating a bright and festive table doesn’t mean you have to splurge on expensive decorations and tableware. Paper lanterns and accordian paper garlands make a cheap and cheerful addition to this party table. Fill glass jam jars with flowers to create a charming centrepiece.

   

   Photo by The House that Lars Built.

   4. Grab a bag of water balloons, blow them up and group them together for an eye-popping centrepiece. Mix and match with brightly-coloured plastic plates.

   

   

   Photo by Jose Villa and Joel Serrato via My Domaine.

   5. Use soft pastel colors combined with tropical greenery to create a fresh colour palette. At this dinner party, the pale peach and pink tones are reflected in the votive candles and tableware, while large palm leaves are used as a table runner.

   

   Photo by Aubrie Pick for apartment 34.

   6. A low-lying garland makes a gorgeous (and practical) option for a dinner party (no straining to see around tall centrepieces). In this table setting, rich jewel tones of purple, copper and orange are enhanced with a garland of fresh magnolia leaves. Dot your table with persimmons or any other seasonal fruit on a branch.

    

   

   

   Photo by Design Love Fest.

   7. Be inspired by Design Love Fest’s incredible ‘Moon Party’, and feast on the floor with indigo cushions on a Moroccan wedding blanket. Whimsical pastel flowers arrangements and plain white dinner plates give the table a visual lift.

   

   Photo by Danae Horst for The Jungalow.

   8. Take inspiration by The Jungalow’s citrus explosion with zesty bowls of oranges on a white linen table cloth, combined with copper-toned cutlery and napery in a contrasting botanical print.

   

   Photo by Mary Costa Photography for Sugar and Cloth.

   9. Pineapples as vases? Why on earth not, especially when it looks this good combined with a bright and bold floral tablescape. An unexpected colour palette of pinks, reds, peaches and purples are given a Palm Springs makeover with a touch of metallic serving ware and DIY gold placemats.

   Tell us: which dinner table look is your favourite?

   This is the first post in a four-part series on how to decorate your dinner table. Next time, we’ll look at how to use plants and foliage to create a botanical-themed dinner table.

    

2. Wee Find: New Liberty Picnic Baskets

   July 13, 2015 7:00 am Leave a Comment

   

   Fancy a picnic with Theodora, Betsy or Wiltshire? Liberty’s most popular floral prints have gone alfresco with a splendid new picnic collection, part of the fast-growing Flowers of Liberty range.

   The new hero of the range is the wicker picnic basket, handcrafted in Somerset with locally-grown willow by a fourth generation family of artisans. The basket features an aged gold finish, leather belt fastenings and Liberty print detailing, offering a pretty alternative to Fortnum & Mason’s luxury wicker hampers.

   

   Theodora Liberty print picnic basket, £295, from Liberty.

   If the £295 price tags drives you to lashings of ‘hard’ ginger beer, you might like to upgrade your current picnic set with the more affordable melamine Liberty print beakers (£5.95) and matching melamine plates (£9.95 each), also available in Betsy, Theodora and Wiltshire.

   Complete your floral picnic set with matching Liberty print napkins – a pack of paper napkins will set you back £5.95; or you can get a set of four cotton Liberty print napkins for £39.95.

   

   Just add a thermos, sandwiches and Victoria sponge to your Liberty picnic basket and you’re all set for your outdoor nature ramble.

3. Mini Moderns New Enamelware, Radios & Wallpaper

   July 3, 2015 7:00 am Leave a Comment

   

   Try keeping up with cult British design brand Mini Moderns. I dare you. No sooner had I finished working on a blog post about their new Equinox wallpaper design, a couple more press releases landed in my inbox, announcing a new enamelware collection and a collaboration with digital radio brand Pure.

   Keith Stephenson and Mark Hampshire are the London-based designers behind Mini Moderns, and their rising star in the design world is nothing short of impressive. I remember discovering their distinctive wallpaper designs shortly after I arrived in London back in 2007, immediately taken by their mid-century aesthetic and the way they reference British heritage, culture and its natural environment.

   Keith and Mark’s love for mid-century Scandinavian design is evident in Mini Moderns’ latest foray into homewares: a lovely new enamelwear collection. It’s like a modern take on vintage Cathrineholm kitchenalia, with sleek beech wood lids and handles, and signature Mini Moderns pattern (minus the rust stains, flaked paint and burnt bottoms).

   

   “When we were putting the range together, we were keen to embody the spirit of the Scandinavian pieces we’ve collected over the years, whilst ensuring it retained a fresh, contemporary feel.

   “We love the way the cosy domesticity of the house print – one of the hidden elements in our Paisley Crescent wallpaper – contrasts with the crisp block colour of the enamelware pieces,” said Keith and Mark.

   

   

   Seemingly worlds away from enamelwear is electronics, but Mini Moderns have managed to make the leap seamlessly with a genius collaboration with Pure on two new digital radios. Both Pop Midi and Pop Maxi include Bluetooth for wireless streaming, and feature Mini Moderns’ nautical-themed design ‘Whitby’.

   Inspired by 1950s linocuts, Keith and Mark Hampshire explain how the design came about: “Coincidentally, we both spent all our holidays on the North Yorkshire coastline… so when we think of the seaside, it’s not beach huts and yachts, but the vibrancy of a working fishing harbour that comes to mind.

   “The linocut style offered the perfect way of expressing the movement of the waves and the ruggedness of the coastline we know so well.”

   Prices are £89.99 for the Pure Pop Midi and £109.99 for the Pop Maxi. Available in July from pure.com,  John Lewis stores and at minimoderns.com.

   

   

   

   Equinox is the evocative name of Mini Moderns’ latest wallpaper design, which is part of the wider Hinterland collection. The design features hand-drawn icons and symbols based on British regional shapes of corn dollies, including the Kent ‘Ivy’, alongside folk-art inspired sun motifs.

   Equinox is available in four new colourways, including Mustard, Asparagus, Harvest Orange and Stone and is £50 per 52cm x 10m roll.

   

   

   

   Shop for the new Mini Moderns wallpaper, enamelwear and digital radios here.

   All photography courtesy of Mini Moderns.

4. It’s here: Mark Tuckey for Cotton On

   July 2, 2015 8:14 pm Leave a Comment

   

   If you want a piece – or all – of the most-anticipated homewares collaboration of the year, act fast! We have a bit of secret squirrel info… The Mark Tuckey for Cotton On collection has just dropped online NOW! Shop the coveted collection 24 hours before the general public knows. Cotton On members have been given VIP access to the collection today (that’s why it’s always a good reason to sign up to store loyalty programs. We’re both members and it really is worthwhile).

   Head to the Cotton On website. Go now and score something gorgeous before it sells out. We predict this stuff is going to move fast.

   You can read all about the Mark Tuckey for Cotton On collaboration here (when you’ve finished your purchases!). Kudos to Cotton On for collaborating with a top independent Australian designer. More, please!

   

   

   

   

   Our top picks? The MT Shag on a Rock Cushion for $49.95; the MT squashy storage bags for $24.95; the MT tote bags for $29.95; and the MT round chopping board in ash timber for $49.95.

   

   

   

   Make sure you sign up to Cotton On as a member if you’re not already one – that way you’ll always get advance access to special collaborations. Just scroll to the bottom of their page.

   

   

   

   

   Want to see the pieces up close and in person? The collection arrives in selected stores from 8 July. Go!

   By Lisa Tilse and Rebecca Lowrey Boyd. All photography and styling by Lisa Tilse for We Are Scout.
   This post was originally published on We Are Scout.

5. Fashion Find: Pleat-back dress from COS

   5:03 pm Leave a Comment

   

   I think it’s a well-established fact that I’m a fan of a nice loose frock. Loose in fit. Not in morals (although that might be fun, too). I remember a particularly hot and sticky commute on the Central line in London around five years ago, and I was wearing something rather fitted and decidedly not floaty, nor loose.

   One look at a cotton poplin tunic at Comptoir des Cotonniers with a deep pleat in back, and I couldn’t wait to rip off my clothes. In the store’s dressing room, naturally.

   Subsequently, I wore that poor dress to death – even in the cooler months, when I teamed it with a jacket, denier tights and boots. It’s looking faded and a little thin these days, so I was heartened to find some very similar styles in COS right now.

   

   Pleat-back printed dress, £69, from COS.

   This soft cotton poplin dress in a pretty abstract print has a deep pleat at the back, perfect for wafting around in comfort and style. It also ticks my “very handy features” list of sleeves and pockets, and I can just imagine popping it on, slipping into Birks and heading out on a hot summer’s day.

   Now all of this is particularly relevant to our lovely UK readers who, if my Twitter feed is anything to go by, are in a state of meltdown. But Australian readers (OK, Melbourne peeps) might like to take note: these frocks are in-store at COS in Melbourne now, and they’re not only great to keep for summer, they’re also a perfect trans-seasonal dress to wear with a denim jacket and trainers, or when Australian winters take a warm turn.

   

   

   Pleated back dress, available in navy and green, £59, from COS.

   If prints aren’t your thing, there is also a simple and chic pleated-back dress available in navy and green, as well as an A-line dress in a rather fetching chalky pale blue. It’s another loose, oversized fit, with wide cuffed sleeves in a lightweight blend of cotton and linen.

   

   

   Cotton and linen dress, £69, from COS.

   It’s that combination of simple, sleek and graphic lines with voluminous cotton fabric that make these high-street frocks look way more expensive than they are. Which is what COS does best.

   If only they’d open a Sydney store… (or an online Australian shop.)

6. Shopping Guide: 10 gorgeous tropical leaf-print swimsuits

   July 1, 2015 10:40 pm 1 Comment

   

   Clearly, this post is for you lot, northern hemisphere-rs. And it’s actually to your advantage that your Antipodean correspondent here is currently rugged up under many layers of winter woolens… and blubber.

   It’s difficult to shop for swimwear when you’re not feeling completely body-confident, so with our theme of tropical leafy prints in mind, all of the itty-bitty bikinis got vetoed in favour of more support – and coverage. (Actually, if you’re after a super-flattering swimsuit that delivers on its promise – to look 10lbs lighter in 10 seconds – look no further than the Miracle Suit. I have one and I’m never wearing anything else. Ever.)

   However, if you want to dip your toe into this season’s trend for tropical leafy prints, have a look at these 10 gorgeous beach-worthy options. With loads of graphic palm leaves and other tropical greenery, it’s all a little 1930s-meets-’70s-Art-Deco-renaissance. (Why yes, I did just make up that reference.) All hand-picked by yours truly.

   

   Top photo: House of Hackney Palmeral swimsuit, high-waist bikini and rocker swing seat. 

   [ngg_images gallery_ids=”23” display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” template=caption]

   Have you spotted a swimsuit that takes your fancy? Share your favourite beachwear in the comments below. We’d love to hear your thoughts.

   Disclosure.

7. Wee Find: Ana Zaja Petra prints

   June 30, 2015 10:02 pm Leave a Comment

   

   Need a bright new affordable artwork for your kitchen? Have a look at these colour-saturated, food-themed prints by Croatian artist Ana Zaja Petrak, which have recently arrived at UK online design shop Howkapow.

   We really love the tumbling blueberries print, which would pack a vibrant punch in any kitchen. The archival fine art giclée prints use fade-resistant inks, and each one is signed by the artist. Howakpow also offers a super-handy framing service, with the choice of Ash, black, white and natural frames from £40.95.

   

   

   

   The fine art giclée prints by Ana Zaja Petrak are available now from Howkapow, with prices starting at £28.95.

8. Shopping Guide: Top 10 Flattering Jeans

   7:00 am 3 Comments

   

   “Mummy jeans”. There are few terms and phrases that make me want to hurl, and guess what? That’s one of them. It’s the derogatory and patronising tone that grates me the most, and it conjures visions of truly non-stylish denim. Ironically, the term is usually used to describe jeans that flatter the figure for 30+ women. We’re talking jeans with stretch, genius cut and construction and maybe a control panel or two. And you don’t have to be a mum to wear them!

   This shopping guide is based on yesterday’s post, ‘8 Perfect Pairs of Jeans‘, an edited extract from Style Forever: The Grown-Up Guide to Looking Fabulous, by Alyson Walsh. The former fashion editor says that these days, “it’s all about comfort and ease”, and just about all of her favourite jeans have lycra in the mix.

   Top: Stretch toothpick Cone Denim jean in durant wash, now AU$181.60, from J.Crew. 

   

   Alyson Walsh‘s favourite pair of jeans: J. Crew’s toothpick (ankle-length) jeans. “Perfect with Chelsea boots in winter and Birkenstocks in summer.”

   I’ve been really impressed with what Australian brand Just Jeans has been doing over the past 12 months, and they’re a great budget option for super-flattering jeans that offer comfort and support.

   I’ve got a pair of Just Jeans’ Amaze jeans, which really do have transformative powers and do amazing things for your bottom (think lift and firmness). Now I’ve got my eye on their new ‘Slim and Flatten’ range.

   Once upon a time, I would have walked straight past a Just Jeans store. Those were the days when I would only wear Lee or Wranglers for old-school cred, or torture myself with a pair of so-low-slung-it-was-almost-obscene Sass & Bides. (I used to work in an office where Sass & Bides were pretty much a mandatory uniform.) Now? It’s all about comfort, support and genius construction.

   Here, shop Alyson’s top jeans picks, as well as a couple of my own favourite flattering jeans…

   

   [ngg_images gallery_ids=”22” display_type=”photocrati-nextgen_basic_thumbnails” template=caption]

   Do you have a favourite pair of jeans? Share your favourite finds in the comments below.

   Disclosure.

9. Wee Find: Yoga Joes

   June 29, 2015 5:05 pm Leave a Comment

   

   I’m loving Yoga Joes. Available in a box set of nine poses, it would make a peace-loving alternative to GI Jones for kids, as well as a fabulous design-led gift for grown-ups. Anyone who’s seen the first series of Orange is the New Black will appreciate the reference to Litchfield’s resident yogi.

   

   Can you imagine a terrarium with a Yoga Joe doing downward dog in it? So good.

   Yoga Joes is quite the flexible soldier. He demonstrates Headstand, Meditation Pose, Cobra Pose, Warrior One, Warrior Two, Child’s Pose, Tree Pose, Crow Pose, and Downward-facing dog.

   

   Yoga Joes also come with their own zen yoga studio packaging with a bamboo floor. Namaste, b*tches.

   Yoga Joes, AU$39.95 from Oliver’s Twisty Tales.

10. Style Forever: Eight Perfect Pairs of Jeans

    7:00 am 1 Comment

    

    This is an edited extract from Style Forever by Alyson Walsh, published by Hardie Grant. RRP $29.95, available in stores nationally.

    Everyday Denim Jeans

    The best thing about denim is that it gets better with age. And we all know how we feel about that phenomenon. To me, an old pair of jeans is like a brilliant comfort blanket – faded, soft, worn – one with not too many dribble stains that I can safely leave the house in.

    Chloe Lonsdale, founder and creative director of MiH jeans, feels the same: ‘That’s what’s so beautiful about denim, it’s designed to last and live with you. Jeans get beaten and bashed and become part of your life.’ Born into a denim dynasty, Chloe explains her love affair with the sturdy fabric: ‘I’m not really a denim geek. For me it’s more of a lifestyle, a denim way of dressing. The spirit of wearing jeans is not about glamour, more bare-faced chic. Denim adds a bit of attitude and energy without doing too much.’ Exactly.

    

    Fortunately, I’ve always had the kind of job where I can add a bit of daily denim attitude, apart from one with a mail order company in the late 80s where, early on in my fashion career, I was admonished 113 the wardrobe glue for looking like I’d ‘grabbed my clothes out of the laundry basket’. When the boss ordered me to invest in a briefcase, I knew my days were numbered.

    Denim hasn’t always been an easy, everyday option. In the 1950s, when another kind of age barrier existed, teenagers rebelled by dressing differently to their parents, by adopting the clothes worn by rock ’n’ roll heroes and movie stars, who in turn were wearing working class gear to break with convention and challenge the social order.

    As well as bad boy rebels like James Dean and Marlon Brando, Marilyn Monroe famously wore jeans on and off set. On the set of 1954’s The River of No Return and again in 1961’s The Misfits, Eve Arnold, the first female Magnum photographer, beautifully captured Monroe in jeans, a white shirt, cowboy boots and a Lee Storm Rider denim jacket. The first female star in double denim? Could be.

    

    Today’s denim isn’t all rough and rugged (unless you’re a staunch fan of the Japanese selvedge variety). It’s preshrunk, worn-and-torn, distressed, beaten, bleached and over-dyed, sometimes at great cost to the environment. But we have DuPont to thank for Lycra.

    In my younger days I was tough enough to handle the stiff, unwashed material but now it’s all about comfort and ease and not performing the Heimlich Manoeuvre on myself every time I sit down. I once saw the 56-year-old dancer/theatre artist Wendy Houston in a short performance, ridiculously shuffling about the stage in a tall cardboard box. That’s how I feel in Lycra-less denim.

    Eight perfect pairs of jeans

    1. J.Crew’s toothpick (ankle-length) jeans
    My current favourites. Perfect with Chelsea boots in winter and Birkenstocks in summer.

    2. J Brand 8112
    Features a skinny/straight leg, a nice midrise and comes highly recommended by a regular That’s Not My Age follower.

    3. GAP real straight, mid-rise jeans.
    I’m a massive fan of Gap jeans and own several pairs. This style is simple and straightforward with no logos or branding.

    4. Uniqlo straight skinny fit
    A decent cheap option. Only problem is, the dye doesn’t appear to be fixed so I always end up with dark-blue hands and what looks like a five o’clock shadow. Don’t invite me round to your house if you’ve got a white sofa.

    5. APC jean Étroit court
    My best pair of jeans ever are over 20 years old and from APC. I’ve just bought this cropped leg, straight, low-rise style. Made from Japanese denim (with 2 per cent polyurethane) that feels a bit like cardboard for the first few wears.

    6. MiH Phoebe slim jean
    A slimmer-legged boyfriend style that founder Chloe Lonsdale advises is ‘easy to wear, has a great silhouette and is popular right now’.

    7. Not Your Daughter’s Jeans
    Dubious name, available in various leg shapes, these are ‘comfortable and flattering and you never have a fat day’, according to a reliable source.

    8. Levi’s 501s
    The original and the best. For a more figure-hugging style, Levi’s Curve ID has a good rep.

    This is an edited extract from Style Forever by Alyson Walsh, a freelance fashion journalist and author of the celebrated blog That’s Not My Age. She writes for the Guardian and FT’s How To Spend It, Saga Magazine and allaboutyou.com. The former fashion editor of Good Housekeeping magazine strongly believes you don’t have to have youth to have style.

    Style Forever by Alyson Walsh, published by Hardie Grant. RRP $29.95, available in stores nationally.

11. Celebrate with Rainbow Pride

    June 27, 2015 7:31 am Leave a Comment

    

    ‘HELL,YES!’ by Ugo Rondinone on the facade of the New Museum in New York.

    I just woke up at 4am in Sydney to find my Twitter and Instagram feed ablaze with rainbows, celebrating the news of the US Supreme Court’s historic decision to legalise same-sex marriage in all states of America. Social media has never looked so beautiful.

    So here at We Are Scout, we’re celebrating too, with a raft of our favourite rainbows in art, design, fashion and craft.

    Above: ‘HELL, YES’ by Ugo Rondinone on the facade of the New Museum in New York.

    

    ‘Harmonic Convergence’ installation by Christopher Janney, at Miami International Airport in Florida, USA. Image via Design Boom.

    

    FriendsWithYou Light Cave at Dallas Contemporary for Dallas Arts Week.

    

    FriendsWithYou Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

    

    Paul Yore’s ‘The Big Rainbow Funhouse Of Cosmic Brutality’ 2009, Heide Museum Of Modern Art.

    

    Paul Yore’s ‘Anthropop’ 2012, Blindside.

    

    Spring 2014 Ready-to-Wear Chanel. Model Catherine McNeil (OUI), via Style.com.

    

    Vogue Nippon cover. Photography by Dusan Reljin.

    

    Malgosia Bela for Vogue UK December 2012. Photography by Tim Walker.

    

    Love Wins by Present and Correct. Photo via Instagram.

    

    Floral rainbow by Eliza Rogers. Photo by Lovestarloves/Instagram

    

    A rainbow of potted plants greets you at this door in Moscow, Russia. Photo by zoyanst/Instagram.

    

    Rainbow Triangle Bunting DIY by Oh Happy Day.

    

    You can make a rainbow, too. Clockwise from top right: Surprise Rainbow Party Invitation by Mr Printables; Mini Rainbow Balloon Arch DIY by Oh Happy Day; Woven rainbow paper gift topper by Mini Eco; Rainbow cake by One Charming Party.

    In the words of Obama, “We are all created equal”. Come on Australia, time to get with it…

12. First Look: Cotton On Kids New Room Range

    June 26, 2015 12:00 pm Leave a Comment

    

    Get ready to give your kid’s room an affordable makeover with Cotton On KIDS’ new room range. It’s all about mixing licorice-striped pillow slips with sorbet-coloured polka dot quilt covers, and popping a lemon slice cushion on top (genius).

    

    

    

    There’s a lot to love about this vibrant and print-tastic new collection, starting with the prices. For $14.95, you can pick up a new piece of gorgeous wall art, or update your child’s bed with a rather cute new pillowcase. Beautifully-designed quilt covers in a range of vibrant prints start at $49.95.

    

    

    The collection, which is 100 per cent cotton, includes fresh new items to update your child’s entire bedroom, but they’re also designed to be mixed and matched with your existing bed linen, so it’s easy and affordable to give the room a quick update with just a new cushion or pillowcase.

    

    

    The new collection is available in a range of designs and sizes suitable for single, double and queen-size beds, which means it can be used in toddlers, tweens and teens’ rooms (and even us older folk who love a bit of print-and-match).

    

    

    Shop Cotton On KIDS new room range here. It will be available in select Cotton On KIDS stores across Australia on Monday.

    All photography courtesy of Cotton On KIDS.

13. 10 reasons why METOD is IKEA’s best kitchen yet

    7:00 am 4 Comments

    

    IKEA’s kitchens got that much better with the launch of their latest system, METOD – and it’s just arrived in Australia. They’re calling it a ‘breakthrough’ in kitchen design; I’m calling it ‘bloody awesome’, having become an IKEA kitchen convert when we bought one last year.

    Affordability was probably the major factor when we decided to buy an IKEA kitchen. We bought it on the last day of their big kitchen sale, so it was insanely reasonable. We still haven’t finished it (yes, we’ve been living with a half-done mess for more than 12 months – don’t ask!), but we’re genuinely loving so much about the useability of our kitchen, even if we do have wires and cables hanging out of the wall.

    So you can understand that I’m feeling ever-so-slightly pained that while we’ve been living with a half a kitchen, IKEA’s gone and launched an amazing new system. And now I’m wishing I could start all over again.

    So let me cut to the chase with the 10 things that IKEA have done to make METOD their best kitchen system yet. (And I’ll try to restrain my envy.)

    

    

    1. It’s like building with blocks. METOD cabinets are simple and modular, with even 20cm increments for width and height.

    2. More freedom when planning cabinets, doors and drawers. For instance, an 80cm cabinet can have two 40cm drawer fronts that open to reveal additional inner drawers.

    3. New smooth melamine cabinet finishes in white or black-brown. This means that METOD cabinets can be used without cover panels. And you can cover those ugly pre-drilled holes with new cover caps.

    4. Integrated LED lighting. This is pretty genius, and the one feature I wish I had in my ‘old’ IKEA kitchen. In METOD, they’ve fitted the lighting systems into the new worktops, cabinets and drawers, and all the cables are hidden behind cabinets. There’s a new wireless control, too.

    

    

    5. One-person installation. IKEA have developed a new suspension rail for cabinet installation. Apparently you just attach the rail to the wall, hang the cabinets and then lock them in place.

    I have to say, the installation stage of our kitchen was the most painful part, and we even hired someone to do it for us. But our kitchen doesn’t have the most straight-forward design, as we live a pole house and we had to design our kitchen cabinetry around the timber poles.

    There is absolutely no way we could have managed installing the kitchen on our own. I wonder how much of a difference METOD’s new suspension rail would have made to our installation? I’m guessing not much. It sounds like METOD might be easier to install for DIY-ers with a more conventional kitchen design.

    6. More flexibility to customise your kitchen style. With drawer heights as small as 10cm and door fronts as tall as 200cm, you can make your kitchen look as traditional or as modern as you like.

    7. New base cabinet heights which create more space. The new 28cm legs mean you can have a lower worktop height, too.

    

    

    8. Two new price classes of drawers — the soft-closing, fully-opening MAXIMERA and the super affordable FÖRVARA. I have to admit: I really love my soft-closing drawers in my ‘old’ IKEA kitchen, and they’re so much more affordable than the quotes I got from custom kitchen suppliers. Full-marks for IKEA’s drawers!

    9. New VARIERA drawer organisers in bamboo and high gloss plastic.

    10. More storage space in base cabinets. IKEA have lowered their standard plinth in METOD from 16cm to 8cm. Sounds simple, but it makes a huge difference.

    Check out the new IKEA METOD kitchen for yourself – online or in store. And one day, I promise, we will finish our kitchen. We just need to tile the splashback, replace the windows, finish the carpentry and paint the ceiling. And then naturally, I’ll blog all about it. It shall be entitled ‘The Epic Diary of An IKEA Kitchen Renovation’. One day…

    All photography courtesy of IKEA.