About to order something from Habitat? Wait and save!

I like the design of quite a lot of the stuff Habitat sells, but I do think their prices have crept up in the last couple of years. That might be the reason that they can now afford to offer a generous discount code about three or four times a year, with the reduction usually at either 25% or even 30%. The deal usually only runs for 24 hours though, so you have to keep an eye out for it and then act fast.

This is my kind of “sale” because it means you can grab that item you’ve had your eye on for a while, rather than being limited to selected sale stock that didn’t shift the first time around.

So if you’re planning a big (or even not so big) Habitat purchase, my advice is to wait for the discount code to come around, if you can. I wanted their solid ash Tatsuma bed, but I held off until the deal came up and as a result saved £105 on the £350 list price. That easily covers the delivery charge and more.

You could sign up to their mailing list so that you're in the know as soon as the next deal comes up.

Happy shopping… and waiting.

Exhibition posters are a fraction of the price of lithographic prints

Last year I bought an Art Fund pass, which meant I could get entry to lots of major art exhibitions at 50% off the full price, or – in some cases – for free. I’m a little fickle about visual art - my favourite artist tends to be whichever one I last saw exhibited. I fall in love with one or two images at each exhibition and then want to own them and be able to decorate my home with them.

But a lithographic print at a reasonable size (around A2 or above) can be as much as £200, which is a lot of money to me. Plus, I’m not sure that these prints hold their value particularly well – I noticed there was a run of Ravilious lithographs being stocked by various high-end retailers a couple of years ago, and they didn’t exactly fly off the shelves (even though Ravilious’s work is wonderful, of course). The answer, for me, is to buy exhibition posters instead. They’re usually around £6 and a standard A2 size, which means you can pop your poster into an affordable off-the-peg frame from somewhere like Ikea, Habitat or John Lewis. 

I guess not everyone wants the name of the gallery and exhibition emblazoned across the artwork, but I rather like it – the layout and typography is usually pretty classy, and the whole thing acts as a nice reminder of having seen the show.

Here’s an exhibition poster from a show I saw last year and loved. It hangs in my living room and gladdens my heart daily.

How to hide an ugly fence... quite quickly

What can you do to cover up an ugly bare new fence? I was faced with this problem a few months ago.

The fence between me and my neighbour was badly in need of replacing and she had kindly offered to arrange to have the work done. My side of the fence was smothered in ivy; I’d planted it 16 years before and hadn’t imagined it would grow so big, or that I would still be living in the same house all that time later. The ivy was really out of control – it needed a “haircut” every two weeks in summer – and there’s no way the fence could have been replaced without ripping out the growth anyway. So I cleared it all, which took a couple of afternoons, and then the fence was replaced.

The new fence comprised creosote orange panels set between concrete posts. Not exactly a thing of beauty! I knew I would be depressed if I had to look at it for too long, so I needed climbing plants that would smother it fairly quickly but without being as rampant as the ivy. I chose a clematis montana and a honeysuckle. I bought plants of a decent size from my local nursery, paying about £12 for each. (In the past I’ve used those £2.99 climbing plants you get from supermarkets in the UK – they’re great value, but very small. I think you save yourself at least a year of growing time by spending a few pounds more.)

My new plants went into the ground in November 2014, and of course there wasn’t much sign of life initially. But now – in April 2015 – they’re really starting to scramble up the trellis I installed for them. They must have spent the winter putting down some good roots.

In just another year or two, they’ll have caught up with some climbers I planted a few years ago on the opposite side of the garden.

And look, the orangeness does fade after a couple of years!