Funky’s Top 10 Owl Home Accessories

I seem to have a growing love of owls at the moment and they seem to be poping up everywhere, or is it just that I’ve started noticing them more now? Anyhow here is a list of my Top 10 Favourite Owl accessories for the home that can be bought from UK retailers. (This is also my list of Christmas presents I would love!)

Ceramic Owl from Marks and Spencer

Ceramic Owl – This gorgeous little cutie is from the Marks and Spencers Winter’s Beauty Range for just £5 and its on the Christmas 3 for 2 Mix and Match!

Twit Twoo Doormat

Twit Twoo Doormat – £19.99 from Strawberry Fool.

Owl Applique Cushion

Owl Applique Cushion from Laura Ashley for £36.

Baby Owl by Hannah Turner Ceramics

Baby Owl by Hannah Turner Ceramics from NotOnTheHighStreet £35

LulaOwl clock in plum

LulaOwl Clock in Plum from Bouf for £30

Door Wedge Owl

Door Wedge Owl from NotOnTheHighStreet £11.95

Iittala Toikka Birds Barn Owl

Iittala Toikka Birds Barn Owl from John Lewis £199

Little Owl Cushions

Little Owl Cushions from Designers Guild £35 each

Ceramic Owl Candle Holder

Ceramic Owl Candle Holder from Liberty £13.50

Owl Vase

Owl Vase by Rose & Greyfrom Notonthehighstreet £25

So that’s my top 10 favourite owl home accessories, what do you think? For Owl loving fans a great retailer I’d reccommend that stock loads of owl products (not just for the home either) is NotOnTheHighSteet. Be warned though, it may take you some time to look through the long list of gorgeous stuff!

If you love funky accessories for the home, take a look the ones we’ve listed on FunkyInteriors website here

Funky Interiors gets a funky makeover

I’m back! yay! Its been a long time coming, I’ve been so busy with other projects but at last I now have the time to devote to my beloved Funky Interiors. I’m so excited by the new, fresh design of Funky too! I absolutely love it and hope you do to? Although I aways like a bit of constructive criticism should you care to share.

There were so many design decisions to make and a few design rules to break. Web Design is much like Interior design when it comes to colour schemes and I think I drove my web designer nuts with my request to have a monochromatic scheme with every colour of the spectrum included. “Buts that’s all of them, How about we just go for a contrasting colour scheme?” he said. A contrasting colour scheme, as many of you probably know, is when you chose two colours that are on the opposite sides of the colour spectrum, great for creating a striking and vibrant design e.g Orange with blue or yellow with purple. We had a bit of a spectrum argument, the spectrum reminded him of all those homemade websites and the homemade signs with the spectrum gradient used to fill in the text title, remember those? Using the full spectrum is very difficult to get right, I’ll admit, but I love colour and I love colour wheels.

He also advised following the 70%/20%/10% rule, which is a great rule for interior design whichever type of colour scheme you choose to follow. To cut a long story short, I agreed with him. I told him I had every faith in his design abilities to overcome the spectrum challenge. Then I went ahead and chose 70% in tints of black, 20% in white and 10% in the spectrum. Which in my mind was what I asked for in the first place, I just needed to add a bit of flattery to the challenge. I love the result. The logo was the hardest challenge to get right – How and where to add the spectrum colour range but I think we got there in the end.

The new homepage design of Funky Interiors

There are a whole host of features and ideas I want to add to Funky Interiors in the future and if you have any suggestions let me know! In the meantime watch this space and I hope you enjoy my waffle (aka Blog) and website.

Cool Britannia! Union Jack Furniture and Accessories

Our beloved Union Jack is  appearing on an ever increasing array of products to adorn our homes . So I’ve put together a collection of patriotic furniture and accessories for you to browse. First a little history, don’t worry just a little!

Cool Britannia, a term first used in 1967 as the title to a  Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah song (who?).  The Band changed the words and sang to the melody of Rule Britannia a british patriotic song. Instead of  “Rule Britannia, Britannia  rule the waves! Britons never, never, never shall be slaves” the adaptation sang “Cool Britannia, Britannia, you are cool, Take a trip! Britons ever ever ever, Shall be hip.” Rule Britannia was actually a poem by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740. In 1995, Ben and Jerry’s held an ice cream competition and the winning flavour was ‘Cool Britania’, Vanilla Ice Cream with Strawberries & Fudge-Covered Shortbread. Sounds like my kind of ice cream. Not wanting to go off on too much of a tangent but you can actually ask Ben and Jerry’s to resurrect past flavours! Maybe I shall start a campaign to resurrect Cool Britannia? Any Supporters?

Anyway, back to the task in hand. Union Jack inspired furniture and accessories. Lets just see if cool britannia really is hip!

Union Jack Accesorries fom Heals

Cool Britannia Dinnerware Range, starts at £4.50, from Heals

Jan Constantine British Heart Mug, £10, from Heals

Jan Constantine Love Heart Mug, £10. from Heals

Union Jack Accessories from John Lewis

Emma Bridgewater Union Jack Tray, £4.99 from John Lewis

Emma Bridgewater Union Jack Cake Tins, £27 from John Lewis

Emma Bridgewater Union Jack, Biscuit Barrel, £13 from John Lewis

Union Jack furniture and accessories

Bespoke Union Jack Lampshades by Beauvamp, from £200 from notonthehighstreet.com

Union Jack Doormat by The Contemporary Home, £23.99 from notonthehighstreet.com

Union Jack Vintage Jack Chairs, start at £500 from notonthehighstreet.com

Mans Best Friend Door Stop, £34.95 from notonthehighstreet.com

Hungry for more? Then visit to notonthehighstreet.com which has over 100 Union Jack products for you to buy including tea towels, bunting, speakers, cushions, slippers, wall art, tea cosies and personalised name plaques. Many of the Union Jack products they sell are handmade by individual designers and you simply can’t by them anywhere on the high street! Let us know what Union Jack accessories you love!  or hate.

Funky Wallpaper for Cool Bachelor Pads

If you want a cool bachelor pad one of the best a most effective things you can do to a room is add some dramatic wallpaper. Bold, large and confident patterns are the order of the day for trend setters, establishing a contemporary feel to the room. Add contemporary minimalist furnishings to the room or great vintage style pieces for an eclectic character. Spashing out on a fantastic funky wallpaper means you’ll have a lot of style in the room and therefore you can get away with spending less on furnishings, especially important if your on a tight budget. If you are on a budget consider papering just one wall as a feature .

Black wallpaper is the top of the shopping list at the moment followed by red, white, blue and brown wallpaper.   Black wallpaper is a great option as you can team it with almost any other colour. Choosing Black and white for a monocrome look is the easiest as finding matching furniture and accessories will be a doddle on any budget. You could then add splashes of vibrant colours for example lime green or orange.  If you limit your accent colour to just your accessories these are the easier to replace when you fancy an update.

There are certainly an overwhelming  choice of wallpaper designs to chose from out there so we’ve chosen 5 of what we consider the best for a funky bachelor pad based on their  masculine appeal.

Barbara Hulanicki Hula 18105 Wallpaper £27 a roll

Barbara Hulanicki, Hula Wallpaper in Black and Silver. Available to buy here

Barbara Hulanicki Viva 18099 Wallpaper £27 a roll

Barbara Hulanicki Viva Wallpaper is available to buy here

Marcel Wanders Henry 18169 Wallpaper £25 a roll

Marcel Wanders, Henry Wallpaper available to buy from Here

Hemingway Design Big Wave 57138 Wallpaper £22 a roll

Hemmingway Design, Big Wave wallpaper available to buy Here

Umbra Phantom 60047 Wallpaper £22 a roll

Umbra, Phantom Wallpaper available here

So there you have it. What do you think?

Retailer Focus: Totally Funky

Totally Funky sell a huge range of fun, funky and down right loveable gifts many of which cannot be found elsewhere. Totally Funkys quirky unique products have a child like charm that appeals to adults both young and old. If your stuck for gift ideas then Totally Funky is definately worth a look, offering great value for money starting at just £2.99 you’ll be wanting to treat yourself to half the items on the website! I’ve Chosen 8 great home accessories based on wittyness, design or a love of childhood memories to give you a little taster of their Funky products. Click the link below to go directly to the product on the Totally Funky website.

Selection of Totally Funky Gifts

1. Dust Bunny Who says house work has to be a chore? This adorable Dust Bunny Duster is the fun way to clean the house and will have your children queuing up to polish

2. Onion Goggles An ideal gift for budding chefs, kitchen connoisseurs, busy mums and anyone else who spends time in the kitchen on cooking duty.

3. Sharpener Desk Tidy Not only does this ultra cool desk tidy look amazing but it is also made of wood from sustainable forests so it’s eco friendly too!

4. Chain Wine Bottle Holder Using the principle of balance to create a magical optical illusion, the Chain Wine Bottle Holder is made of a nickel-plated iron chain that is curved upwards to hold the bottle and is suitable for most wine bottles.

5. Crayon Mug Crayon Mugs hark back to those happy school days when felt tip pens were frowned upon! With a fun yet poignant design, the mugs come in a range of bright, attractive colours. Non Toxic

6. TrimPhone This replica version has all the style and features of the 1970s original but with modern push button dialling

7. Picnic Table Condiment Set The Picnic Table Condiment Set would be the ideal gift for those who enjoy BBQs, parties and picnics and the funky packaging just puts the finishing touches to this unique seasoning set

8. Thug Mug This mug will sort the men from the boys and ensure that no one steals your mug at tea break time again. The large white porcelain Thug Mug, featuring a knuckle duster handle, accommodates a manly sized brew and is perfect for showing who is boss.

Another, more affordable Gold Bullion Door Stop

A while ago Funky Girl blogged about a Gold Bar Bullion Door Stop fit for a king. We’ve just found another, even more affordable than the real thing and the one made by Eno we wrote about earlier! So maybe this one is fit for a prince! Priced at £9.95, its a bargain and great for a present! I know just the bachelor I’m gonna give it to a Christmas too! Sorry to spoil the Surprise John

Gold Bullion Door Stop

Gold Bar Bullion Door Stop £9.95

Fantastic Home Event at Heals with up to 50% off!

Funky Interiors loves Heals especially when theres a Sale on! Heals are having a Home Event starting today! Fron the 17th September to 18th October you can save up to 50%.

Here are some of Funkys Favourite Sale items

Ligne Roset Togo Sofa Corner Group was £5029 now £4525

Garda Swivel Chair White Leather was £995 now £495

Brights Turned Wood Teal Floor Lamp was £275 now £220

Newgate 50'S Electric Wall Clock was £60, now £48

Olympia Round White Table Lamp was £60, now £30

Brabantia 30L Retro Bin was £75, now £60

Marnie Double Duvet Set was £40, now £20

Found some at last! Contemporary sofa beds now at Dreams

Have you noticed how difficult it is to find a decent looking sofa bed? The choice has always been quite poor and although manufactures and retailers still have a long way to go, sofa bed design is slowly improving. Research shows that demand for sofa beds is on the increase yet the actual sales of sofa beds don’t match the figures. This is particularly true in the contemporary market. Sofa beds are becoming a necessity for many first time buyers living in appartments.

Dreams have launched a new sofa bed section and we are pleased to see three sofa beds we’d be happy to feature on funky Interiors. First up is Imola, a black sofa bed that’s very competitively priced at £249.  Imola black sofa bed would look right at home in any bachelor pad with its robust, minimal box-like shape. We’re betting Imola will be a big seller as black sofa beds are always in high demand. Colour wise, Red sofa beds are also popular and Dreams doesn’t disappoint with a gorgeous red sofabed named Novara. This metal framed sofa bed has a more cosy feel with its texture and sumptuous fabric and is priced at £499.  Last but not least is the Pesaro sofa bed in a fabulous purple! We love this funky sofa bed with its mirror polished chromed legs. If ever a sofa bed oozed glamour, it’s this one!

Novara Red sofa bed

Pesaro purple sofa bed

Imola Black Sofa bed

Wow! Check out this Life Size Tyrannosaurus Rex Dinosaur, Best giant garden ornament I’ve ever seen.

How cool would it be to have life size T-Rex Dinosaur  replica in your back garden? It would certainly beet the Jones’s! Fantastic talking point at your BBQ! Best of all, thankfully, he doesn’t need feeding and you don’t need a tractor to act as a giant poopa scoopa! If you re-mortgage the house or you’ve got a spare £28,999 he’ll be delivered free to your door, good luck getting him through it though.

life size T-Rex Dinosaur

Find out more here Tyrannosaurus Rex

Kevin McCloud launches Grand Designs Great British Refurb Campaign

Grand Designs presenter Kevin McCloud has launched the Grand Designs Great British Refurb Campaign. The campaign aims to get the British public to “show your support the Grand Designs Great British Refurb campaign by writing to the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. “

You don’t actually need to write a letter to the prime minister, by following this link you can show your support online and Kevin McCloud will deliver your message to 10 Downing Street later on this year. The Grand Designs Refurb Campaign is asking the government to help people financially to make their homes more eco friendly, reducing the impact on the environment and reducing our energy bills. Kevin McCloud along with the Energy Saving Trust, WWF and the UK Green Building Council are asking the government to:

• Offer households new ways to pay for green refurbishment, which would significantly reduce upfront costs and instead spread them over a longer period of time.
• Provide better financial incentives for householders to refurbish their homes to make them greener and more energy efficient, through substantial government grants, subsidies or tax rebates.
• Ensure installers are qualified and approved to undertake the work.

Take a few minutes to show your support and fill in the form http://www.greatbritishrefurb.co.uk/