My Next-ra special Christmas wishlist!

As with many parents of young children at this time of year, I always think it's a nice touch to sit down with the littles and get them to write a letter to Father Christmas.  

Now, Father Christmas always replies...though he has somewhat made a rod for his  own back I feel,  in so far as he always hand writes the reply in a style very reminiscent of the writing in JRR Tolkien's 'Letters From Father Christmas'!  

It is mere coincidence that we have that book!  I can recommend it.
A friend pointed out that, on request, Father Christmas will type a reply!  Wish I'd known that 3 years ago!
Neither of my two have any particular requests this year. Phew. The 'requests' have tended to be costly and often end in disappointment...particularly with the 10 year old. Mobile Phone? No! My own iPad? No! Horse? No! Alpaca? Errr. No! Ad infinitum. 
No requests means a letter to Santa asking him to use his imagination. Fantastic. I know Santa enjoys shopping for little, inexpensive items that will bring as much pleasure as all of the afore mentioned budget busters!

 

With that job done and dusted I was approached by Next to compile my Nextmas Wishlist top 10. How could I refuse? I put on Sinatra 'The Ultimate Christmas' and off I wandered in to fantasy Christmas wish list land!

So. Here goes. My list, as you might expect, is compiled from the Home and Furniture range. In no particular order, my Nextmas Wishlist top 10 is as follows....and I will be writing to Father Christmas in due course!
                     
            1. Classic Velvet silver Westcot bedstead.....for elegance in the bedroom.
            2. Textured panel cotton bed set......who can resist crisp, white bedlinen? 
            3. Brooklyn TV unit......contemporary, smart yet functional. The perfect balance.
            4. 7ft Grove Pine Christmas tree.......for a real look without the dropping needles.
            5. Silver luxury fur throw........for cosy cuddles by the fire.
            6. Large Curve Arm floor lamp.....stylish lighting in on trend grey.
            7. White Geranium and Jasmine fragrance 3 wick candle.....Mmmm. The scent....
            8. Pewter beaded mirror....metallics are bang on trend.
            9. 200 LED bright white fairy lights.....never have enough of these!
           10. Silver Chrysanthemum wallpaper.......perfect for a feature wall.

Follow this link to see all of the above and many, many more delicious, stylish, festive products that could so easily have made my top 10.
                                                     www.next.co.uk

Have a very merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2015. xxx

 

Batman! You've been framed...by eFrame.

We have recently tackled the children's bedrooms which was a relatively simple task. Carpets are being replaced later this month, but the rooms are stripped, lined and painted (white).

Both children chose blinds for their windows. This is not a curtain household, as you may have gathered. The five year old chose a lime green blind and the ten year old a raspberry pink blind. She is revisiting pink at the age of ten, having abandoned it for three or four years in favour of less 'girlie' colours.

Five year old then chose to replace his Mr Men framed poster with  more 'grown up' subjects, namely, Batman and his other superhero friends. I was happy to consider anything that wasn't Ninja Turtles! I actually think the old superhero posters have a strong design element....great colours. Captain America graces the playroom wall.....a particular favourite of the 'adult boy' in the house!

The Batman poster came from www.allposters.co.uk and I was lucky enough to have been approached by eFrame offering me a custom made frame at a discounted cost.  (Click on the link below to take you to their site.)

As this was for my son's superhero poster and not an inherited work of art, I chose a simple black reflective lacquer frame which lets the poster do the talking.

This photograph doesn't really do the framing justice. The frame perfectly suits the poster!

The eFrame service was excellent, I have to say. I asked a number of questions prior to ordering and the response was prompt and useful.This frame cost just under £50. Yes. You could go to Ikea and spend £20, but in actual fact I couldn't get the size required and also the general quality of construction (no gaping joints at corners...), backing and fixings is well worth the extra. The frame arrived well packaged and very quickly.  I was slightly surprised that the frame did not come with glass rather than plexi glass...but, again, eFrame came back to me straight away with a comprehensive response.

The frames come with what is called Clarity+ Glazing - Also known as plexi glass. It's 1.5mm thick and is sent out with 95% of eFrame frames.

 

This glazing has many advantages over and above traditional glass and actually costs  more money. eFrame swallow the additional cost as a company though because this is what they prefer the product to be shipped with.

 

They deal with many Top London Galleries and most of them choose to take this glazing over and above the 2mm float glass option (available on custom frames below 600mm x 600mm in size). Even the world famous auction house Christies takes this glazing option! I'm in good company then!

 

Not only do eFrame offer a comprehensive choice of custom and ready made frames but their site also has a 'design your own' section where you can upload a photo of your picture and then design your own frame and mount and see how it will look prior to ordering. A really useful tool. 

 







For more information on eFrame and for some great pointers in what to consider when framing pictures follow the links below.

 

www.eframe.co.uk

 https://blog.etsy.com/uk/2014/10/29/how-to-frame-a-picture