A couple of months back, I sat reading the What Katie Does blog with a brew in hand, and was really interested to hear her describe her involvement in the design of a new site called Llustre – a members only home decor site.

Now the site has launched (in the last couple of weeks!) it’s nice to see how it’s taking shape. It’s a fresh approach to buying responsible design. I use the word responsible to describe how the user is given all the information they need to feel the value is worth paying. All original deisgns, no copy cat fakes.

First impressions are – I love the feel and brightness of the site. It’s a nice, fresh, stimulating place to hang out for 10 minutes here and there. I’m a sucker for beautiful design and it looks as though Llustre has a whole calendar of beauties for us to see.

The approach that grabbed my interest however is the ‘founder membership’ angle that Llustre used in recruiting an audience at the time of signing up. They are actively giving away credit in return for signing up and sharing with friends, and it’s really interesting to see a growing number of sites use a boutique style membership approach rather than a ‘Sign up’ – which would be very dull in comparison.

Another members only site Achica employs a similar approach, but not quite as quirky. The site is dark and the emails are heavy. More focused on the commercial saving rather than the story behind the product – but still a great site that seems to be building quite a cult following.

The strapline “members only luxury lifestyle store” sets the scene that this is high brow and desirable. Followed by “New members can register now for free” – well whether there was ever a charge or not, everyone loves a freebie.

You can even see this style of ‘exclusivity’ on Pinterest where a user has to request an invite to join the club.

As long as the content is good, I’m willing to be a part of all these clubs! And as I sit and wait for my Llustre emails to arrive, my eyes are peeled for this beautiful cyan angle poise lamp…

If you’re thinking about giving Llustre a go, (or becoming a founding member ) you can sign up here, or you help me get one step closer to a £5 discount by using my personal sign up link. (If you do – thank you )

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This post was written by Laurence at the Wooden Furniture Store. He heard that I was in the run up to moving house and kindly offered his advice. Enjoy…

Moving house is always a mixed bag; you have the excitement and anticipation of a new place to live, whilst at the same time having to deal with all of the usual headaches that come with the move. If you are moving to an unfurnished property you have the opportunity to make it your own by choosing the furniture that fits your personality and your needs.

Every room is different; you have the bathroom, living room and kitchen to think about, as well as hallways and the garden. Choosing furniture for these individual areas will obviously depend on the function of the room, but they will all share the same three broad criteria to consider when furnishing a new place. Price is not typically included within these criteria because factors such as individual budgets come in. Generally, wood furniture is a long-term investment, and getting it for cheap just means that you will have to repair or replace it sooner.

Functionality

Although it is obvious, functionally is important; some people may choose very attractive, minimalistic and modern pieces and later find out that they do not fulfil a purpose as effectively as a more conservative choice. For instance, you may be tempted by a sleek, modern and minimalistic coffee table and then find that you can barely keep anything on it as it is so small or oddly shaped. It’s all about finding a balance between functionality and aesthetic.

Quality and comfort

As mentioned before, price should be kept in line with the quality of the furniture you are choosing. It’s no good finding a sofa or a chair, only to find that it begins to deteriorate after a short period of time. Even more importantly, imagine that you opted for a cheaper seat and find that it is uncomfortable and may lead to bad posture; this is especially important for seating in dining areas or home offices. Remember that furniture is a long term investment, and whilst things may appear expensive initially, a quality piece of furniture will last for many years and end up being better value than a cheap item.

Aesthetic

Quality and functionality are all well and good to a certain point; we all like things which are attractive, and a home put together with practical and sturdy furniture can be dull and uninviting. At the end of the day, furniture is also a way of transmitting your personality and style and can go a long way to making a place feel like it is truly yours instead of feeling like a hotel or someone else’s home. It is possible to find pieces that are both attractive and durable, such as sturdy and elegant oak wardrobes or solid dining tables. Aesthetics are especially important when considering a living room or the bedroom where your personality really has an opportunity to shine through.

Thanks Laurence, I’ll be taking some your advice on board

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How To : Make Perfect Pleats with a Pleating Board

After working on a few pleating projects (including the pleated Kate dress) I started to wonder how I could make the pleating process easier. Measuring those pleats, pinning them down and ironing them just to find they weren’t quite right was getting to be really frustrating. So it was around that time the light bulb above my head switched on and I had my Dragons Den moment (or not quite because this isn’t an original idea – boo) – I needed a template to run the pleats through! Bingo.

After a couple of attempts, I got quite a good at churning these things out and heres how you can do it too -

• Cut a length of lining paper to your desired length.

I cut mine at 1 metre but you could go longer or shorter depending on what you’re making.

• Mark the pleat folds along the sides of your lining paper.

Now you’ll need to make a decision on what size you want your pleats to be when finished. In these pictures I’ve used 35mm:20mm as my measurements. This means the pleat will look like a nice medium sized pleat – think gym skirt.

Allow for approx 2mm difference as your pleats won’t be the exact same lengths as your board.

• Lightly score a line along every fold.

This means, join up your marks and run a pair of scissors across just to make life that little bit easier when you come to fold the pleats. Scissors are perfect as they are not too sharp – just watch your pinkies!

• Fold the scored lines in opposite directions to make the zig zag pleat formation.

Now this is the tricky bit. I used the edge of a table to find the score line and make sure the fold was completely in line. It’s easy to fold the paper in the wrong place or fold it in the wrong direction so be patience – it’s worth spending extra time on this part.

• Gather your paper pleats and iron the folds down.

Sounds easy enough right? No! Those pleats will not want to be gathered! Take your time, then when you’ve got them all in your hand get ‘em ironed in to place on the hottest steamiest setting you have.

• Glue one side of your gathered pleats to a sheet of material.

I’d advise using a strong carpet glue for this bit. You could use PVA but this would wet the paper and take a long to dry – with you pressing down…far too time consuming. I used a heavy duty spray adhesive (cost £4.99 from haberdashery shop) that’s made for upholstery – does the job perfectly! It’s not wet, really easy to spray on both the paper and the material, no chance of the two surface becoming unstuck and it does not react to heat.

I’ve used some material that I’ve had folded up for years and will never find a project for, but it’s nice to use something interesting to give your pleating board some personality. When it’s glued, cut away the excess material. Then iron the life out of it until you are happy the the pleats are nice and sharp.

Apologies for lack of photography on this section (was far to involved to remember to take pictures!). You can view this section in the video below at 4:10 s.

• Tuck the material you wish to pleat into the paper folds and iron once in place.

Use a ruler or credit card to make sure the fabric is tightly tucked into the pleating board.

• Bend the pleating board to release the pleats and enjoy!

While your at it, why not make a few more pleating boards with varying sizes of pleats – it’ll be worth it the next time you want to make tiny tiny pleats for that urgent dress! Good luck!

Nicole @ beaufrog

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