Aren’t these little houses a great design? They’re not just a cute design though, they serve a useful purpose as a storage pot.

Each of the wooden houses is finished off with a colourful roof – which lifts off to reveal storage space within. They remind us a bit of the design of beach huts.

They’d be great to use on a desk to store pens or on a dressing table for brushes and makeup accessories. Or perhaps you could pop one on a hall table to store your keys or loose change in.

The storage houses are designed by Block and come in three sizes – small, medium and large. Starting at only £9 each from Red Candy, they’re an affordable, decorative and contemporary home accessory.

To be honest, I don’t often think to look at Wilko – it’s not one of my immediate go-to stores. But having stumbled across their website by chance this week, I was pleasantly surprised at their current ranges.

They’ve got four home collections for Autumn / Winter 2015, one of which is Utility. It’s based on rustic woods, industrial wire and concrete and there are lots of great ideas that would fit into a contemporary home. The products look stylish and on trend, and the prices are very affordable, as you’d expect from a high street store such as this.

All of these pieces would look great for an update to a home office or study and would set you back just £101 to buy it all – clearly a store where your money stretches further.

1. House shaped storage shelf, with wire framing – £15

2. Open wire pendant light – £12

3. Wooden crate with chalk board – £12

4. Contemporary stamp lantern – £6

5. Contemporary utility notice board – £25

6. Utility concrete lantern – £8

7. Utility inspired storage unit – £12

8. Large iron wire basket – £6

9. Love wood blocks – £5

Working from home is fantastic but your office environment has to be fit for purpose. Home offices tend to be a bit haphazard – mis-matching furniture and recycled chairs or desks are common.

There’s nothing wrong with a bit of bohemian shabby chic. But – and it’s a big one – a home office that’s been thrown together from left over and donated bits of furniture can be a depressing place to work in.

It can be hard enough to motivate yourself each day; you don’t want to make it even more difficult for yourself by creating a work space that you dislike. A home office that has not been thought through is also likely to be uncomfortable with irritating access problems.

How not to do it!

So before you just throw something together spend a few minutes thinking about what you like and what you find energising. It can be hard to know where to start so here are some useful questions:

• What proportion of desk space to storage space do you need?
• Can you save space by wall mounting PC’s, screens and cables?
• Do you need lots of wall space for visual lists and mood boards?

Don’t just hit IKEA. Be prepared to go to a few specialist office furniture shops because they will have a bigger range and are more likely to have some clever bits of kit to help you get more from your space.

They are also more likely to be able to provide expert advice and help you with your planning.

A bit of time invested in planning will pay for itself over and over again because you will be more productive and a lot happier.

Successful home offices

Don’t be too utilitarian (or tight). You should make sure your office is a place you think is attractive and want to spend time in.

• Do you like dark, book lined spaces or do you like clean uncluttered lines?
• Do muted colours sooth you during a stressful day or do dashes of vibrant colour keep your mind ticking over?
• Are there posters or pictures you love and have you considered wall stickers?  Refresh or rotate them to keep it interesting.

How about an office bar or a beach inspired office?!

If you’re less than inspired by your desk at work, then why not liven it up with a quirky desk accessory or two?

All of these accessories have some kind of practical purpose, be it holding paperclips, scissors, tape or staples, but each have their own quirky characteristics too.

They’re not only useful for these purposes, but they could be good if you’re prone to a spot of procrastination too. You could have a brief pause or coffee break to build a staple city, sharpen your pencils or reorganise your paperclips…all a tad better than being found browsing eBay or checking for updates on Facebook.

Top row:

Bunny in the field paperclip holder, £16.50 from Bonnie andBell

Tetris desk tidy set, £14.99 from Find Me a Gift

Bianca the hippo memo holder, £10.95 from Luckies

Middle row:

Rocky the desk butler, £10.99 from IWOOT

Koziol Edward scissors, £15 from Red Candy

The last log pencil sharpener, £16.50 from Bonnie andBell

Bottom row:

Staple city, £12.99 from Mocha

Rainbow highlighters, £6.99 from Mocha

Qualy desk bunny tape dispenser, £18.99 from Mollie & Fred

If you’re anything like us and feel like the new year has arrived quicker than we’d expected, perhaps you’re not entirely organised yet either. If you’re still in need of a 2014 calendar, here are some lovely options available. The bonus for being somewhat disorganised is that you may even manage to snag a bargain too!

Bubble wrap calendar

We love bubble wrap! It’s so satisfying popping the bubbles. Now you can pop a bubble everyday, with the rather novel bubble wrap calendar.

It’s a brilliant idea! There’s 20% off and it’s available from Incognito.

Tree calendar

Designer Gail Kelly’s 2014 calendar features 12 black and white tree linocut designs, originally hand printed on Irish linen.  An array of native trees are covered, each depicted with some fascinating facts, so you can learn something new each month.

The calendar is £8 from Gail Kelly Designs.

Rob Ryan calendar

The 2014 calendar by designer Rob Ryan features 12 intricate and characteristic designs from this much loved artist. It’s  £5.02 from his Mister Rob store on Etsy.

Typographic calendar

The typographic wall calendar by Rosie Robins is available in a choice of three designs – the original typographic option, one aimed at typographic food lovers or the typographic garden lover’s calendar. All three are nicely produced and currently have 20% off.

When everyone else seems to be on holiday and you’re stuck inside at work, why not liven up your day by investing in a few fun desk accessories that evoke memories of holiday and travel?

They may not totally make up for a relaxing holiday, but might just help brighten your day and make the time go by a little bit quicker.

We love the range of home office accessories available at Mocha and these four items remind us of different types of holidays.

If you love trees, woods and forests, then the woods keyboard notes bring a bit of greenery onto your desk. In two shades of green and shaped like trees, the memo notes can be propped up along the top of your keyboard to create your very own foliage display.

Wishing you could be whisked off to exotic climes and enjoy a camel ride? We can’t quite provide that for your desk, but Lenny the camel does do a brilliant job as a desk assistant. He’ll hold your pen in his mouth so you don’t lose it and comes equipped with 140 paper memos on his back for all your essential notes.

If you’re dreaming of beach holidays and fish and chips by the coast, then these fun sardine paper clips evoke memories of the sea, whilst keeping your paperwork tidy. They even come in their own realistic sardine tin.

Or if you’re more of a fan of city breaks and skyscrapers, why not get creative and use the novelty staple city to dock your stapler and create your own city landscape. It will help keep all your stapling supplies together and organised, whilst providing a novel addition to your desk.