Most Wanted, the lifestyle magazine from money-saving website VoucherCodes.co.uk, recently got in touch to see if I’d like to put together some ideas for a winter home update. Not one to miss an opportunity to spend hours browsing homeware (what’s not to love?), I jumped at the chance.
For my winter home update, I’ve focused on the wonderful woodland trend and all items cost under £90 (some considerably less).
Owls and birds have been a strong homeware trend for a few years, but this season the shops are awash with all things woodland inspired. From foxes and badgers, to deer, squirrels and trees, designs featuring woodland themes are all over home products and décor.
It’s a great trend for celebrating the best of British woodlands and for bringing a bit of nature into your home. What’s more, with the high street brimming with affordable pieces, it’s an easy trend to adopt and use to update your home this season.
Just a few key pieces, such as new mugs, plates or china for your kitchen, or a change of cushions, home accessories or lighting in your living room, can give a fresh new look to a room, without the need for you to do major amounts of decorating.
Here are some of my favourite woodland inspired pieces for updating a kitchen and living room.
Using the woodland trend in your kitchen
There are loads of great pieces available for bringing the woodland trend into your kitchen. I like the classic black and white designs, such as the stag head plate and mugs, or boxing hare bowl, as monotone never dates. The simplicity of the pure white ceramic pieces is lovely too, especially as these can easily blend in with whatever colours you currently have in your kitchen.
For a bit of designer luxury, I can’t resist the Jonathan Adler squirrel canister, which is as much a decorative piece as it is practical. The mugtail squirrel mug, which has all the detail in its handle, is a fun and quirky piece.
If you fancy a bit of colour, then the yellow and aqua woodland mugs are great, as the colour is inside and the designs – a silhouette of a fox or deer – are on the outside.
1. Jonathan Adler squirrel canister, £68 from John Lewis
2. Stag head plate £6.95, and mug £5.95, from Graham and Green
3. Bliss in the Woods yellow mug with white deer silhouette, £12 from Unique and Unity
4. Aqua woodland fox mug, £12.95 from Graham and Green
5. Aiga boxing hare bowl, £12 from Not On The High Street
6. Quirky squirrel mugtail mug, £14.95 from DotMaison
How to use the woodland theme in your living room
There are so many lovely woodland themed pieces that are perfect for use in a living room that it’s been hard to narrow it down to these.
You can never go wrong with cushions! The badger cushion is a great buy, not least as there’s an extra design on the back featuring some really cute hedgehogs, so you essentially get two cushions in one.
A few quirky accessories are a must and I like the look of the wooden squirrels. Although they’re being sold as Christmas decorations, these would work all year round. As you get eight in a set, they’re pretty good value for money. I’m sure the squirrel nutcracker will be much used and enjoyed too.
Changing the lighting in a room is a good way of updating the look and the stag light panel is a striking and unusual piece – a bit different from a simple table lamp.
As well as all the woodland creatures, trees are a big part of this trend, so it’s great to introduce some tree designs into your home. The Snowden Flood tree glasses are a big favourite, although I personally think they’re too nice to use and prefer to have them out on display on a shelf.
The wooden stool is a unique handcrafted product, but if you’re on a low budget, why not check out the square tree trunk stool. Amazingly it’s made of cardboard, but can hold weights of up to 200kg, and is a great piece of Danish design.
Finally, wall stickers are brilliant for livening up dull walls and the deer wall stickers are super affordable at only £9.95 each (there are 10 different designs to choose from and you can choose your colours too). If you don’t want to use them on a wall, they could be added to other surfaces, such a door or piece of furniture.
1. Badger cushion by Whinberry & Antler, £28 from Not On The High Street
2. Set of 8 wooden 3d standing squirrel decorations, £18.95 from Selfridges
3. Black tree glasses by Snowden Flood, £42 from Bouf
4. Woodland tree trunk stool, £25 from Hen and Hammock
5. Stag light panel, £35 from Next
6. Richmond deer park wall sticker, £9.95 each from Not On The High Street
7. Wooden stool or table, £85 from Pedlars
8. Squirrel nut cracker, £20 from Cox & Cox
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The boxing hares make me laugh!