Loving our new Frankie day bed

The kind people at Happy Beds sent us their Frankie day bed with single mattress to try out this week – and we’re loving it!

It arrived in five well-packaged boxes, each containing the essential components ready for construction. The fact that it comes in pieces will certainly suit those people who live in flats – or have some tight corners or doorways to manoeuvre objects through and around.

Putting the day bed together was really straightforward. We followed the enclosed instructions and it was up and ready to go in approximately 1½ hours. Adelle actually loves doing that kind of flat pack construction type thing! Don’t worry if you don’t have a tool box, it comes with its own double-headed (Phillips on one end and standard on the other) screwdriver for assembling.

It’s very solidly constructed and has arched, flexible wooden slats for extra comfort. The detailing and finish is very good too. We really like the fashionable, soft grey, Hessian-like textile. It sits very nicely against our slightly darker grey walls – and also works well as a backdrop for pops of brighter colour.

We’ve been experimenting with various accessories and soft furnishings to dress it. So far, bright yellow has been our favourite. The grey/yellow combo is a bit of a classic, and was the obvious starting point if you look at the huge painting which hangs on the wall above it.

The Frankie day bed has another nice design feature too. The under-bed, pull-out drawer is the exact dimensions as the mattress above. This means that, if you decide to house a mattress in it, you can have two single beds at slightly different heights – a great option if you have people staying over and need to maximise sleeping berths. Alternatively, it makes for great storage. You can get absolutely loads of bedding, clothes or shoes tucked away neatly and out of sight.

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Palaset Treston storage boxes

We picked up these fabulous red & white office drawers last week. They’re from the Palaset range designed by Ristomatti Ratia for Treston of Finland in the early 1970s.

They come in individual units which slot on top of one another allowing you to customize your own larger system as required. They’re also available in brown, yellow and green colourways. For vinyl junkies out there, the open cubes are the perfect size to accommodate LPs. The modular range was very popular at the time, selling worldwide, but it’s increasingly hard to find these days. We think that there was a later re-launch, but the manufacturer used an inferior plastic and production didn’t last very long.

Look out for the early examples. They have real solid weight to them – people often think they’re made of wood when first handled.

In addition to designing office products, Ristomatti Ratia worked on a variety of homewares – fashion accessories too – including spectacles and a best selling shoulder bag. Incidentally, he’s the son of Armi Ratia, née Airaksinen, the founder of Marimekko.

We’ve put the drawers into shop space number 2. The look of this space changes quite often, but it tends to mix mid century modern design with much older country antiques. It’s certainly quite eclectic at the moment!

These two stacking units are priced at £195 (ish!) for the pair – ‘collection only’ for these. Drop us a line if you’re interested and would like us to reserve them for you… or, if there’s anything else in the pictures that takes your fancy, we can advise on prices, shipping options if applicable etc.

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How to organise a self-storage unit

Self-storage units can be an absolute godsend when trying to keep a cluttered house under control. Unfortunately, attempting to store a large number of items in a plain concrete room tends to lead to more clutter than you started with at home. How do you manage to keep things organised and be able to find anything in storage?

Having all the right storage supplies as well as a bit of a plan for your unit is the way to go. You can get your self-storage unit in ship shape with just a few tips.

Right sized space

Before you can start planning on organising your unit, you really need to be sure you get one that’s large enough for your belongings. Trying to jam too much stuff into a tiny space makes organising almost impossible. Before renting space, make a list of what you want to keep in it and make some realistic estimates. Perhaps even gather everything up in one spot first and measure how many square feet it all needs.

Proper containers

Don’t resort to the hasty (and cheap) solution of jamming things into big garbage bags. They are very difficult to manage in terms of organisation because they don’t have a rigid shape. You can’t pile or stack bags, and they’re notorious for tearing at the wrong moment. The best option is plastic totes with lids, but even sturdy cardboard boxes are better than bags. Not only are boxes easier to label than bags, they are a lot more secure for your belongings. Moisture, dust, insects or even rodents can get into your stuff if it’s not well protected.

Label and list

This is probably the biggest key to keeping your self-storage unit organised. Label everything in clear, large letters. Never assume that you will always remember what’s in certain boxes. Add more detail whenever you can as well. Labelling a box “Kitchen Stuff” is minimally helpful, so tape on a label or sheet of paper that has a quick bullet list of what’s actually in the box.

To be really on top of things, go one step further and put together a master list of the contents that you can keep at home. Knowing what’s in your unit without having to go back and paw through boxes can (and will) save a lot of time.

Shelves

If you’ve taken our earlier suggestion and stored your stuff in boxes or totes, it can be really tempting to just stack one on top the other. That can work if you are storing things you don’t access much. In situations where you do need to get at things periodically, having to move 4 or 5 boxes around because what you need is invariably at the bottom can be irritating and difficult. Having your boxes organised on shelves means you can pull out the one you need without having to shuffle everything else around.

So, taking these ideas into account, you should be able to put your storage unit to better use and have your important belongings right to hand when you need them.

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Price Points: Office wall storage

We’re currently… slowly… getting our home office spruced up, cleared out and fit for work. We’ll tell you a little bit more about that tomorrow. Anyway, like the rest of of the rooms in our house – we never seem to have enough storage in there.

In the kitchen and bedroom, storage needs are primarily big cupboards and drawers; office requirements are a bit different. Shelving is the main demand with rows of (matching) box files – the tax office demands that self-employed people keep records – bank statements, receipts, invoices and the like – for at least 5 years. Even with a lot being kept online, it’s still a lot of paper to store!

I’ve always liked a tidy desk, free from piles of detritus – it keeps me sane. The best way to achieve this is to keep everything in office wall storage; off the work surface yet still within easy reach. I’d happily give wall space to all three of the modular options above which range from £36 to over £200 for the combinations shown. I love having a visible place for everything, no opening and closing drawer after drawer searching for the paper clips or the stapler, the scissors or the tape measure.

Mystic modular wall storage: £8.99 per module, AliExpress
Urbio Perch Biggy magnetic modules: from £3.82 for a Bitsy Organiser (this combination £94.79), The Container Store
Vitra Uten.Silo by Dorothee Becker from Vitra: £225.25, Clippings

H is for Home Harbinger

Tag: storage