In last week’s Mapping the World post we talked about finally sorting out what had become a storage room after last year’s flood. It didn’t end after hanging a few maps, so here’s a short follow up to show what else we did in there.

It has evolved into a combined craft room & spare bedroom. We’ve put an old, rustic work bench in the large window area to make use of the natural light. On it sits a vintage Bernina sewing machine that’s just had a full service; also drawers, jugs & baskets full of thread, pins and craft tools.

When the sun goes down we have a couple of task lights – both have an industrial look. The first is a pale blue touch-sensitive desk lamp that we reviewed for John Lewis. The second is a vintage hanging work light with metal cage to protect the bulb.

And last but not least a bed – we bought this Victorian folding metal bed at a flea market for £20 which was a bit of a bargain. It looks lovely with its bright floral linen. If you overdo it on the crafting, you can just flop into bed a few feet away!

Related posts:

1. Aqua desk lamp
2. Bookmarks: Illuminate – Contemporary Craft Lighting
3. Great Northern Contemporary Craft Fair ’11

We’re really taken with this fabulous new baking hamper from Fortnum & Mason. As well as the classic F&M wicker basket you get:

A perfect gift for a Great British Bake Off fan – or even better – treat yourself!

Share your cakes & bakes for this week below.
Please only link baked goods such as bread, cakes, muffins, pastries and traybakes.
Please include the H is for Home logo and back-link to us.
Please use the permalink to your individual post, not your blog’s homepage.

Related posts:

1. Cakes & Bakes: Paul Hollywood’s malt loaf
2. Cakes & Bakes: Spelt sourdough
3. Cakes & Bakes: Mocha fudge cake with coffee icing

Bananas: quilt cover $209-$229 AUD | pillowcase pair $59 AUD | cushion cover $65 AUD
Feather: quilt cover $209-$229 AUD | pillowcase pair $59 AUD | cushion cover $79 AUD, Kip& Co

We’re suckers for bright, bold-printed bedding and this Bananas quilt cover really knocked us out. It’s from the Kip& Co‘s autumn/winter ’13 Fruit Salad collection. The collection can be mixed, matched and clashed in an explosion of pattern & colour!

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Wish: Bodie and Fou duvet cover
2. Tuesday Huesday: Autumn quilt
3. Tuesday Huesday: Bodie and Fou pink duvet set

image credit: Elly Yap

We’ve had some great feedback about our recent cacti blog post and an image of them almost immediately got Explored when we uploaded it to Flickr – it’s had over 3,500 views in less than a week!

We found this fabulous collection of cacti on Flickr – we doubt whether any ours will ever get this tall!

Related posts:

1. Tuesday Huesday: modern rustic
2. Tuesday Huesday: Pysanky
3. Tuesday Huesday: Cartonlandia

Our house is nearly back to normal after last year’s flood. This bedroom was absolutely crammed with furniture & boxes of books (refugees from the ground floor!!). The room’s now been cleared and we’ve actually got round to adding a bit of wall decoration!

We decided to hang these vintage school wall maps. They’ve got a great look and they always draw you in for a closer browse. You learn something new every time you enter the room!!

This row of three features North America, South America and Australasia.

They were produced by George Philip & Son and date from the 1960s.

If you like the look of these vintage maps, we recently got hold of one that’s available to buy – photographed below. It’s actually older than the Philips maps and was produced by W. & A. K. Johnstone. It’s a physical relief map of the British Isles. The hills & mountain ranges are the main feature; but cities, rivers and major rail routes of the time are also marked.

There are a few small areas of paper loss, but it’s still very striking visually and measures just over 4 feet high! We’re going to hang it in our antiques centre shop when a bit of wall space becomes available.

Related posts:

1. All Mapped Out!
2. Forthcoming Attractions: late July 2012
3. Charity Vintage: 1930/40s New World Radiation Cooker

We’re big fans of the Great British Bake Off, so we tuned into the recent inaugural series of Paul Hollywood’s Bread (and put his accompanying book onto our Amazon wishlist) with great interest.

One of the recipes he did which I’ve never attempted is malt loaf. Whenever I’ve had shop bought (and there seems to be just the one brand available in supermarkets!) I’ve always found it a dry, chewy and not very tasty. I thought I’d give it a try – surely I could do better!

Related posts:

1. Cakes & Bakes: Spelt sourdough
2. Cakes & Bakes: Mocha fudge cake with coffee icing
3. Cakes & Bakes: Baguettes made with a poolish

Perfobake baguette tray: £9.99, Lakeland

If you’ve been following our Cakes & Bakes posts recently you’ll know that I made a batch of baguettes a fortnight or so ago. I proved them in an accordion-pleated tea towel but a baguette tray would be so much better – much less fiddly.

We visit the Lake District a few times per year and a highlight of my car journey there is stopping off at Booths Supermarket in Windermere (Pathetic? Moi?). They stock lots of things from local producers and sell other items that aren’t available at our local Morrisons in Todmorden. A stones throw from Booths is Lakeland‘s flagship store which is the highlight of my return journey home. This baguette tray is already on my shopping list!

Related posts:

1. Wednesday Wish: BakeryBits equipment
2. Out & about… January
3. Tuesday Huesday: vintage serving tray

We mentioned in our Tuesday Huesday post last week that our cherry blossom was due at any time – well here it is! We took this picture on the Sunday before the bank holiday this week when we had that lovely albeit short warm & sunny spell. We spent two glorious days pottering in the garden generally tidying up and replanting red currant, white currant and raspberry bushes that we “emancipated” from Justin’s parents’ old allotment.

Related posts:

1. Tuesday Huesday: Japanese peach blossom
2. Tuesday Huesday: Vintage garden chair
3. Tuesday Huesday: Jane Foster sunny spring room

Pantone has long been THE authority in global, fashionable colour. Don’t we all know that they have declared emerald green the colour of 2013? It was only a matter of time before products would be produced that were designed around the Pantone theme. Here are five of our choosing…

1. Pantone tea set – teapot – £50, milk jug – £9-18, sugar bowl – £25
2. Pantone Universe set of 6 placemats in gift box – £30
3. Pantone folding chairs – £48.00
4. PANTONE The 20th Century in Color – £17.27
5. Underpantones

Related posts:

1. Art Deco tea set
2. Christmas Countdown: Selfridges
3. Gimme Five! Bird feeders

(Ends 17 May, 2013 19:22:43 BST)

A vintage Ercol sofa is at or near the top of many a mid century modern fan’s furniture wish list. This one’s being sold by St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice*. It needs new cushion covers and one of its legs is slightly damaged, but its webbing looks to be in great nick… and with a starting bid of £49.99, it’s still a bargain! It’s offered as a “collection only” item from their warehouse in Winsford, Cheshire.

*St Luke’s Cheshire Hospice provides palliative and specialist palliative care to those adult patients with life threatening or life limiting disease. The emphasis of care is on the promotion of dignity and quality of life for patients, and support for family and friends during and after the illness. Care may be as an outpatient attending Hospice Day Care, Complementary Therapy Clinic or Lymphoedema Clinic or inpatient admitted for symptom control, health assessment or terminal care.

Related posts:

1. Charity Vintage: Yellow Hohner Organetta
2. Charity Vintage: Dutch Shell Oil vintage sugar packets
3. Charity Vintage: Five vintage Kenneth Townsend tiles