touches home interiors

spring has sprung - the garden has to be done!!

Spring Has Arrived!

Yes it’s finally beginning to happen, Spring is showing signs of arriving. As I looked out of the french doors yesterday it really was refreshing to see snow drops, daffs and tulips peeping out of the ground. It also highlighted just how high the grass has grown and how much freedom we have given the bushes and hedges around, a little pruning and hacking is desperately required (a weekend task for the lovely Gary I’m thinking).

So with a new sense of Summer looming its the perfect time to start investing some much needed love, care and attention to the garden. To create a lovely country rustic garden there has to be an element of allowing nature to work its magic. Resisting pruning those hedges and mowing that lawn to the millimetre, you really do have to take a Lassie faire attitude and allow everything to grow, rust and evolve just that little bit longer. Incorporating garden furniture and accessories really helps you to enjoy the garden and use it to its full potential. A rustic set of tables and chairs, reminiscing of aged ceramic pots is inspirational for a little alfresco dining and a continental early morning breakfast. An aged ceramic bird bath perched on the step or a hanging heart iron bird bath encourage birds & wildlife to the garden. Pop a piece of wall art sun’s, some flower planters , church window style planters, or a few aged ceramic hanging baskets onto a dull wall to really give it a wow factor.

The problem is that as soon as the sun come out, the garden manages to get inside. Do you know what I mean? Muddy feet, fresh cut grass traipsed into the house! Well why not look at a wellington boot stand, they are cast iron, can be left out doors so no wellies clogging up the hallway or base of the stairs. They can hold a set of two boots or a family size set of four. With it’s central shoe scraper you don’t need anything else to keep the mud away from the home. However if you don’t regularly pull on your wellingtons and are after a simple but stylish shoe scraper or brush then why not look at the hedgehog shoe brush or snail shoe brush? Popping one by the door encourages family and friends to give there shos a good clean when entering the house.

So come on, while the sun is shining get out there this weekend and enjoy (I know Gary will be! wink wink x).

create a home office

Inspired by an article I have just read in March’s edition of Country Living I have decided to redesign my Winter cozy office at home and introduce some Spring light and style to the area. As it’s the area I seem to spend most of my time I think it’s only right that although there is a need for practicality its also a need for it to feel comfortable, stylish & inviting. So my first thoughts were the position of the furniture in the room. As my office is in the small room off the kitchen, it has a lot light owing to the french doors that look out onto the garden. Perfectly positioned for losing myself in creative though during the day. So with this in mind I repositioned my desk, (the cream shabby chic desk). This desk has a fantastic amount of desk top surface area which I have customised with a piece of inexpensive glass that I got from our local glass merchants to protect the surface and stuck photo’s & images that I find inspiring between the glass & desk to really personalise.

As I am limited to space in the area I have the weathered oak fold away chair with a lovely linen cushion on for extra comfort. Instead of the usual industrial looking filing drawers I have used the shabby chic small boy chest for all my paper work & propped a round diamond mirror, pail for my pens, a relaxing aromatherapy candle & glass lotion dispenser filled with my favourite hand cream on the top (got to keep a bit of girly glamour close to hand).

For keeping notes I have adopted two methods, one is that I have popped up a selection of different hooks, I have added a few of the single heart hooks, the cream triple hook & a rustic grey distressed triple hook. I use these to add info sheets & files to using dog clips. I also have a selection of hanging jam pots that I use for popping in a few staple office stationary accessories such as paper clips, string, pins etc. Secondly I have a selection of notice memo boards. I use the different designs as a system of office organisation (although I’m sure it doesn’t look like organisation to anyone else). I have the fabric damask pin board for all things that need dealing with urgently, the fabric memo board for tickets, show information & suppliers details & the new picture magnetic notice board for my calender, stamps, bits of inspiration that I come across etc. I also have the pink postcard vintage inspired magnetic memo board for receipts……… It really is a post modern, vintage look that I find works well and looks inspirational & intriguing.

Finally I have added a cream french clock, to inspire good time keeping, a cream pillar lamp so that it really does create an ambiance of country chic and a rattan traditional basket on the floor as a paper bin to complete the look. Add my trusted radio and away I go………….

Welcome Welcome 2009

Well it’s finally here 2009….. what will happen in this exciting new year? Resolutions made? Planning ahead for whats to be an exciting 2009? It’s going to be a good one for me I hope. I am planning to get married this year, buy a house and lose weight. Not to ambitious I think! So, I have told you mine, whats yours? Feel free to let me know please send me an email or add a comment, I’d love to hear what 2009 holds for you xx

Full of Optimism

Kati xxx

Sale Time

After the excitment of Christmas comes the thrill of the biggest sales of the year. Yes, it’s officially ok to buy that shabby chic distressed dressing table you have had your eye on all year, or that pretty mirror to check out your new Christmas dress.

So go on, take a browse and enjoy, there are lots of bargains to be had, and I’m sure they won’t be around long! xx

hello & merry christmas to one & all,

well the year is coming to a close and what an exciting year it has been for us at Touches. We have launched our buy on line website that we are constantly up dating with new and exciting products and ideas. We have introduced lots of new areas such as the children’s clothes and rustic garden areas, and have many more exciting products to inspire you. 

Sadly, we have said goodbye after 5 fantastic years to our Chester shop, but we are dedicating alot more time on improving our website and Fron Goch shop so in 2009 you will see the introduction of lots more exciting areas and products. So keep popping back and checking, in 2009 we hope to excite you with lots of lovely beautiful and practical gifts and ideas.

A great big thank you to all our customers so wrap warm and we wish you all a really cosy, christmas.

lots of festive love

kati & justin xx

After five very good years in the heart of Chester we have come to the end of our time in our Watergate Street shop. It’s a very sad time for us as we say goodbye but also an exciting one as we make our Caernarfon shop in the Fron Goch Garden Centre our main site and really get the website up and running. So we would like to thank you all for your support over the years and hope you will come and see us in Caernarfon and keep an eye on all our new products via the website.

Wednesday 17th December 2008

A quick note as christmas is approaching fast this year and at Touches we want to make sure that you get all your presents, gifts and treats in time.

To guarentee this all orders for Christmas need to reach us by 17th December. Our ‘elves’ will then pack and dispatch them so you get them in time. 

So get mooching around the site for original, country gifts for everyone.

Hello,

Welcome to our first ever blog! Firstly let me introduce myself, my name is Kati and I have been with Touches for just over four years. My job involves seeking out new, exciting, practical products that can be slotted into the home to enhance and create a country style and look. I work alomgside Justin and the Touches team and as a company we aim to inspire you. To do this we work hard, creating scenes and ideas that can be easily repeated and compliment existing furniture and furnishings within your home.   

Thus welcome to our blog. The idea of this is simple. We wanted to be able to correspond with our customers, providing tips, ideas and listen to there queries and inspirations. So here we are…….. we will use this space to help you with any design ideas as best we can, update our own thoughts and let you know what new products we have in and how best to use them.  So link to us, email us or add a post, I look forward to hearing from you shortly.

Kati x