Home & Garden

Home: Amanda from The Women's Room Location: Barnes, London What do you do in the kitchen and who with? Music and mess happens. Although the kitchen is the centre of my cooking universe, three teenage sons and middleagedad also think… Read More

You know how much we love the eclectic style and unique interiors featured in blogs like The Selby and Set Design Thinking.So we decided to invite some of our friends and readers to let us take a look round at… Read More

Ever fancied the idea of owning a restaurant? Well if you are a good enough cook, it might be possible and all in the privacy of your own home. All over the world supper clubs are popping up as a… Read More

Set Design Thinking is a beautiful blog by Bella, a Bazillian art director, featuring stunning images of interesting interiors, set design, architecture and photography from around the world. Gorgeous!… Read More

  Happy Father's Day to all our lovely dad's out there, and in case you are scrapping around trying to find wrapping paper and sellotape for your last minute present wrapping, can we point you towards the wonderful jewel box… Read More

A while ago middleagefamily went on safari to South Africa. The animals are fantastic, of course, but one of the best bits about the Kwandwe game reserve we stayed at was the brilliant chef, who made pretty much everything we ate,… Read More

After our popular post on The Red Hat society, Women's Room reader Jacqueline told us about a terrific website called Juicy Tomatoes.com, written (really well) by newspaper columnist, author and broadcaster Susan Swartz.  It is a website promoting life after… Read More

Wild at Heart is one of The Women's Room's favourite florists and today it is hosting a summer fair that is worth detouring on the way home for, if you live in London (and apologies to those who don't). Owner… Read More

Columbia Road is one of our favourite Sunday morning haunts. What could be better than a bacon butty and large mug of tea and a stroll round some of the most eclectic and original shops in London, not to mention the… Read More

Over the last few years the humble garden shed has been re-invented. Not only is it a place to store bikes and garden equipment, it's now a spare room, office or a garden retreat. Middleaged dad has always yearned for his very own shed… Read More

Peggy Porschen is more of an artist than a mere baker and decorator of cakes. We love her attention to detail and amazing colour combinations. After moving to London in 1998 and graduating top of her class at the prestigious… Read More

Recipes made with ingredients that are grown locally often mean that the cook has a real understanding of what goes into the mix. So it is with banana bread, according to Grace, the Women's Room's own Caribbean connection who, being… Read More

     Fish pie at Recipease I am in a designer kitchen surrounded by stylish olive chopping boards and bottles of quality olive oil, where I am carefully scattering grated cheese over my mashed potato and wondering if I should add… Read More

If you are passionate about food and would like a chance to meet and sample some of the best quality producers and chefs in the UK. Get your self along to The Real Food Show at Earls Court next weekend.One of the most… Read More

Another of our favourite stores is Few & Far, Priscilla Carluccio’s emporium of fab hand picked stuff from around the globe. Starting from today until the end of the summer (or the stock runs out) there is an Indian Summer… Read More

ABC carpets in New York has long been one of our favourite shops in the world. A fabulous 10 floor emporium stacked with new and vintage eclectic homeware, its like exploring your rich, well travelled, great aunts attic. We never miss the opportunity to visit… Read More

  There was a moment in the new Reginald Perrin series on BBC One this Friday night where, sat on a crowded train and surrounded by earphone wearing, bored commuters all crammed in to each other’s spaces (see yesterday’s post)… Read More

Our fashion and retail readers in the industry may already know of the knowledgeable Ms Horyn of The New York Times. She is, in The Women's Room's opinion, one of the best fashion writers in the world (we'll give you… Read More

For all our readers with a love of taxidermy, bell jars, moon cycles and a bit of Stevie-Nicks inspired gothic magic… Every time we go onto Etsy.com we are amazed by the incredible wealth of talent and imagination we find… Read More

Petersham Nurseries It’s almost law that you must visit a garden centre at least once over the Easter weekend. Four whole days with the family can sometimes seem a little long if one doesn’t have any plans and ‘I’m just… Read More

There is nothing more satisfying (in our opinion) than homemade cakes displayed proudly on a cake stand. Your kitchen is transformed into a sweet smelling 1920's tea room and you into a smug domestic goddess. Baking is something I have only recently come… Read More

Elspeth Thompson is an gardening writer, who recently wrote The Wonderful Weekend Book: Reclaiming Life's Simple Pleasures, a beautiful book packed full of ideas for free, pleasurable ways of making the weekend a time of simple pleasures.She divides her time between London… Read More

Maybe its our age, or a sign of the times, but increasingly we find we just wont put up with bad service. Whether its inefficient systems, rude behavior or simply low quality goods, we are not willing to let it… Read More

 Labour and Wait One of my favourite shops in the world (and I've been to quite a few) is Coopers of Halesworth. Never heard of it? I'm not surprised. Coopers is a chain of hardware shops, well known in Norfolk… Read More