Blog
Some things won't fit on a product page. Why too fine a line disappears into the wood, how many days you should really allow, and what each wedding anniversary is called.
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How to decorate a newborn baby's room
At first, you picture a colour, a cot and perhaps a name on the wall. Then the baby arrives at three in the morning: can you enter without the ceiling light, reach a clean nappy with one hand and sit down without moving three cushions? The best nursery looks after the whole family.
By Fred Read -
The night they were born
There is always someone who wasn’t there. And the first thing you ask, when you weren’t, is: when? At night? Nobody can quite answer. That night, nobody was looking out of a window.
By Cornélia Read -
What to say to people who have just had a baby
The message has been open for twenty minutes. “Congratulations” has already gone round the group chat three times. And you would like to write something that doesn’t read like everyone else’s.
By Fred Read -
A gift for the mother, not the baby
Three days in, there are seventeen babygros in the room and not one thing for her. Nobody did it on purpose. Presents follow the gaze, and everyone is looking at the baby.
By Cornélia Read -
What you forget about a birth in five years
There is always someone who wasn’t there. And often it is that person who remembers best five years on: they wrote the hour on the corner of something as they hung up, because it was all they had.
By Fred Read -
The christening gift that doesn't end up in a drawer
One more piece of silver, and a drawer closes on it. What godparents actually want is a gift the child will wear — and recognise as theirs. Here's how this bracelet does that, how to get the size right without guessing, and how much notice you really need to give.
By Cornélia Read -
The moon of that one night: what gift, for which occasion
Everyone wants an "original" gift, and most people end up buying the same scented candle as everyone else. This one has an edge no candle will ever have: the moon wasn't the same the night before or the night after. Here's where that actually matters, answered as the questions people actually ask before ordering.
By Fred Read -
Paper to platinum: what each wedding anniversary is called
Everyone knows silver, gold and diamond. Past those three the traditional list thins out fast, argues with itself, and stops matching the French or German one altogether. Here is the whole thing, and where the seams are.
By Cornélia Read -
What to give for a wedding anniversary
The useful question is not which material belongs to which year. It is who is giving. A husband, the grown-up children organising the lunch, and a guest arriving with a parcel are solving three different problems on three different budgets.
By Fred Read -
Framing a poster yourself, or ordering it framed
A poster rolled in a tube stays rolled in a tube. The real question is who frames it and where — and for British buyers there is a sizing trap worth knowing before you order.
By Cornélia Read -
How early should you order before the date?
The real question is never “how fast do you ship”. It is “will it be there by Sunday”. Here is the arithmetic, with no comfort rounding.
By Fred Read -
Engraving a date: four ways, and what each one says
A date fits in eight characters. That is the simplest way, and often the least well chosen — because it says everything, at once, to anyone.
By Cornélia Read