Blow the budget

The ViSpring bed has a built-in pocket-sprung mattress. Each one is handmade to order, there are no synthetic materials and the mattresses are filled with breathable natural fibres, including lambswool, cotton and long-stranded horsehair. The Beckhams and Paris Hilton have them – the latter requested one when she served jail time last year.

Standard double (W150cm x L200cm), from £2,875; Sublime Supreme standard double, £8,350. From ViSpring; 0800 592952, www.vispring.co.uk

The green room

Not many cabinets can take all your entertainment kit, including cables, or have hinges that allow the doors to open 170 degrees. This one can, and it’s ecofriendly, too. Made from bamboo, with a wheat strawboard backing – both sustainable resources – it contains neither wood nor formaldehyde and uses low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) glues and binders.

Grass cabinet, W120cm x H57cm x D42cm, £499, from Pli Design; 020 8670 6857, www.plidesign.co.uk

Cheap ’n’ chic

This dish rack by the Dutch designer Chris Koens might even get the kids interested in helping to wash up. It’s certainly more interesting – and fun – than the standard models.

Dish Bunny, £14.50, from Dutch by Design; 0870 892 1903, www.dutchbydesign.com

Back to basics

Retro fridges are hugely stylish, hugely popular – and usually anything but cheap. This affordable family-sized model, however, has all the right lines, a capacity of 242l (fridge) and 68l (freezer), special antibacterial protection and an A energy rating. Available in several colours.

Freestanding fridge-freezer, £680, from Gorenje; 020 8247 3980, www.gorenjeuk.co.uk

Natural history

The pattern of this wallpaper, with a parrot motif, comes from English Heritage’s archives of fragments salvaged from period buildings – in this case from a Georgian terraced house opposite Great Ormond Street hospital, in London. Gorgeous.

£49 per roll, from The Little Greene Paint Company; 0845 880 5855, www.thelittlegreene.com

If you buy only one thing...

Stylish, cheap, versatile and ecofriendly, this table light has an LED bulb and can be used with the base or clamped to a table – perfect when space is at a premium. Available in red, black, white and green.

Lack clamp table light, £16.99, from Ikea; 0845 355 1141, www.ikea.co.uk

designcounsel@sunday-times.co.uk

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