Lara Designs was founded in 1986 by industrial designer Louis A. Lara, with a dream of bringing products of his own design to market, as well as curated pieces from other design colleagues. All his products’ designs reflect his unique aesthetic and attention to detail, and the Harley Pepper Mill & Spice Grinder is no different.

The KitchenAid Artisan range is quite a beauty to behold; these bold statement kitchen pieces will look stunning on any worktop. We received the 1.5L Kettle in Empire Red, but it is also available in seven other colours: Frosted Pearl, Almond Cream, Onxy Black, Candy Apple, Raspberry Ice, Medallion Silver and Cast Iron Black.

iSmartAlarm provide a flexible, expandable and complete DIY-smart home security system that doesn’t require contracts or monthly fees, and can be customised to suit your home and needs.

iSmartAlarm has lots of packages to choose from, but we will be looking at the essential pack. This pack comes with a Spot Camera, a CubeOne, a Contact Sensor, a Motion Sensor and Remote tag, ideal for setting up in small homes.

There’s nothing quite like the smell of an electric fan or heater - the burning smell of collected dust being blown at you whilst you try to work at your desk, then switching to an equally musty smelling fan in the summer time. The BEEM Air Joy takes the hassle out of regulating your room temperature by merging both heater and fan into one device without the use of grates or blades that collect dust over time.

Since 1991, Lumie have been researching and producing lights to tackle the symptoms of seasonal affective disorder (or S.A.D.) The Zest can be used as a wake-up light for a more natural start to the day, and it can also be used as a light therapy device to give you a boost in the winter months or if you are stuck indoors. Your body is hardwired to wake up to the gradual rise of the sun, but due to our busy modern lives this very rarely goes hand in hand with when you need to get up.

Whilst on a recent weekend away, we had just arrived in our holiday home after a five hour delayed flight and running off 1 ½hours sleep. One of my fellow travellers had been repeatedly grumbling about how desperate he was for a coffee – however, when I brandished an ancient looking jar of instant coffee under his nose, he looked at me like I had just offered him my sweat-ridden hiking socks in a cup of boiling water. The point I am trying to make here is that just because all coffee has the word “coffee” on the label, doesn’t mean it all tastes the same.

I live with a person that I affectionately call a collector but is, in reality, a hoarder in training. It all started as a child with Kinder Egg toys and has progressed as an adult into vinyl records and creepy ‘vintage’ toys and curios. As you can imagine, his eyes lit up when he saw the Bell Jar Light, as his head flooded with items he could display in it.

I can look back and laugh now about how ridiculous my partner and I were the first time our cat didn’t come home when called. We have two boys who have always been reliable at coming home when we whistle, but on the day that is now known as No Finley Friday I remember me, my partner and the other cat running up and down the road trying to locate the fourth member of our little family. Four hours later, of course, he strolled in like nothing had happened, much to our frustration and relief.

Microplane tools moved their way from the workshop to the kitchen in 1994, after a Canadian woman who was attempting to make an orange cake found her grater simply wasn’t working on the fruit, and grabbed a woodworking tool instead. The blade slid effortlessly across the orange and provided her with the zest she needed, and this discovery laid the foundation for the creation of the Microplane kitchen graters.

In this hot weather, it is difficult to beat a nice cold beer with friends, but if you are anything like my group of mates this often results in a discussion/argument over the best way to serve a beer. Most people will agree that a beer poured from the tap in a pub is the ultimate in taste and condition; the downside to this is having to pay the ever-increasing prices and sharing your relaxing time with a bunch of alcoholic locals that immediately make you reconsider ever putting a beer to your lips again.