Certain numbers are traditionally believed by some Chinese to be auspicious.The word for eight in Chinese sounds similar to the word which means “prosper” or “wealth”.The shape of the Chinese character for 8 (八) indicates in Chinese culture that a person will have a great, wide future as the character starts off narrow and gets wider toward the bottom. The  number eight is therefore considered very lucky.

The new Eight Bowl, lucky for some.

Here at Homebits we have a new take on the number eight which you may also consider as a lucky addition to your home; we certainly think it is an attractive one.

Small ‘Pinch Me’ pots hold just enough of your favourite condiment; one per guest?

Two for One Bowls are a brand new range of hand made wooden bowls; they are made sustainably from white oak. The shape of these different bowls echos the shape of the  number eight; this was their design inspiration. Their obvious uses in kitchen and entertaining could easily be extended to storage in living room, bedroom, bathroom or hall.

A clever combination of small and large; now comes with a glass insert bowl for the olives.

The list is endless; you could say just think outside the “bowl”!

The squeegee goes back to the Middle Ages, it was used by  fishermen to scrape fish guts off boat decks; these wooden swabs were called “squilgees.” In the more modern days of the 20th century  window washers adopted a rubber-bladed version of this tool. American cities like Chicago and New York had an explosion in high rise building leading to ever increasing numbers of windows to clean and so the modern ”squeegee” was born to speed up this process.

Smart sleek minimal squeegee from Blomus

Nowdays we still clean our windows using a sqeegee but many of us also have a squeegee in the shower to clean off the water excess on tiles and glass. For many years these have not been keeping up with the high design development in bathroom fittings and they were something you would hide away in a drawer or cupboard rather than hang on the wall where it would obviously be more convenient to use after showering.

White squeegee with clear handle, perfect with modern decor.

At Homebits we have quite a varied choice of designer sqeegees which sell really well so this display in the shower idea is definately catching on. They are all able to hang up on the wall or shower door to stay tidy and with some brands you can even buy a replacement blade. We want to spread the word to you all so come and have a look at our sqeegees.

Brand new from Frost Design in Denmark, hang it on the shower door.

You will see that things have come a long way since the Middle Ages!

Stylish Piet Boon Hardware

 At Pulse Exhibition in Earls Court on this week we saw something quirky but quite nice so we thought we would share it with you.

Piet Boon in your bathroom

On Homebits we sell uber cool bathroom fittings and door hardware in stainless steel by a Dutch designer called Piet Boon who is world famous for the incredible sophistication in his villa designs. It is currently on trend and a very popular choice for modern builds or refurbishments.

Super white corian Piet Boon bathroom fittings are very stylish

 We were amazed to see Piet Boon wallpaper that actually looked like concrete at the exhibition. It looked very realistic and it would make a fabulous setting for their hardware that would not involve major refurbishments.It’s really a modern take on Trompe-l’oeil which is French for ‘deceive the eye’. Statley homes in the UK and Europe often have detailed examples of this but it goes back much, much, further than this  to ancient times when stone walls were painted to look like real marble.

Just goes to show that the old ideas are often the best and they are definately worth a second look.

Summer days in the garden, plant amongst your flowers for a modern twist.

Remember that time when you were a child on a day trip to the seaside there was always a shop selling buckets and spades that often hung in their doorways to attract younger customers. Once you enticed your parents inside this Alladin’s cave you would emerge some long time later proudly carrying the spoils. A  coloured plastic bucket and spade clutched in one hand, such agony to decide which colour, and you just had to have a windmill that spun wildly around the very minute you stepped outside into the strong coastal breeze of seaside Britain.

Blomus Viento 2 Pinwheel in stainless steel.

Blomus Viento 3 Pinwheel small and large.

Returning home in the evening with this booty safey stowed in the car boot the bucket often transplanted itself into the house to become a useful depository for all sorts of useful stuff. The windmills lived on as everlasting blooms planted in the garden like automated scarecrows oblivious to the weather blooming through Summer and Winter alike.

The Sandcastle bowl designed by Green and Blue, celebrates English holidays by the sea.

Slipcast in ceramic “Sandcastle” is handmade in England and available in three colours, white, blue and yellow.

Ahhh childhood memories!!

Blomus Grado Thermometer for garden, wall or window.

You can picture the scene, three complete strangers sitting in the waiting room at a garage waiting for the MOT on their cars. When the daytime TV in the corner fails to impress what do they talk abount? The weather, how bad it is because it is too cold /hot/ unseasonal or even occasionally, how nice it is!  It is a safe subject that does not get too personal and we can all agree that if only it was different things would generally be better all round.Most people from larger continents have to learn this British etiquette but after a few seasons they get it right. Maybe this explains why our designer items to do with weather literally fly off our shelves. Its the perfect gift  suitable for young trainee weather watchers or older  more seasoned weather warriors!

Eva Solo Rain Gauge
Something to plant in your garden that is both beautiful and intresting.

What could be better and if they are right about global warming it looks set to last a long time.

Jacob Jensen design weather monitoring sets on a handy stand or you can mount them on the wall; the perfect gift for a weather watcher.

We are now in the closing stages of the new look homebits website after many months so watch this space

We are pleased to celebrate the start of the school summer holidays with a 10% off weekend for all items on our website when you enter evoucher code HB2YF13 in the checkout.