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Thank you Ideal Home Magazine for voting our storage solutions website A Place For Everything.co.uk as your favourite storage website this September.
We’re very proud to have achieved this accolade especially given that we ranked above such big retail names as IKEA who made 3rd place and fashion and home retailer Next who were even further down the table.
A quick ‘Google’ reveals that there’s many a tall tail floating around Hollywood suggesting that Ford got his big break when (working as a carpenter) he was installing wardrobe shelving at the home of George Lucas. The LuscasFilm boss offering him the part of Han Solo in Star Wars off the back of an impromptu on the spot audition in his newly fitted walk-in wardrobe!
Ford was quick to dispel this longstanding myth recently saying in an interview with Mark Lawson on BBC Radio 4 that,
“If I’d have done all the shelving jobs I’ve been credited for in Hollywood I’d be a very rich carpenter”
…instead of a very rich actor of course! So what’s the true story and why does Ford have 27 years’ worth of Fine Woodworking Magazine on a shelf in his home office?
"...and we''ll put the first shelf in about here"
Well Ford was in fact a struggling actor in the early 1970s and yes he was supplementing his income by installing (office) shelving when Lucus bumped into him in a reception area of a Hollywood film company offices. Having worked with Ford previously, Lucus invited him to audition for his new film American Graffiti. Ford went on to work for Lucus as Han Solo in Star Wars and the rest is, well in the words of Lucas, all “a long time ago in a galaxy far far away”.
Harrison Ford is currently starring in the film Extraordinary Measures which is released in UK on Friday 26th February and doesn’t I’m afraid have a plot centred on shelving and storage.
The Daily Telegraph reports today that Howards Storage World will be opening its West Lothian branch on Saturday.
The article says “The new store, in Livingston, West Lothian, has been opened through a franchise agreement with a company called HSW UK, in which Howards Storage World has a stake.”
There is little information on the brand well known in Australia other than “The retailer sells everything from hose racks to bicycle hooks. The original concept was launched by co-owner Les Howard in a Sydney suburb in 1970 under the name Stack & Store.”
Read;
I have been waiting for this opening for a while now and will definitely be popping for a look around on my next trip north.
I can’t believe how many times we get asked for shoe storage boxes and shoe racks each day in STORE and walking around our stock room I can’t believe how many different shoe storage ideas we stock. Not content with stocking one type of shoe rack and a simple clear plastic shoe storage box, our buyer Lindsey has to have more and more (and more shoe storage ideas in store). I’m still not convinced that the trip to L.A. to find the best clear sliding and stacking shoe drawers was entirely work related but hey, our clear plastic shoe boxes are fab. and all the way from L.A.
Lindsey’s latest shoe storage foray has been to the Gulf of Finland where she’d found the most amazing shoe storage cabinets. We tried and tested a few shoe storage cabinets from the UK over the last couple of years but they’ve just all been, well, rather underwhelming! We then went and looked at some seriously expensive shoe storage cabinets in Italy and finally this week she’s plumped for a great range of shoe benches and shoes storage cabinets in oak, walnut and MDF. Check ‘em out online and in STORE (soon) as I think they’re a really nice storage product at a really good price and much better than any shoe storage cabinets we’ve seen in UK before. Better still, Lindsey gets yet another gold star for her umpteenth new shoe storage addition to the store range!
We can’t get enough of our wicker, seagrass, and pandan storage boxes and we’ve just created a really nice area in the Saltney store showing what you can do in your lounge if you’re after that Colonial style look. This is what I’d recommend:
-A mix of closed and open wicker storage will hide what’s awkward and highlight what’s beautiful. We’ve used wicker log baskets and segrass magazine racks as well as some lidden pandan boxes for DVD and CD storage in our in-store display.
-Keep children’s toys in a big beautiful wicker or wood storage trunk in the living room. It can serve as a coffee table too. Our large Colonial style wicker chest works a treat!
-Use an oversized wicker or seagrass basket to store magazines and newspapers from the floor and coffee table. Have a clear-out once a week to keep the pile in check. We’ve taken one of our traditional wicker log baskets and used it as an oversized magazine basket in our store display.
-If you’re looking for effective, functional and good-looking storage for your living room, invest in a set of giant rattan boxes or cubes (leather if you prefer a more modern look). They’re perfect for storing away clutter and make great occasional tables too.
It’s amazing how often we get requests from overseas customers for our storage and organisational products. Unfortunately we only ship to UK, and Ireland at present but do occasionally send our storage solutions to Europe and USA if you give us a ring us at STORE.
Actually that’s not strictly true, we had a request from NATO recently to ship 500 wooden shoe racks to Afghanistan to help with storage issues in their Kabul barracks. Packing the shoe racks was easy but the transport was a tad more difficult and required a USAF aircraft from Germany! Back on subject and if you don’t live in the UK here’s a few overseas retailers that may be able to help:
For our Antipodean friends who keep asking us to ship down under, Australia has it’s very own storage and organisational store, Howards Storage World (HSW). We’ve never ventured into one of Howards Storage World stores in Australia but if the Howards Storage World website is anything to go by they’re doing a great job.
Recently Howards Storage World has also opened stores in the Middle East, Spain and now Ireland and Scotland. Welcome to the UK Howards Storage World who are opening in The Centre Livingston (83 Almondvale South next to Argos if you want to take a look). If you live near-by and want to take a trip plug in EH54 6NB into your Sat. Nav.
As well as stocking the usual range of home storage products, Howards Storage World UK will also be stocking elfa shelving and storage systems so the good folk shopping in The Centre Livingston can also see the great elfa and elfa decor range that we so often shout about. HSW’s Easy-Build shelving system is also worth a look too if you live near Howards in Livingston, it’s is a free standing, fully adjustable shelving solution that doesn’t require tools to assemble. Pre-designed kits are available from Howards for shelves, wardrobes and even wine racks.
As and when we hear more from Howards Storage World UK up in Livingston we’ll keep you posted. If you prefer, Howards Storage World has a great e-newsletter so you can receive regular updates on Howards products and de-cluttering tips. Simply log-on to the Howards Storage World Website for more details.
For those of you who don’t live near one of our very own STORE’s here in the North West we’ve a lot of respect for UK retailer Lakeland. Originally known as Lakeland Plastics they’ve some great ideas in their Lakeland Solutions catalogue. If you can’t find what you’re looking for in our STORE we’re always sending our customers in the direction of Lakeland Chester as their range of kitchen bakeware products is second to none.
Across the pond in USA we love The Container Store. For those of you who can’t get to one of their 60 odd stores you can also shop online for their great ideas on storage and organisation. Better still they have a great design service for elfa and elfa decor shelving which can be used in The Container Store and also online just like Howards Storage World in Oz.
Living Etc. latest issue had a really nice “Get The Look” type article featuring Swedish artist Carola Kastman’s home this month. I really loved her clothes storage ideas. In a tiny little room she’s created a simply yet stylish walk-in wardrobe without the necessity for bags of space, using open shelving and mirrors on the opposite wall to pull more light into this small area.
Our elfa décor range used as a walk-in wardrobe!
The feature got me thinking about a similar project using our range of Swedish elfa shelving where our customer converted a box room into a stylish dressing room with elfa decor. Gone was the wardrobe cluttering up her bedroom and in was a full-on wow factor walk-in wardrobe that really made the best use of space with loads of elfa’s clever storage ideas. I guess my only disappointment on seeing Carola Kastman’s Swedish wardrobe was that it wasn’t an elfa wardrobe system from STORE but reading on I noticed that LivingEtc. mention STORE and our neat elfa wardrobe internals as a clever way of achieving the same look whether inside a fitted wardrobe or if creating a walk-in wardrobe or dressing room.
My colleagues insisted I write something in our storage solutions blog about the article on STORE in last October’s Elle Decoration. We’re delighted that Elle Decoration (the world’s best-selling homes magazine) dedicated an entire page entitled “Box Clever” in their Insider Guide to us. The article on page 68 was the result of an interview conducted over the telephone whilst my new baby boy (Will) cried incessantly in the background. If you want to take a look and can’t find a copy at your local store you can subscribe at www.elledeco.co.uk. The article even provoked a phone call from my sister at the other end of the country quoting that Elle Deco had branded me a “Storage Guru” ! To Read More Click Here!
We’ve a great range of coloured and fun storage boxes here at STORE including our famous pink, purple and blue transparent plastic toy storage boxes which are a real winner with Cheshire’s little girls and boys as well as our range of new furry animal shaped toy storage boxes.
Our new glossy card toy storage boxes with chalkboard fronts on them come complete with chalk and a board rubber and also offer a fun way to encourage the kids to clear-up after themselves.
Using coloured, fun shaped or unusual storage boxes such as our chalk board toy storage boxes to assist keeping your little darlings organised may though just save your sanity as well as a bit of storage space!
When purchasing storage boxes for kids toys etc., assign each child a different coloured or shaped storage box for their clutter to keep their belongings in and encourage them to be responsible for tidying-up after themselves. You never know, if decluttering and organising by coloured storage boxes works for your kids, it may even just help get you organised too!
Our Superb Shoe Storage Racks!
November’s House Beautiful magazine suggested that STORE’s storage website APlaceForEverything.co.uk was THE place to visit for ‘small space storage’ in an article titled ‘Style on a Shoestring’…thanks guys!….but I was also interested to see IKEA’s new Hemnes slimline shoe cabinets which look like a really neat new shoe storage idea. The Hemnes shoe cabinet only has legs at the front so that the shoe cabinet can stand closer to the skirting board. My only criticism is that it only store 8 pairs of shoes, which for such a big unit is a real shame.
If you’re in the market for a shoe storage cabinet and looking for something a bit different do check-out our new range of shoe cabinets in oak and walnut all the way from the Gulf of Finland.
It took us over two years to find a decent quality range of shoe cabinets but we think we’ve got shoe storage sorted with these!