So it’s goodbye to another summer as August draws to a close. We had a great summer here at Kaleidoscope – we liked wearing our shift dresses and sunglasses in the sunshine and enjoying the lovely hot weather. We hope your summer was fabulous as well.

As the seasons change, so do our wardrobes. It’s difficult to have your summer and winter clothes together, but most of us don’t have the storage space to have two separate wardrobes. The best thing to do is to clear out your summer wardrobe now so that you make space for your winter wardrobe (remember, all of those coats and jumpers take up a lot of room).

Clearing out your summer wardrobe now also means that you’ll only keep the ladies fashion you really love. It will also make it easier for you to see what you need to buy next summer.

Clearing out is easy but you need to be ruthless. You should get rid of a piece of clothing if you haven’t worn it in over six months; if it no longer fits; if it looks too dated or if you no longer have anywhere to wear it. These items can go to the charity shop. Remember to clear out your shoes and accessories as well.

Flower arranging is a very popular hobby, and with good reason. It’s relaxing, creative and the results can really brighten up your home. It’s also liberating to be able to arrange your own flowers, rather than having to rely on the arrangements you find in the shops (especially the rather unimaginative displays which are found in the supermarkets).

So, where to start? There are lots of flower arranging clubs and classes up and down the country and you might like to join one of them. But really, flower arranging is something that you can experiment with at home. In fact, that’s part of the fun – discovering your own creativity whilst working with the best that nature has to offer.

Try this for starters. Choose a few of your favourite flowers, either from the local florist, your favourite home shopping catalogues or even from you own garden.  Then fill a vase up with warm water – not too full, perhaps around ¾ of the way full. You could put a tiny bit of bleach in the water to keep it clear.

Now turn your attention to the flowers you’ve picked. Spread them out on a flat surface and separate them into the following categories: ornamental flowers, foliage and “fillers”, which are the plants which look OK but not as beautiful as the ornamental ones.

Start by putting the foliage around the edge of the vase. Don’t use too much otherwise you’ll stifle the flowers. Now put your ornamental flowers into the vase, one at a time. Put your tallest flower in the centre and work your way around with the other flowers descending in height order. Intersperse with fillers and then rearrange as necessary.

Going on holiday is always a marvellous treat, but you must make sure that your home is as safe and secure as

Portmeirion Design Botanic Blue Table Lamp

possible before you leave it. Coming home from a blissful week or two away from home to discover that your home has been ransacked by thieves would be devastating, to say the least.

It’s best to take professional advice from home security experts before your trip, but here are a few simple pointers to help you protect your home against thieves whilst you’re away.

Tell your neighbours how long you’ll be away for and ask them to keep an eye on your property. If you offer to do the same for them when they go away, they’ll surely return the favour.

Add security lights to your front and back doors and around the garden. These switch on when people approach your property. Similarly, laying a gravel path up to your front door or in your garden might deter thieves as your neighbours will hear them coming.

Put your home lighting on a time switch so that it goes on and off at the times that you would usually use the lights – e.g. switch on at 8pm when it goes dark and off at 11pm when you would usually go to bed. A few strategically placed lamps will help to distribute light around the house so that it seems occupied from any angle.

Lily Rug

Rugs have always been a popular household item. In recent years, however, their popularity has grown because so many people favour wooden floorboards over carpet, and wooden floorboards really do need a rug.

Whether you have floorboard or carpet, however, a strategically placed rug can create an entirely new look in any room.

If you want to add warmth and texture to a room, then choose a rug in a warm and neutral tone – think beige, chocolate or mocha. These tones also suit most colour schemes and look timeless and elegant.

Perhaps you want to add an element of surprise to a room – do you want to create a feeling of crazy, bohemian exuberance? Then have a few mismatched items in your room, of which your rug should be the biggest and boldest. Choose a rug with a bold print or pattern, a must-feel texture and a good size – and make sure it clashes with your wallpaper!

Maybe it’s the other way round. Perhaps you have a muted room that you want to bring some life to, but in a more classic way. Assuming that your walls and soft furnishings are in plain tones, choose a rug in which incorporates that colour but mixes it with a bold pattern in a contrasting colour. This Lily Rug is a fine example as it has a striking yet classic floral pattern against a muted backdrop.

100 Bulb Mix

If you enjoy pottering about in the garden, or even just sitting in it with the kids, a drink and a good book, then you must be enjoying the recent good weather that we’ve had.

There’s nothing quite like an English garden in the summer. The sound of the bees, the brightness of the flowers and the gentle buzz of your neighbour’s lawnmower – or rather, the gentle buzz of the lawnmower that your neighbour borrowed from you last summer and hasn’t returned yet!

If you’re wondering what to plant for the summer, then bright flowers are your best and most obvious bet. It is the season that they thrive in, especially the rose. Why not plant rows of differently coloured roses for to create a gorgeous wave of colour across your garden?

Don’t forget those hanging baskets and containers as well. It’s not all about the soil and the lawn. By using baskets and plant pots, you can create many levels of colour, smell and texture. Get creative!

Other summer flowers to plant include blooming bulbs like dahlias and canas. You might also try sunflowers (gorgeous!), nasturtiums and cosmos. Your local garden centre should be able to advise on the best way to plant them.

“Space is at a premium” has become one of those well-worn phrases in the land of house buying and selling. It can be

Corner Storage Seating Unit

tricky to find a house that’s big enough for all of our stuff and our family members at the kind of price that we can pay. Even if we do find a house that’s spacious enough, we soon fill it up to capacity with our loved ones and belongings!

That’s why it’s so important to maximise space in the home. Did you know that we only use five per cent of our brain? It’s a bit like how we use our living spaces. Actually, we could all use our living spaces to better effect. Our things could be stored in a more compact and efficient manner. What is really amazing is that when we store our things in a clever and efficient way, it can appear that we have more space left over to enjoy – we almost get the whole room back!

Our new Autumn 2010 collection, which launches on Kaleidoscope in July, is full of clever space-saving ideas for your home. We particularly like this Corner Storage Seating Unit. It’s a stylish seating and storage solution all in one! You can buy one unit as a single chair or build your own storage sofa to seat as many people as you want. Each brown faux leather unit opens to reveal under-seat storage. Very clever indeed!

You can reserve any of the items in our new collection now and they will be dispatched as soon as they become available.

Chrysanthemum Cushion

There’s nothing quite like an array of cushions nestling for space on your favourite sofa or bed to create an atmosphere of luxury and comfort.

Cushions are an essential addition to every home. In fact, cushions are one of those rare items that really can transform a house into a home.

You can be really creative when choosing and arranging your cushions. Traditionally, you would have a few cushions, all covered with the same fabric, and arrange them very neatly around your furniture. Of course, these days anything goes. If you’re into shabby chic, then why not buy loads of clashing cushions and throw them all together for a messy yet homely look?

We’ve got quite a few delightful cushions in our soft furnishings range for you to enjoy here at Kaleidoscope.  For starters, here’s a lovely Chrysanthemum Cushion with has a great texture as well as a lovely colour. Its faux silk fabric is embossed with a large flower and the results are stunning. In fact, it’s already achieved five star reviews – and it’s on sale!

Now it’s time do the rumba – no, not the dance, the cushion! On a similarly floral note, the Rumba Cushion (which is also on sale!) is a stunning cushion with an oh so touchable raise flower on the front. It’s available in brown and green, so why not get a few of each for a really colourful effect?

The key to decorating your home lies as much in your vision and imagination as it does the actual practicalities of what your home

Zurich Standard Lined Curtains

looks like. In other words – just because you live in a small flat, doesn’t mean you can’t take inspiration from opulent mansions and grand country houses!

Opulence can mean expensive or antique-looking items, or a feeling of decadence with red and gold fabrics. It’s up to you! Find out how to bring a touch of luxury and opulence to your home décor with a few simple tips and tricks.

First of all, lighting is key. Harsh, modern lighting brings too stark a look to your rooms. Instead, bring your lighting tones down a touch or two. As for the type of lighting – well, chandeliers are a classic and can be found in all shapes and sizes. Tiffany-style lamps are also deliciously opulent.

Colours are key when thinking opulent. Forgo the modern look once more and paint over those magnolias and neutral tones with dark reds and lush dark blues. If your room is small, just paint one or two walls to keep a feeling of space. Textured wallpaper also gives an opulent feel. Why not just wallpaper one or two walls and paint the other walls in a matching red or gold colour?

Art-nouveau ornaments can help to give an opulent feel in a way that’s inexpensive yet clever. Antique-style figurines, golden ornaments and textured glass photo frames all add to the luxurious look.

Round Day Bed

Have you got your garden furniture sorted out for this year yet?

If not, don’t worry, as it means you’ll have time to read this blog post first and catch up on the latest trend! Did you know that this year’s most fashionable gardens are sporting wicker furniture?

It’s no surprise that wicker furniture is proving to be hugely popular (in fact, lots of happy Kaleidoscope shoppers have already snapped some up for themselves). It is practical, but it looks wholly aspirational. Proof indeed that you don’t need to sacrifice good looks for the realities of the English weather when it comes to garden furniture.

Wicker furniture is lightweight and durable, which is great news if you like to move your furniture around the garden to catch the best angle of the sun (or if you like to move your furniture out of the way of the kids’ football games!).

We’re pleased to announce a new wicker furniture arrival for this month – the Round Day Bed. Doesn’t it look sumptuous? We’d certainly love to curl up on that in the sunshine (especially with champers and strawberries as featured in that perfect photo). The Round Day Bed has an aluminum frame and a resin, rattan and polyester cream canopy and cushions. The covers are washable, which is good news if you have any champagne accidents!

Electroflex Reflexology Machine

How many of us really treat our feet? In fact, how many of us actually like our feet? Most of us prefer to keep our tootsies away from public view and pay as little attention to them as possible.

That’s something of a shame because one of the best holistic therapies around is reflexology, which works via the feet. Reflexology dictates that the feet are composed of pressure points, each of which corresponds to a different part, gland or organ of the body. By applying pressure on these points, reflexology can relieve tension, improve circulation and generally increase your sense of wellbeing.

It’s not always practical or possible to have regular appointments with a reflexologist, so we’re delighted here at Kaleidoscope to offer you this Electroflex Reflexology Machine.

The Electroflex is your very own foot reflexology unit which uses proven TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) technology to work on those all-important pressure points. Safe and non-invasive, this machine is also easy to use and promises hours of relaxation!

Everyone can benefit from reflexology, although you may find the Electroflex of particular use if you suffer from rheumatoid arthritis, poor circulation, sleeping disorders, fluid retention, diabetes or fibromyalgia. Simply place your feet on the panel and let Electroflex do the work.

UNTIL THE END OF TODAY we are offering standard delivery for just 99p! There’s no code to quote: just place your order and select standard delivery to take advantage of the 99p rate (see site for details).