For most of us, decorating is not about taking an empty room and filling it with all-new co-ordinated furnishings, nor is it a case of inheriting matching sets of priceless antiques. Usually, we’re somewhere in the middle – a couple of hand-me-downs here, some flat-pack items there, plus a few antique or vintage or simply secondhand pieces thrown into the mix. In Everyday Antiques Katherine Sorrell shows how to harmoniously combine these unexpected and individual older pieces with new ones to make your home sing – an old portrait that was a lucky market find, perhaps, a set of 1960s glassware found at a charity shop, or an ornate gilt-framed mirror that belonged to your grandma. Incorporating such gems into your home has never been easier, thanks to online marketplaces like eBay and the plethora of antiques dealers popping up on Instagram. Spotting unusual pieces is not only fun and satisfying but, even better, you won’t see them anywhere else.

Award-winning blogger Frida Ramstedt shares insights and advice on how to make sure the furniture you buy doesn’t just look good but is also well-made, long-lasting and, most importantly, comfortable to use every day. Inspired by her rich Scandinavian furniture design heritage and filled with insider tips, The Furnishing Handbook is an indispensable guide to finding the pieces that work best for your body and home.

‘Ramstedt advises us to look away from social media to create the nurturing homes we need’ The Times

In today’s throwaway culture, there’s a counter movement growing that urges us to ‘make do and mend’. The BBC’s The Repair Shop has brought this waste-conscious message to an even wider audience, with its regular viewing figures of 7 million in the UK alone, cementing itself as a classic series in the vein of Antiques Roadshow.

This new book concentrates on the show’s much-loved experts, including woodworker and furniture restorer Will Kirk, clock restorer Steve Fletcher, metalworker Dominic Chinea, silversmith Brenton West, leatherworker Suzie Fletcher, upholsterer Sonnaz Nooranvary, and seamstresses Julie Tatchell & Amanda Middleditch – aka The Teddy Bear Ladies. Each of the experts shares their own stories and their repairs, capturing in the process the magic and ethos of the barn. Includes quotations and Q & As from the experts as well as Jay Blades on some unique restoration collaborations.

With the focus on the experts themselves, readers will feel as though they’re stepping straight into the ‘workshop of dreams’ and experiencing first hand the magic of the barn.