MADE TO LAST – Quality Products made to last a Lifetime
I love to discover new brands that are doing their bit to make a difference to the world, and I find myself drawn to environmentally sustainable products and brands. MADE TO LAST is one of those brands.
MADE TO LAST have written their philosophy rather beautifully on their about us page, here is how they do things differently…
- All products sold on MADE TO LAST have a clear guarantee shown on the product page, some products have very long guarantees, like my sofa bed I have chosen, 15 years! Customers can therefore judge the true cost and value of a product. You can even break it down into cost per year with this information.
- All products are manufactured in the British Isles and sold in Britain (some raw materials may come from other countries) – this will help to strengthen local industries and craftspeople and at the same time mean that additional costs are not fed into our products to cover international transport and taxes. This is a really important feature to keep trade, money and jobs in this country. I love to buy local meat and vegetables, so why not locally made furniture?
My environmental behaviour
I recycle what I can, plastics, cardboard, food waste, clothes. I buy products with minimal packaging and waste. I try to sell as much of our clutter as possible or give to charity rather than taking it the tip. And I like to buy products that will last a long time and get my moneys worth.
The classic handbag
I used to have an ‘obsession’ yes, an obsession with Prada. The last time I was promoted at EE, five years ago, I rewarded myself with a new bag. A Prada shopper is plenty big enough to carry a laptop and all the other stuff I need to carry. It was £1000. I know, most of you have fainted at the cost of a handbag…….BUT it will last a lifetime! I use it most days and it still looks like the day it did when I bought it. Soft Italian leather with immaculate designer detail. If we assume it has been used for maybe 1000 days over the past five years the cost per day is just £1.
The cheap dress
Likewise, I have made mistakes with buying cheap and having to pay double or get mending. I own a few beautiful dresses from H&M, bought last year in a capsule wardrobe shopping session. One navy silk dress and one zebra shirt dress. Both have developed holes in the seams, that I have stitched up as I refuse to throw them away as they are beautiful. Make your seams stronger H&M please!
Furniture that is MADE TO LAST
I have invested in furniture pieces that will last longer. We extended and then redesigned our entire house during 2013. And with the new house came a lot of new furniture. We bought a lovely solid wooden bunkbed from John Lewis, five years later it stands strong, a screw has never come loose. It cost maybe £1000, but it was very much worth it.
We bought a high gloss dining table and 8 plastic chairs in various colours. Total investment was £1000, but it still looks lovely (except a few scratches and paint stains, or pollen from those annoying white lilies). That was a good investment piece.
We are in the process of re-designing our upstairs area. We have four bedrooms, very much needed with three growing boys. However, the boys have currently decided to all sleep in the same room. We have two large master bedrooms, then one medium sized room and one small room (my office). The boys have turned bedroom two into their joint bedroom, so Josh and Jack sleep in the bunkbed and Dylan has moved his single bed in and sleeps under the window.
This means that the medium sized bedroom three is now an unused empty room. I say empty, its currently our sales room, and holds a few boxes full of car boot sale stuff. We want to turn it into a games/spare room.
Operation Declutter
Everything we do not use, want or need is going to the car boot sale. We have done one week so far and made £125. Not too shabby (that did include selling my Nintendo Donkey Kong game from circa 1985 for £40…result!). We still have stuff to sell.
Next its time to declutter the clothes, anything with designer brands I will sell on eBay otherwise it goes to bags to school, so they can make some money.
The design of bedroom three with Items from MADE TO LAST
The room already has a smart TV, perfect for connection to the Wii and Xbox 360. We are old school here. The boys did get a Nintendo switch for Christmas, but we left the console in the S-Max seat pocket when we part exchanged it for the Hybrid Toyota and it never made its way back from Toyota☹. Anyways, we are fine with the old school consoles.
The only furniture in the room currently is a built-in wardrobe with Dylan’s clothes and a huge wooden chest (full of stuff that I must de-clutter). I want to invest in a decent and comfortable sofa bed, some pretty lighting and maybe a shelving unit to store the games/console etc. I am after a modern but comfortable look for the room.
Sofa Bed
The Chinton three-seater sofa bed is available for £633. This is designed, manufactured and sold by MADE TO LAST, along with a similar sofa range as well.
It is available in multiple fabrics and colours (including purple velvet). Sold! It opens up into a large sofa bed and comes with an amazing 15-year guarantee!
Lighting
Lighting is an important element of a room. And I do love the connected light bulbs now available. The ability to change the colour in my office is very good for my productivity and mood!
I found this beautiful light that would go perfectly either in my office or the games room. It costs £88, which is on the high price side, but it is beautiful and reflects light wonderfully around the room. Hurrah I also have a special voucher code that will save you an additional 10% on your lighting purchase, just enter 10FORMMP.
Shelving
Shelving is an important feature in a room to make clutter look pretty. I found this rather funky unit that would go very well with the modern look and feel of the room. And its called Jack, same name as my youngest! This unit is £80.
This is a collaborative post with MADE TO LAST. All prices are correct as at 13th June 2018.
