Bamboo is a very easy material to start using in your interior design ideas. It's very versatile and can be used in numerous different products as well as general decor. Its important to have a good idea of exactly how you want to use the Bamboo so we have put together a top 10 list of ideas for you.

1, Bamboo Screens and panels

For many years all over the world, bamboo has been a popular choice for screening and paneling. Bamboo panels and screens have been used inside and outside of houses successfully for many decades.

Bamboo screens are usually not fixed and can be moved around the house or garden as needed so that they offer privacy when needed. They are usually made from 100% bamboo however some may incorporate rice paper screens which give a great contrast.

Other Bamboo panels and screens are set up to be more permanent. Maybe in your garden, you will want to isolate a small area for a private relaxation zone. Bamboo screens are perfect for this ide.

2, Bamboo Picture Frames

The small things always count when it comes to designing your internal areas. No home is complete without personal pictures of family and friends, and of course yourself! Bamboo picture frames can really bring the whole design of a room together, whether they are wall hung or placed on a sideboard.

Our personal preference is to have the smooth natural processed bamboo wooden picture frames, but this is just our opinion. There are Bamboo picture frames available that are made from the natural freshly cut bamboo that will also look amazing!

3, Bamboo Dining Furniture

Bamboo furniture is always a bit of a tricky area. Bamboo is a very dense wood and not always great at being stained with colours. For this reason it can be difficult to match up bamboo furniture when a colour theme has been used. If you are happy keeping your furniture in teh natural wood look then bamboo furniture can be a real advantage to any design idea.

Whilst being extremely versatile, bamboo furniture can also be very strong and robust. No need to think that bamboo furniture is just for show, get a full bamboo dining furniture set and see just how strong bamboo can really be.

4, Lamp Shade and fittings

Whilst bamboo is extremely strong and robust, it can also be very flexible and easy to manipulate into different shapes and styles. With this, comes the ability to produce some stunning lamp shades and light fittings.

Being able to bend, twist and curve bamboo has resulted in some amazing designs for lights. These can be small desk lights that look elegant and clean on a working desk or alternatively a large chandelier hanging over a beautiful kitchen dining table. The possibilities are endless, as are your choices for your home!

5, Natural bamboo accents

As with any home design, you will spend along time choosing colours, styles, layouts and much more before you finally decide which route you are going to take. Once all of this is done, then comes to job of making your design look like a comfortable, welcoming space. This is where the natural bamboo accents come into play.

With Bamboo being very neutral in colour, there are many ways in which different pieces can be used. You may decide that you would like a few small tables for you living room. Bamboo would be perfect for this. How about some mirrors on the wall, again Bamboo mirrors are very elegant.

Are you doing your bathroom or bedroom? How about some bamboo storage boxes, or even a bamboo laundry basket for all of that dirty washing?

There are plenty of possibilities so don't be afraid to be a little bit wild.

So, following on from our last article, we were looking at some very simple but effective storage ideas for different areas of the house.

We have spent some time going through some ideas for the living room, kitchen, and dining room. Now it's time to start looking at the upstairs of the house. For us, this includes the bedrooms, bathrooms, and also an office, where most of these articles get written. So lets start this moving then with a look at the bedrooms.

For us, there were 3 main areas around the bedroom. Clothes, shoes, and makeup! These were the areas that were constantly causing problems and making the rooms look messy.

We started with the shoes first. These were a fairly quick fix. Yes, we had lots of shoes between us but by simply getting a shoe rack the problems were solved. We were lucky enough to find 1 that fitted into our wardrobe perfectly.  These were simple 3 shelves racks that were freestanding. They went perfectly at the bottom of the wardrobe, 1 on either side for me and my wife.  We only used the bottom 2 shelves for actually putting shoes. This meant that the top shelf acted as a barrier between our clothes and shoes. It also meant that some other items, like scarves, hats etc could be put in some nice boxes and stored on the top shelf.

Clothes was a bit more tricky. As most families, we have a lot of clothes. For us, we were looking for something n between having everything put away and keeping the everyday clothes and workwear easily accessible when needed.

We actually found a great solution to this. Next to each side of the bed we now have a freestanding bamboo clothes rack. There is a bar at the top for all of our clothes to be hung up. There are 2 lower shelves, which double up as a bedside table and also our everyday shoes. At the top, above the rail is another shelf. On here we have some simple bamboo storage boxes that we put some of the smaller things in. I have some ties, cufflinks etc in here ready for when i have to go to the office. This is a really practical way of keeping your clothes tidy in the wardrobe but also having the everyday things prepared and ready for the week, but still looking neat and tidy!

Organising the make up area was actually a lot easier than i thought. My wife always used to have make up on the dressing table. There would be some in each corner at the back and then some along under the mirror. Its was sort of tidy but generally looked as if it had no where to actually be. To solve this we got some 3 tier box shelves that fitted lovely on the one side of the table. This got rid of most of the smaller bottles and items.

For some of the larger bottles and spray cans we got some small bamboo frame shelves. These are normally for putting picture frames on. They have a small lip at the front to stop the picture frame falling off. This was perfect for these larger bottles. The shelf happily held them while the lip at the front stopped them from being pushed off. Perfect!

The solution that we used above for the makeup, also worked really well for us in the bathroom. We had the 3 tier shelves with a lot of the smaller items in and mounted some shelves below the bathroom mirror to put some of the larger cans and bottles on. This immediately cleared off everything that would normally have sat on the sink or on top of the toilet!

We then looked at some of the toothbrushes etc. These again would sit on a small area next to the sink but didn't really look right. We decided for a wall mounted toothbrush holder that again released some space to put a nice bamboo and ceramic soap dispenser next to the sink. Ideal!

We decided against the use of a freestanding bamboo toilet roll holder. Although we loved these, we wanted to get things off the floor and give everything a proper home. Having this freestanding toilet roll holder would mean that it gets moved around and pushed out of the way when not needed.

No bathroom would be complete without the bin. Looking through the shops we found a perfect sized bamboo bin. This sat neatly under the sink and was perfect for holding everything likely to get thrown in there. Nothing worse that looking to put a deodorant can in the bin, but actually the bin isn't big enough for it!  Not anymore!

Simple straight forward solutions that could work for anyone. You don't need to spend a fortune and put lots of things in place. Just ensure that everything has a home and that everything looks how you want it to look! Keep it simple, cheap and enjoy!

When you look around your home you will see lots of bits and pieces that probably don't have a permanent location in your house. There may be lots of kids' toys laying around not put away. Maybe you just have a lot of small bits and pieces that you wish had somewhere to go and not just thrown on the kitchen table.

This is where the wonderful world of storage comes in. It's something that every house needs, but usually doesn't have, especially newly build houses. It's something that our family has experienced so we decided to put together some tips that we used to help overcome this. Read on below to get some of our ideas and see if they would work for you?

Let's start with the living room. This really was one of the most challenging rooms to sort storage for. Mainly because we wanted this room to be somewhere that we relaxed and enjoyed family time in. We didn't want it to be somewhere that was overrun with places to put things we probably don't need anyway!

We initially decided that we didn't want any large cabinets in the living room. These take up a lot of space and literally just hide things away. So we started looking at what shelves we could put up.  We managed to find some lovely bamboo shelves with drawers. These were perfect. It had somewhere to hide away some of the smaller items but also gave us some room to put up some nice décor. We had some lovely lamps and pictures set up on these that really look amazing.

Next, we looked at the coffee table. This had a few things on there that we managed to remove completely. We then introduced a lovely bamboo tissue box and a matching bamboo bowl for us to put our loose change and keys into. Keys were always going missing so this was a great place to keep them.

We have a long narrow console-style table behind our sofa. Again this had some messy bits on it. We managed to get some lovely bamboo candle holders for here. They look amazing in the evening with the candles giving a nice relaxing glow as we relax. We also put some small matching bamboo boxes here to keep some other small bits and pieces.

Altogether, the room now looks organised and the mess has gone. Not much work involved but the outcome has worked really well.

Moving onto the kitchen, this was where the real work started.

As with most modern houses, the kitchen and dining room are combined in 1 large open space. This has its benefits but also means that combining them together to give a unified look can be a bit harder.

The cooking area was relatively simple. We managed to get some good quality bamboo utensils that replaced all of the old mismatched bits and pieces that were in an old container that we kept. We also got some lovely glass jars with bamboo lids which I wasn't keen on to begin with, but have to say that they look amazing on the work top. We also opted for the rotating bamboo spice rack to bring it all together.

It was time to clear out the cutlery drawer too. for years and years the cutlery drawer was filled with more mis-matching sets of cutlery. There were also odd knives that may have come with some Christmas foods and some old children's sets from when our daughter was younger. These all went, and in came a nice new set of cutlery along with a lovely expanding bamboo cutlery tray to keep them all tidy!

To finish off the food pre area we got a lovely solid bamboo chopping board. This one was big and heavy and was going to last us for many years!

Next, we looked at the under sink area. The place where all the cleaning bits are kept, but never organised! In here we got some lovely bamboo boxes and everything was given it place and every box was specific to a cleaning job. Quick simple and now very tidy and organised!

We were considering the use of a bamboo drying rack but with a dishwasher, didn't think it would be beneficial.

Last was the dining room area. This seemed a little bit easier most of the items were stored in the kitchen. We still managed to get some nice bamboo place mats and drinks mats for the table. These matched everything else really nicely. We also put together a small bo0x for the table that contained all of the condiments. We managed to find one with a carrying handle so that it was easy to move around when we needed to.

We added some similar shelving to the ones on the living room. These again had a small drawer to them so that some of the smaller items can be put away out of sight. These are a great find and we highly recommend these for any room.

So that's probably enough for this article. In the next few articles we will look at how we tackled the storage in the bathrooms and also the bedrooms. We also have some great ideas for your laundry area that wont over run the house!

When summer comes around, people always rush out to the local shops or garden centres and start looking for ideas and items to enhance their gardens. Rattan furniture is now the most popular choice for UK households when it comes to furniture. Alot of people look to what they think will be durable metal ornaments and decorations. Others will look to play it cheap and go with plastic for everything.

But, have you ever thought about looking for items made from bamboo??

Its no secret that the UK summers seem to be getting shorter and shorter. This is not just down to the weather but also because people just don't seem to have the free time to spend outside like we used to. Work, families all contribute to what is now a very stressful and fast-paced society.

Winding down in your garden during a nice hot sunny day is a great idea. Sitting around, getting some important vitamin D from the suns natural rays is a dream come true for many. So how can we use bamboo to help make this enjoyable.

Create a party space for all

Having friends and family over to help you enjoy the summer weather is a great idea. But ensure you have the space to do this and that you set the atmosphere correctly. Everyone loves the natural looks when it comes to the outdoors so take this into consideration when you start setting up your area.

Do you have a bar area? This can bring a very focal point to any garden space. Instead of looking for a solid wooden bar, or even building one from bricks and concrete, why not look for a bamboo tiki bar? These look amazing and offer a great robust bar area as well as storage for your drinks and snacks.

One of the obvious choices for your garden is a parasol. I bet almost every household will have 1 for their garden. I would say that most are made from polyester and aluminium as well. Hmmmm, have you ever thought of a bamboo parasol? When you go to the Caribbean what do they have on the beaches? Exactly!

So why not have a shop around and bring some natural eco friendly materials into your garden while adding that amazing look and feeling! Your friends and family will be amazed!

Bamboo garden furniture

Garden furniture is always one of the biggest investments in your outdoor living areas. This can be a driving factor to start looking for some ofthe cheaper plastic alternatives. But this really shouldn't be the sole reason. The damage that we are doing to our planet with plastics and wooden products is a long term disaster that several generations will have to work for to repair. So lets start doing our bit by looking at these eco friendly alternatives now.

With bamboo being so versatile for design and strength, you shouldn't have too much trouble finding some beautiful garden furniture. With bamboo being stronger than most woods, and most metals, it makes a great choice to use it for garden furniture.

Enhance your garden landscape

Tidying up the garden area ready for summer is an important stage of getting the area ready to enjoy. Have you ever thought about bringing in some bamboo accents to your garden at the same time?

Do you have that messy corner of the garden where you keep your compost bin, or your old wheelbarrow just in case it comes in handy? me too, but in my garden that's no longer visible to my guests. Simply erecting a small bamboo screen around this area has hidden the mess that I don't ant people to see as well as giving it a smart attractive look. Adding in some subtle bamboo screening can really make a difference.

Do you enjoy sitting around in a peaceful garden and enjoying the sound of nature? This can be extremely soothing. Ever thought about adding some natural bamboo wind chimes into this? Wind chimes can be even more relaxing that the sounds of nature themselves.

Ambient lighting

Evening times in the garden can be some of the best times of all. Most people will look to put up some electrical lighting or maybe have some nice stainless steel torches around their garden. These are great, but have you ever considered bamboo torches, or tiki torches as they are sometimes known? These are far more eco friendly and will offer that continued natural look to your garden.

What actually is bamboo?

Would you be shocked to know that bamboo is not actually a tree? Although bamboo grows high and is similar in looks to a tree, it is in fact a giant grass. Just like your lawn at home, bamboo grows with very shallow roots meaning it doesn't need a lot of soil to start its growing cycle.

Bamboo is naturally evergreen which gives it its unique versatility. This is what gives its unique ability to be used in so many situations.

How bamboo is grown

bamboo is grown in many areas around the world in warmer tropical and subtropical climates. With its ease of growing and shallow roots, you could pretty much grow bamboo anywhere, except the colder snow-covered parts of the planet!

All that is needed for bamboo to grow is a sunny area with rich well drained soil. The roots will embeb themselves in the soil quickly but they will spread out to ensure that they can gain as much nutrients from the surrounding soil as possible. When the leaves start to fall from the bamboo, leave them on the soil to compost as this will drive more good nutrients onto the surrounding soil.

So, with a brief overview of bamboo and how its grown, lets look at why it is one of the best, and eco friendly options to use. We have put together a top 6 of the most important, and exciting things to know about bamboo.

Bamboo is a fast growing plant

It has actually been confirmed that bamboo is the fastest growing plant of the planet. This unique and amazing feature alone is why bamboo is so eco friendly and sustainable. A bamboo plantation can easily be replenished in a matter of months whereas repopulating a forest area will take decades of growth for any other tree.

With this extremely fast growing cycles, bamboo can easily enable us to stop deforestation and start using eco friendly bamboo resources without killing our planet.

Bamboo cleans the air

Like all plants, CO2 is consumed and oxygen released. Bamboo however, takes this up a few notches! Bamboo is a significant oxygen releasing plant and naturally cools the air around it while releasing very high levels of oxygen into the atmosphere. In the fight against climate change we need all the help we can get at the moment.

Any bamboo plantation will greatly reduce the carbon footprint of the planet while offering a sustainable and natural product for us to use in many applications. Bamboo is not only a hard durable wood, but it can be processed to make textiles and clothing. This opens up a whole new world of possibilities for not only production of new products, but also for natural recycling of them afterwards.

It is said that a bamboo forest can be a very beneficial place for your health. With not only the natural antibacterial side of bamboo being a great advantage, the oxygen levels are said to rejuvenate and relax anyone who spends time there. Sounds like somewhere i would really like to be!

Great gardening resource

For many years, a lot of people will have been using bamboo in their garden and not really realising it. Not only is the use of bamboo leaves in compost a great addition to your soil, the fact that your runner beans are usually held up with bamboo canes is a dead giveaway!

Bamboo, is strong and also very weather resistant. As above, using bamboo canes for holding up you runner beans, or your tomatoes has been something that growers have been doing for years. They are strong enough to support the weight of the plant as it grows while the canes will not rot throughout the constant watering sessions and natural rain.

Take a look at the handles on some of your gardening tools. I bet there are some that are made of bamboo and you didn't even realise it!

Bamboo is a natural alternative to wood

Every household around the world is likely to have some element of wood in it. Whether this is for the construction of the property of simply for furniture or decor inside the house. The wood used for these items would have taken decades, if not centuries in some cases to grow. With the ever growing population there will come a time when natural tree wood is no longer sustainable.

Bamboo on the other hand is the complete opposite. With its super quick growing cycle a bamboo forest can be easily replenished while still delivering the needs of the population.

• When processed, bamboo can be naturally harder than some of the toughest woods, like oak. This gives bamboo a great rating for strength and durability.
• Bamboo in general is less expensive that other woods. Bamboo can be processed quickly and wit hits long lasting durability it can be a lng term investment for many
• Bamboo is very strong. It is naturally a dense material giving it a very strong usability. With it also being flexible and resistand to rotting, unlike other woods, it wins hands down against most other natural options.

Did you know that you can eat bamboo?

There are many benefits of bamboo through out daily life in all areas around the world. But did you know that bamboo also has natural dietary benefits when eaten?

Young, new growth bamboo can be harvested for food. Next time you go to the supermarket, have a look to see if you can see bamboo shoots or dried bamboo canes? You may also see bamboo tea available on the shelves, give it a try!

Some of the benefits of eating bamboo are

• It can reduce blood pressure
• contains vitamin a to help support the natural immune system
• contains vitamin e which is an antioxidant for the body
• helps facilitate metabolism
• lowers fluid retention within the body to help reduce swelling

Using bamboo in construction

Would you trust a house that was built on bamboo stilts? Would you trust a scaffolding tower constructed from bamboo? Common misconceptions is that bamboo is a plant, therefore it is weak. Well i can confirm that this is completely wrong.

When you look around the world, mainly the Asian areas you will very often see houses built alongside riverbanks. These houses will usually be built on stilts to allow for the rising of the river at certain times of the year. Why do they do this? Well its simple, bamboo is extremely strong. In some case it can be stronger that steel. With bamboo also being very resistant to rotting, it makes it the perfect, durable and sustainable product to do this.

With all of the world now starting to recognise that we need to do more to help sustain and repair the planet, it's time to start looking at Bamboo as 1 plant that can help us do so much, for so little. For many centuries bamboo has been used in general life. Bridges have been built from Bamboo, rafts used to be built from Bamboo while homes are still built from bamboo in certain areas of the world. So why can't we utilise bamboo more?? Well, we can…

These are just some of the quick items where I suspect most households will be using bamboo.

As a general base material, Bamboo is a lot more efficient than other woods. Compared to trees in general, bamboo only needs around 1 year of growth to be ready for harvest, some varieties need even less. Compared to an Oak tree which will take 70 years+ to generate a good yield.

Bamboo is also antifungal and antibacterial which means that pesticides are not required for maintaining a bamboo field. Put this with its small need for water and it really makes you wonder why we aren’t utilising this product a lot more in our lives?

There are many ways in which you can start changing your everyday routines to start helping the environment. The list below is just a couple of ideas that show how we can all make some small changes, which put together, can really add up to something amazing

• Use Bamboo Kitchen Utensils
• Use Bamboo Hairbrushes
• Use Bamboo Toothbrushes
• Use Bamboo Mugs
• Use Bamboo Furniture

Can you really get a bamboo toothbrush, I hear you ask! YES! Click here to get yours now and start experiencing the difference Bamboo can make.

Benefits of using Bamboo

Bamboo is one of the worlds fastest-growing plants and is being seen as one of the best eco-friendly alternatives to natural wood and some plastics. Bamboo can be used to make anything from Furniture to utensils, Toothbrushes to hair combs and even toilet paper and clothing!

Bamboo is often mistaken for being a tree, but officially it is classified as grass.

While Growing, bamboo captures more carbon from the air and releases up to 35% more oxygen into the atmosphere than a same-sized tree.

Is Bamboo Strong?

The simple answer is Yes. Bamboo is a very lightweight material however its tensile capabilities can be up to 3 times stronger than timber. Due to its lightweight, it can be easily transported and is a lot more flexible for shaping to its desired form.

Is Bamboo Safe and Hygienic?

Again, Yes! Bamboo naturally has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties making it very safe and hygienic without needing any chemicals. Bamboo extract is used in many skin and hair treatments due to its natural properties.

Is bamboo good for the environment?

VERY! Bamboo on average absorbs twice as much carbon as regular trees. It is quick to grow meaning fields can be replenished quickly without needing large areas to be left to mature for tens of years.

Isn’t it time that you went to get your Bamboo toothbrush and start making the change?