DESIGN & SHOPPING: First Class Deliveries

In a new series, Dominic Lutyens tests out mail-order catalogues for stress-free shopping

Space Boudoir

A thoroughly sybaritic catalogue. Supine beauties recline, a la Jean Harlow, on silk satin sheets embroidered with butterflies and pompom-adorned eiderdowns in feisty fuchsia or moody navy. Other to-swoon-for things include chic Bowles & Linares heat-resistant glass coffee jugs (from pounds 48), Gilles Caffier incense sticks and Le Page acrylic vases in lilac or yellow.

Cool thing: Wonderfully supple cowhide beanbag (pounds 650)

Naff thing: Twee glycerine, butterfly-encasing soap

Catalogue, pounds 3 (0171-229 6533) (pounds 5 p&p; pounds 10 for linen and vases over pounds 100.)

Twelve 12

The home and garden objects in this new catalogue have an industrial look, yet are mostly made from recylable or natural materials. There's a self-assembly bed made of scaffolding parts (from pounds 390), a magazine rack in industrial felt (pictured) and a wheelie bin constructed from aluminium flooring. Also thrown in are some retro items: old Claridges food covers turned into lamps and a kitchen timer with a dial that wouldn't have looked out of place in the film, Metropolis.

Cool thing: Cute stainless steel barbecue (pounds 220), compact enough for a balcony

Naff thing: Incense burner - a crude block of wood in which you insert dainty incense sticks

Phone and fax order line: 0171-833 9897