Contemporary Heaven Division

Believe it or not, and I know we are in the 21st century, but there are a LOT of people who still read books! Yes, those hardback books with pages made out of paper still exist, and a lot of people prefer them to going on to Kindle and downloading a book on to a mobile or a tablet. What’s more, many of us who were around in the last century, and that is actually the majority of the population at present, have books that we bought before anyone had ever heard of the internet because it hadn’t been invented, and neither had Kindle. On top of that, many families have books that have been handed down by their parents and grandparents, and a lot of them are classics that we wouldn’t dream of throwing out just because somebody by the name of Jeff Bezos happens to be the richest man in the world! Good luck to him! But we want to keep our books. However, we do have to admit that Mr Bezos makes life a bit easier when you can download a whole library on to somethi...

Did you know that you can get a wall clock which is not only a clock but also a mirror? Did you know that you can get one that is not only a clock AND a mirror but is also a wall light? Well you can. There are companies who produce wall clock’s for the 21st century home which are not only clocks but is also a mirror and a wall light as well. What more do you need for your money?! We all need something that we can glance at to tell the time. All right, you might wear a watch, but then again you might not. Lots of people today don’t, because they have a mobile which tells them the time, However, you have to get that out of your pocket or handbag and switch it on to tell the time, whereas illuminated wall clocks are there all the time, and all you need is a glance to tell you that you’ve got five minutes before you have to leave for the station to get your train into work. Fair enough, you won’t need the illuminated part of the illuminated wall clocks ...

At Contemporary Heaven we have an almost endless selection of items for the modern home, ranging from coat hooks and hangers, to garden plant pots which light up, to modern waste bins, clocks, barware, a huge amount of lighting, mirrors, and lots, lots more. For the 21st century home, we have it all. Just scroll through all the different categories and you will see that you have a choice of thousands of items, most of which are in stock and ready for instant delivery. We can also provide you with a lot of items such as desk mats, coasters, clocks, perfume, house signs, photo frames, and more, which can be personalised in any way you wish. We are your one stop shop for everything you will ever need for your home. Let’s just pick a few items at random. One thing we all need in the home is waste bins. Not the ones you keep in the kitchen, but small waste bins that you can keep in living rooms, bathrooms and so on, that are discreet, yet are there when you need ...

What would we do without clocks? Throughout our waking hours we need to know what the time is. We need to know if it’s time to leave the house to get the train to work. We need to know if its coffee break time, lunch time, time to leave the office, time to put the dinner on, time to go to the football match, and even time to go to bed. OK, many of us have a watch, although more people today rely on their mobiles to tell the time. But when you have a clock, all you need to do is to look at it on the wall and it tells you the time. You don’t have to get your phone out of your pocket or handbag and switch it on – just look at the clock on the wall. That is why there is a plethora of modern clocks that you can buy. They still do the same thing that Victorian ones did, but they just look as though they were made in the 21st century. Having said that, there are modern clocks that are made using Roman numerals which gives us a hint of times gone past, but there are...

Did you ever think about the importance of a mirror in your room? How many times did you want to check yourself out, and realised that there is no mirror in the proximity? Well, it’s not the time to think about such instances, but the time to get a new mirror. Are you looking for something appealing, and practical simultaneously? Then install Umbra Hub Mirrors at your place. Change the outlook of your living space by just adding one elegant decoration piece. Guests coming over, inviting your best friend to your place, or trying to make an impression in front of your managers; this spectacular piece of home décor will do the job for you. Original, modern, casual, and aesthetic. What else do you need? Umbra hub mirrors will put life into your living space. Place it in the hallways, in the bathroom, bedroom, or a fireplace; it makes your space look bigger, luxurious and above all, sophisticated. More durable than your regular mirrors, Umbra Hub mirrors hav...

In days gone by, a few photographs of the family were treasured by many people. Going back 100 years, yes, we had cameras, but they were very limited in their abilities. So the black and white photo of your great grandad and grandma on their wedding day may still be a treasured item. Heck, only 30 years ago, while we had cameras with some great features, we still had to use rolls of film. We had to wrap them carefully and either take them to Boots to be developed, or, as many people did, send them off to another developer somewhere in the country who, we were promised, would do a far better job! But now what? Well, in keeping with the modern-day trend, the answer is to mount those photos in one of the multi photo frames we offer at Contemporary Heaven. These are great because they can hold as many as nine photos. So you can have a series of photos from “that” party, your holiday, your new born baby, the dog fooling about in the garden, the cat refusing to come d...

There are certain things that we all need in our lives that are pretty mundane. One of those is a kettle. We ALL, without exception, need a kettle in the kitchen, if only to boil the water for the morning coffee, or tea if that is your preference. OK, perhaps the late, lamented, Peter Cook, of the Peter Cook and Dudley Moore duo, would have preferred a large shot of vodka, but for most of us it’s coffee or tea. Thinking about it, he probably did manage without a kettle. There are several other mundane things too, like somewhere in the hall to hang your coat as you come into the house. And somewhere to put the umbrella when it has been pouring with rain and you don’t want water all over the floor, so you need an umbrella stand as well. Coat hooks and umbrella stands can be a real nuisance because they can get in the way and they usually don’t look very pretty either, which is not the way you want to appear to your guests when you invite them round for dinner and the hall is th...

Umbra is a company based in Toronto that designs and manufactures housewares and was founded in 1978 by Les Mandelbaum and Paul Rowan who had been friends since childhood. The company today produces over 2,000 products and has 25,000 distributors in 120 countries. In 2007 the company opened its first retail store in Toronto and now has it own retail outlets in several countries across the globe. One of Umbra’s most famous designs was the Garbo trash can, named after the actress, as the design mimicked the shape of her body. It was designed by Karim Rashid and sold over two million units in the first two years after the 1996 launch. It still sells well today, along with the Garbino, which is a smaller version. Among its’ many products, the company produces a range of Umbra curtain poles , many of which are extendable so that they can fit windows of different sizes. Umbra curtain poles include the Cappa curtain rod which was designed by Mauricio Affonso and featur...

The company Kartell was founded in Italy in 1949 by Giulio Castelli, and is today run by Claudio Luti, and has become an international success story in the fields of lighting, furniture, furnishings, and home accessories. The company collaborates with many international designers to produce goods for the home that are both artistic and functional. The great designs combine both of these so that Kartell has become a name that is revered around the world. Kartell is forever experimenting with the use of plastics and new technologies to improve functional performance and the aesthetics of everything that the company produces. Nowhere is this more true than in its’ range of lighting which has to be seen to be believed. Kartell now has representation in over 130 countries with 130 single-brand flagship stores, 250 “shop within shops”, and no fewer than 2,500 independent retailers. Kartell lighting includes some incredible designs which have turned traditional ...

One of the problems that we all have in the UK is that it rains. In fact, it rains quite a lot, depending where you are. The wind also blows. When it gets cold in the winter it snows too. Even in the summer we can have hailstorms. That means that most of us who have any common sense have hats and coats so that we can venture out down to the shops, or take the dog for a walk, the kids to nursery school, or even just protect ourselves from a huge downpour when we go from the front door to the car: it may only be a few seconds, but you can get really wet. And there are many occasions when it has to be done, no matter what the weather is doing. The designs of these wall hat and coat hooks are nothing short of amazing, such as the Umbra Sticks Multi Hook which is available in white, grey, black, and espresso colours. Very cleverly designed, it looks like a piece of wall art but contains five flip down hooks for use which are concealed in the body of the hanger. Just flip them d...

If you are like many men today and have your own man cave, you no doubt have a home bar included in it as well. You may not even have a man cave, but many homes today choose to have a bar, which might be where there was once a dining room, since a lot of families today eat in the kitchen.  If you have a bar, there is on thing that is certain and that is that you will need some modern barware to go with it. Modern barware includes all those things that you need to pour and mix dinks, open bottles, and so on, and most of it is inexpensive. One thing that is indispensable is a rotary bar dispenser which holds up to four one litre bottles of whatever your favourite tipples may be. You can just pop it on the bar – it is made of a light aluminium with a polished chrome finish and sturdy base – and you just rotate it to select the drink of choice and push the glass up under the optic in the same way as in the pub. It pours a perfect 1.5 oz shot every time, and...

It is often said that there are only two things in life which are absolutely certain, and they are death and taxes. However, whoever said that missed something out: that is that everyone, without exception, needs to be able to tell what time it is – and often many times a day or night. This is why there is such a huge range of modern clocks available in all sorts of designs to cater for every taste. Modern clocks include wall clocks, mantel clocks, illuminated clocks, world time zone clocks, alarm clocks, digital clocks, mirror wall clocks, pendulum clocks, large clocks, small clocks – the list is almost endless.  For instance, in mantel clocks, the manufacturer Kare produces a vintage Roman wood mantel clock which is square and comprised of a sheesham wood surround with brass fittings and Roman numerals. Arti & Mestieri have the Robin mantel clock in a silver metal which is described as funky and unusual. It is most certainly both of those and has to be s...

At Contemporary Heaven we stock a vast range of different photo frames. In this digital age we all like to take photographs on our phones, although some people still use cameras as well. Professional photographers, obviously, still use highly technical cameras, but it has to be said that the cameras in phones that are available today, such as the iPhone XR and the Samsung Galaxy S10, can produce pretty stunning pictures.  Not so many years ago, the only way to take photos was on a camera using film, which you then sent off to be developed, so you didn’t see your photos until you received the prints back. Now you can see your photos instantly and if you don’t like one you can simply delete it. The rest you can share with friends on Facebook or from one phone to another. Then comes the choice of a frame, and here we have spoilt you for choice. We have many single photo frames, such as the  Umbra Prisma Photo Frame  which is a minimalist frame where your photo ...

Modern homes all have bathrooms, quite often more than one, and there are a lot of bathroom accessories that have been designed for the 21st century to give the bathroom an up to date – and in some cases even futuristic – look. Some of these bathroom accessories are quite simple pieces such as the Norbert sponge holder. This little gadget looks like a cartoon horse and sports a large suction cup at the rear so that you can stick it to the shower wall, the bath, or even the mirror. You simply squeeze out your sponge and push it into the holder, which is red, so that next time you come to use it you don’t have a wet and soggy sponge. It’s a very simple idea, but then some of the best ideas are simple. To Read More Visit: Bathroom Accessories

One of the most important things in our lives is time. It has a habit of passing, and once it has done so we can’t get it back. It has gone forever. However, time rules a lot of our lives. We have to be at work on time. We have to catch a train on time. The beef is going to take some time to cook. This or that is taking a long time. So it follows that we frequently need to know what time it is, and for that we have watches and clocks. Many homes have wall clocks in the sitting room, the kitchen, the bedroom, and sometimes even the bathroom, because we constantly need to check the time. There are some really great designs of modern wall clocks available, some of which might be described as “way out”. For example, one of the modern wall clocks is the Invotis Wall Gear and Date Clock which consists of a set of gear wheels which turn slowly and move a large gear wheel which tells the time. The clock has two smaller gear wheels which also display the month and...

At Contemporary Heaven we stock a huge range of items for the modern home in the 21st century. Some people do like antique furniture, and we accept that, but it is getting harder to find even if you do like it. But most people today have moved on into the 21st century (we are already nearly a fifth of the way through it, which is a bit of a shock) and are looking for items for the home that represent the way we are now. That means things which are different. They may in one way be the same but have been updated so that they express the modern way of life. Think of something like a bookshelf. It is basically a sheet of timber attached to a wall with a couple of brackets on which you store books. Or is it? Today you have our Kartell bookshelf which comes in three different lengths and which you can twist and turn into any shape that pleases you before attaching it to the wall. It still holds all your books but does it in a way which is different and, well, contemporary. What abou...

In the original Brothers Grimm story, translated into English, it is indeed “Mirror, mirror”, but Disney changed things around a bit, and it became “Magic mirror on the wall”. But then, Disney was noted for producing his own versions of things. There is nothing wrong with that: it’s known as art. All of which has little to do with the fact that we all need mirrors on the wall today as much as we have ever done. Some of us might even see them as magic, because they give us a view of ourselves that we can never see anywhere else. We see ourselves as others see us, which is why we use them for putting on make-up, doing our hair, shaving, checking that we look all right before going out (in the hall mirror), and more. We couldn’t live without mirrors, and they come in all shapes and sizes. Certainly, we know that they are rectangular, square, or round, but that is not the limit of the designs by any manner of means. The Umbra Hub Mirror , for example, is availabl...

There is no doubt that in the 21st century many things have changed from the way they were even 50 years ago. For instance, many millennials would have no idea that their parents and grandparents loved nothing better on a cold winter evening than to take off their shoes and sit with their feet up on a pouffe in front of a roaring log fire. Today, we have central heating, and nobody has a log fire any more, do they? Oh yes, they do. We “oldies” still love to warm our feet in front of a log fire, even though we have central heating as well. There is nothing quite like it. The dog and the cats like lying in front of it as well, and we have even been known to rest our feet on the dog, who was so warm and sleepy it really didn’t bother him! Honestly, a log fire is really great on a cold winter’s night, and if you have never sat in front of one you really don’t know what you are missing. Maybe you have been to a village pub and sat next to one, and you can still...

When someone thinks of wall hooks, the imagination stops at hanging a coat or a towel. But, did you know that hooks can be used as a decorative piece for your home or office? Buddy wall hooks from the house of Umbra puts the ‘fun’ in ‘functionality’. These wall hooks appear like mini mountaineers trying to climb up a wall. Complete with legs, hands and arms, these hooks are aesthetically pleasing and extremely functional. These hooks can be used to hang clothes, coats, scarves, umbrellas and more.  Wondering how you can use them to spruce up your home or office decor? Here’s how. Use them to decorate a blank wall Do not stare at that blank wall in your home or office thinking what you can do to make it look beautiful. Just get a couple of Umbra buddy wall hooks in different colours and arrange them to create a stellar piece of art. These hooks look amazing on walls of any colour thanks to their quirky shape and design. Instantly, your blank wall ...

At Contemporary Heaven we stock a wide range of goods manufactured by Umbra, including the Umbra kitchen ware range and Umbra bathroom ware. They produce a number of products in their "Buddy" design – the little man with outstretched arms who is your "buddy". For instance, there is the Buddy Corkscrew. Made of a shiny silver coloured metal, the top part of the Buddy Corkscrew is the corkscrew itself which, when not in use, sits in Buddy's legs keeping it protected, and safe from somebody accidently hurting themselves on the point of the corkscrew. The outstretched arms give you a great grip when using the corkscrew for its' most important purpose – opening that bottle of Chateau Plonque 1987 for dinner. Buddy makes his appearance again, this time in black with his outstretched arms holding a bunch of napkins, keeping them tidy in the kitchen, on the bar or on the table. Always busy, Buddy arrives again at the bottom o...