A LETTER FROM A READER
AT 59, MY GRANDDAUGHTER TOLD ME MY EVERYDAY BAG WAS THE UGLIEST THING IN THE HOUSE.
I have never written anything like this before, and I want to say at the start that I am not a writer and I am not in the habit of telling other women how to run their homes.
But four different people asked me about my everyday bag, of all things, when they came round a fortnight ago, and I have now explained it enough times that it seemed easier to write it down properly.
It started when my granddaughter came to stay and pulled a face at the everyday bag hanging by the front door.
Nan, why is your bag the ugliest thing in the house?
She was not wrong. A faded beige bag, fraying at the seams, that I had been shoving into the back of the wardrobe whenever anyone visited for the best part of ten years.
I did not choose that, not really. Nobody decides to buy something ugly. You buy the cheap plain one meaning to replace it, and then ten years go by.
HOW IT HAPPENS
A bag is the last thing anyone thinks of as nice. It is something to carry your things in, not a thing you choose to like.
So the shops sell us plain canvas bags and dull totes, all of them the colour of a hospital corridor, and we buy them without a second thought and then quietly resent them every time we leave the house.
And because it is only a bag, you never get round to doing anything about it. It is always the next thing on a list that never comes up.
WHAT I HAD WRONG
Here is the bit I got most wrong. I thought a bag had to be plain canvas to be practical. Easy to carry, holds what you need, does the job.
It turns out a quilted fabric one can be practical and lovely as well. It keeps your everyday essentials together, ready to take with you when you head out. It simply happens to have a picture on it instead of being the colour of nothing.
Practical and pretty were not a choice of one. I had just never been offered the pretty version. That took me until 59 to find out.
See The Everyday Bags CollectionMINE IS THE ENCHANTED LIBRARY
It's from Helen & Rose Auckland, a small New Zealand shop that's spent the last thirteen years quietly making the ordinary things in our homes a bit lovelier.
Mine is the Enchanted Library, a quilted bag with a row of colourful vintage books and flowers against a soft cream background. They do plenty of designs, though, from flowers to little animals, which I will come back to.
It is properly made. The quilting gives it a soft, textured finish, and there are fabric handles for carrying it when I head out. The colourful books and flowers make it look lovely enough to leave out between outings.
And it comes in two sizes, so there is one for your everyday essentials and one with a little more room for the extras you like to take along.
WHAT HAPPENED WHEN PEOPLE CAME ROUND
It now lives out in the open, on the chair in the bedroom, where the old one would never have been allowed to sit.
Four different people asked me about it a fortnight ago. My friend Marion, who does not notice things, asked where I had got it. And my granddaughter, who started all this, has decided the little library is hers and checks on it whenever she visits.
Nobody has ever asked me about a bag in my life. Now it is the first thing they mention.
THREE THINGS I HAVE LEARNED SINCE
It keeps my everyday essentials together. My purse, keys, glasses and favourite book all have a place, instead of being scattered around the house. Pop them inside, and it is ready to take along when I head out.
Two. It is easy to take along. When I visit my daughter or meet a friend for coffee, I pop my essentials inside and take it with me, with a little room for anything I pick up along the way.
Three. A lovely one gets used. The odd thing is I actually reach for it now, because it is not something you want to look away from. The old one only came out when it had to.
ABOUT THE PRICE
I want to be straightforward about this, because it was the thing that made me suspicious.
The Enchanted Library starts at $54.95 NZD. It was $110 NZD.
My first thought was that it was a lot for a bag, until I worked out I had spent nearly that over the years replacing cheap, worn-out ones, and hidden every one of them in the back of the wardrobe.
It's from Helen & Rose Auckland, a small New Zealand shop that's spent the last thirteen years quietly making the ordinary things in our homes a bit lovelier. They are a small boutique selling directly, and the shop is closing there's still stock across every design for now, but once it's gone, it won't be restocked.
I did what I imagine you are doing now and went and read the reviews before I ordered. Just over 1500 of them, sitting at 4.7 stars. Not the suspiciously perfect five you see on some websites, which if I am honest made me trust it rather more. Real people, mixed opinions, mostly very good.
Then I ordered a smaller one for days when I only need the essentials as well.
See The Everyday Bags CollectionWHAT I WOULD TELL YOU IF WE WERE FRIENDS
If you and I were sat in the garden and you asked me, this is what I would say.
Have a look at the bag in your wardrobe. If it is plain, and worn, and you tuck it out of sight when people come, you have simply never been offered a nicer one, and now you have.
It is a small thing. But the small ugly things you put up with wear on you more than you notice, and this is a cheap and cheerful one to put right.
Two practical things. The sale is on now, and the most popular designs sell out first, being made to order. And there are dozens to choose from, so there will be one that is properly you.
The old one went out and I have not missed it once.
Diane
CORAL | COASTAL HARMONY LAUNDRY BASKET
$110 NZD $55.95 NZD
- Soft quilted fabric with a colourful vintage book and flower design
- Keeps your everyday essentials together and ready to go
- Three sizes, from small to family size
- Dozens of designs in the collection
- Free New Zealand Delivery
Moving Sale on now. Once these designs sell out, they're gone for good.