A bit of luxury: the tissue box cover that completed my sitting room

No beating around the bush; Tissue boxes are disgusting!’ says homeware designer Alice Palmer. I tend to agree with Alice, whose bold and vibrant designs range from lampshades to bed canopies and often houses An uber-stylist. ‘Everyone seems to have at least one tissue box somewhere in their home, and there seems to be a gap in the market to make this useful item chic,’ Ellis continues. With the typical cardboard box, she observes Sainsbury’s Or Kleenex The writing around it leaves a lot to be desired, however when wrapped in a tasteful vanity like a tissue box cover, it suddenly becomes one of the most significant items in your home. No, really. And here’s why:

To me, true grown-up means unique, functional items that offer a stylish take on something fundamentally quotidian. These categories include but are not limited to: Butter recipesEgg trays, olive oil dispensers, salt pigs, recipes for cotton buds and beautiful carafes. Beautiful killer jars full of dry ingredients are also invited to this party of functional, elegant and crucially, dispensable items. The tissue box cover is, arguably, one of the most defining items in the category: it’s not, strictly speaking, a must, but at £35, it seems like a very achievable way to instantly enhance a sitting room or guest room. Bedroom.

Sitting on the table next to me as I write is the red cover of Alice’s ‘Tangier Stripe’ tissue box (it comes in six colours, including a sunny yellow and a rather attractive pale pink). As its name suggests, the motif of the box is inspired by the bold stripes often seen in its Moroccan namesake. cityHowever Alice’s range also extends to trellis designs and small diamond patterns known as ‘face crosses’. The cover is available in three sizes to fit most standard tissue boxes you can buy in the supermarket. Decoratively, its role in adding some color to an otherwise mostly neutral scheme is important, though its contribution is much more than aesthetic.