"This is my life, I can't just throw it away," said an elderly woman in Radio 3's Between the Ears, the panic rising in her voice. She was in process of moving into sheltered housing, and the prospect of reducing her worldly goods was making her ill. She had, she explained, just spent three days in hospital.

Main image: face pots, £67, Aram; frames, from £5, John Lewis

1. Aster coat stand

Ikea, the Swedish furniture giant whose flat-pack offerings grace homes from Bolton to Bangkok, has admitted that East German political prisoners had been used to make its goods for as long as three decades.

Zingy pink, lime green, violet and neon dominate the fashion and design palettes this season. Trish Lorenz speaks to top blogger Holly Beck to find out how to use them at home

From flash sales to high-end boutiques, Britain's online design shops are booming. Trish Lorenz favourites her top bookmarks in time for Christmas

He has spent 12 years making RightMove the country's top website for househunters and the property-porn obsessed, but Ed Williams, who co-founded the site in 2000, has decided it's time to cash in his chips and spend more time with his £52m fortune.

Celebrity Reflection set sail this month with a mission to leave old-school stuffiness in her wake. Leslie Woit climbed aboard to discovered the naked truth

Great shakes

However long you've been out of education, that new-term feeling can still kick in around now, at the start of the university year. Why not channel the fresh-start enthusiasm into your home – by learning something, or simply seeking out new inspirations…

You may feel like you are window-shopping at Harrods or the Burlington Arcade when you step inside the slick new furniture gallery at London's Victoria & Albert Museum, which opens in December.

As international design fair PAD descends on London, three of the UK’s brightest new talents invite Holly Williams into the studios where they find their inspiration

1. Snakeskin print candlesticks

One can procrastinate over tidying for many reasons – a favourite, as it tends to defer the effort indefinitely, is to conclude that there's no point until I buy that magic laundry rack/under-sink thingy/swishy wall-hanging clutter-holding gadget. But with these bargain DIY versions, there's no excuse…