I’ve lived around Angel on and off now for 4 years and I’ve never paid too much attention to what’s on offer in Cross Street, although Get Stuffed, a quirky taxidermy shop at the junction to Essex Road, piqued my attention on many a bus journey!

Fast forward a few years to when I have a flat in need of a few home improvements, and I’ve lost count of the number of trips I’ve made to this little street. The main reason for my visits is Funktional Kitchens, the kitchen supplier we’ve decided to go with (due Feb 2016)! See below for a quick rundown of places worth a visit:

Funktional Kitchens – 42 Cross St

Before ending up here we had tried a couple of kitchen showrooms in Essex Road, but their designer Andrew was so warm and friendly and really helped us in his walkthrough of what each step in the process involves.

They predominantly offer German or Spanish kitchens, such as the Häcker range. I particularly love the wooden worktop range they supply from Spekva, which is what we plan to install in our kitchen.

The first step is sending a basic floorplan and some photos to Andy, who will then mockup his ideas for the space in a digital render. The tools they use allow him to make large changes (colour of units, chimney hood, switching out appliances) in a matter of seconds.

Once you’re happy with this free consultation, you put down a deposit of £500 and that’s when he comes to your flat to take accurate measurements of the space. You can find out more in my blog post here.

Tribe Rugs – 52 Cross St

Ned and I had promised each other we’d hold off on too many home accessories until after the kitchen’s done. But, after leaving Funktional, we took a detour to Tribe London. They source rugs from as far afield as Turkey, Iran and Nepal, and our eyes wandered to a multi-coloured Afghan rug.

After seeing us ooh and aah over it, the friendly owner said ‘you can take it home and try it for free if you like?’ No deposit needed – he trusted us with our name, address and phone number!

Needless to say his approach works, as days later to transferred the cost of the rug. He then popped over to our flat to supply the complimentary non-slip mat for underneath the rug.

Fired Earth – 34 Cross St

Obviously these guys are the créme de la créme of tiles, although customer service is rather lacklustre. Anyway, I’m particularly in love with their Shelter Island range and we plan to have these Harbour View herringbone marble tiles as our splashback in our new kitchen.

Tiles Etc – 4 Shillingford Street

OK, so technically it’s just off of Cross Street, but it counts! Tiles Etc have stiff competition from the established and well-known Fired Earth, but their range of tiles is second to none. The range that particular caught our eye is the Italian Ca’Pietra and we’ve now settled on their slate Shepton flagstones.

Farrow & Ball – 38 Cross Street

Wow this place is heaving at weekends! So far we’ve purchased some beautiful sample colours for our living, including the exotic wildcard Brinjal and the soothing Stiffkey Blue. Staff here are super friendly, with one member of staff sharing with us a great tip of painting a large sample piece of wallpaper to trial colour. This is better than just lobbing different colour swatches on the same wall as it ensures you’re not tricked by contrasts between the swatches themselves.

LivingSpace – 36 Cross Street

So our budget doesn’t quite stretch to getting our house improved via these guys, but regardless we had a look around their showroom. LivingSpace UK not only supplies designer furniture (mostly from Italy) but they also manage small to full-scale interior design projects. They are my dream designers for whenever Ned and I get round to doing our bathroom!

Pret a Vivre – 69 Cross Street

This elegant showroom hosts only the very best fabrics (exclusive to them), offering custom-made blinds as well as installation for a fee. We’ve recently ordered some beautiful mango roman blinds for our spare bedroom as well as some wooden venetian blinds in time for our new kitchen, I cannot wait to see how they turn out!

And if that’s not enough, Cross Street’s neighbours Upper Street and Essex Road have SO much to offer. Except more in a future blog post!