Ask Alice: About floor tiles, wallpaper and bedspreads

Q. I am trying to track down a supplier of black-and-white floor tiles for a porch floor. The floor in question is fairly small - certainly too small for the standard 15x15cm floor tiles, which are all I can track down. So far I have only been able to trace small terracotta tiles.
Kiran Shaughnessy, by e-mail

A. Original Style ( www.originalstyle.com, 01392 473000) is the place to look for beautiful handmade wall and floor tiles. They produce unglazed black-and-white floor tiles in 2-, 3- and 4-inch squares, from around 39p each, and also make border tiles to finish off your edges neatly.

Q. I have painted two walls of a bedroom with Silverwall paint and want to paper the other two. I found the ideal paper and the sample matched the walls perfectly. I am ready to start papering, but the wallpaper I had chosen is now being produced with a pink tinge to the pattern. Because the room is for a young chap, I don't think it's too suitable. Do you know of any white paper with a grey/silver pattern, but also has a matching border?
Sharon Curtis, by e-mail

A. It is difficult to give specific advice without an idea of the style that you prefer, but I would recommend that you visit Wallpaper Direct ( www.wallpaperdirect.co.uk), which has a great search facility, allowing you to enter your colour and style elements before selecting suitable papers for you to view.

Their range includes designs from Casamance, Cole and Sons (great for foil papers, and don't miss their beautiful Woods design from their Contemporary Two collection) and Osborne and Little. Another great online source is the American website, Wallpaper Store ( www.wallpaperstore.com), which has thousands of designs to choose from.

The Tate collection at B&Q is also worth a look, with traditional designs updated for a more contemporary look as well as striking modern styles.

Q. My wife's 40th birthday is coming up and I would love to splash out on a luxurious bedspread or blanket for her present. What can you suggest that might be suitable?
Paul Dymock, Earlsfield

A. You don't say what your budget is, but in my opinion, the current selection at Toast is pretty ravishing. If your wife likes plain designs, try Toast's Vilnius blanket, a beautifully subtle, Lithuanian all-wool blanket in a shimmery silver-grey or ecru twill weave (£75).

For something a little different have a look at their velvet and cord bedspread (£350), which is a patchwork of dusty grey cotton corduroy and coloured cotton velvet. If money is no object, however, I think the only choice has got to be Toast's shaggy shearling bed cover, which is an amazingly warm, soft and luxurious shearling longhair bedspread - perfect for curling up under when the predicted cold winter nights come.

At £1,350, it might break the bank, but she'll be guaranteed to love you for ever more. Toast has recently opened its first stand-alone store in Oxford.

E-mail: askalice@independent.co.uk