Welcome
We are two friends, who want to connect with like-minded folk like you, who share our love of beautiful and unusual homewares and our approach to a meaningful, wholehearted, creative life.
A Creative Homewares and Lifestyle Shop
We sell vintage pieces, found items and unusual home accessories as well as unique items by small independent designers and makers. Some of these pieces will be a discovery, some will be more familiar, but each is full of character, timeless in its own way and will only get better with age.
Our story is one of creativity, inspiration and friendship. In 2018 we decided to combine our dreams and passions of finding, restoring and selling beautiful, unique pieces and Milk & Wood, a shop selling curiously creative homewares was born.
Let our interesting homewares help you create a home you love
The pieces we choose for you are influenced by many things: our experiences, our love of beautiful decorative things, the people and places we see on our travels, the joy of searching out something different and our sense of fun!
Every piece we sell tells a story that helps you reflect your personal style and express the passions in your life. Our belief is that things that have meaning create a home. We want to help you create yours.
Meet Us
The spirit of Milk & Wood is based in a firm friendship, a commitment to selling beautiful, unusual and useful items, a desire to work with other talented creative people and to put our customers at the heart of what we do.
As makers and practical people ourselves, we have a unique eye when choosing the collection for Milk & Wood. We put lots of love and dedication into bringing you amazing things and want you to see this in each and every piece.
Meet Helen Buttery
Day to day, Helen liaises with customers and suppliers, brainstorms ideas with Ruth and makes sure the business stays on track. She photographs and styles our Instagram feed with help from her dog Dug. She’s a talented painter and colour expert as seen from the beautiful painted pieces we sell and founder of the successful Surrey decorating company, Pots of Paint. She has a talent for putting together cool, calm yet homely interiors and a brilliant eye for seeking out unusual pieces from designers and makers.
Fun Facts about Helen
| Lifelong Obsession: | Real-life medical emergency programmes |
| On the Road snack: | Liquorice Comfits |
| In My Leisure Time I: | Walk the dog |
| Guilty Pleasure: | Cheap Maize Snacks |
| Most useful thing for the home: | Cushions & Rugs |
Meet Ruth Carpenter
Ruth always has her eye on where the company is going next and loves using her creative vision to map out strategies to take the business further. Having set up her own successful business selling from Talbots Antiques in Dorking, she has a wealth of knowledge about sourcing unique antique & vintage pieces. With Helen, she helps run the website & social media accounts and uses her talents as a former journalist to spot trends, keep an eye out for those special finds, write copy & promote the company. She’s three years into a course to master upholstery, continuing her passion for restoring & bringing new life to interesting pieces of furniture.
Fun Facts about Ruth
| Lifelong Obsession: | Buying clothes |
| On the Road snack: | Pickled Onion Monster Munch |
| In My Leisure Time I: | Read |
| Guilty Pleasure: | 8Os Rom-Coms |
| Most useful thing for the home: | Colour & Pattern |
