DIY Scrapbooking

What is the big deal about scrapbooking? It seems to be the latest fad - at least this is one of the most talked about hobby subject on the internet..

This is a preview, read Scrapbooking in full.

Laminate Wood Floors

Laminated floor is the cheapest solution if you want a wooden floor look. Laminates look OK in magazines and brochures - but in reality they look cheap and artificial. They just don’t have the woody feel (or even look!) to them. I generally advise people against using laminates. You should only use them if you want a quick and/or short-term make-over of an unacceptable space or you want to sell your home and need to stage it… otherwise spend a bit more on a proper wooden floor..

This is a preview, read Laminate Wood Flooring in full.

Wood floors

If you want to create a sleek interior, a new wood floor can add considerably to the overall look. You can choose between soft wood, hardwood or veneered wood (also called engineered floor), but before you pick your floorboards from a catalogue carefully consider the following issues: traffic, style, maintenance and price..

This is a preview, read Wood Floors in full.

Wood is like wine - it matures and improves with age. If you live in an old house and have the original floorboards in good shape – you are lucky. There is nothing more beautiful than old, good–quality floor boards or an old parquet floor. Old floorboards fit or complement any design style, or can be the main feature in an interior. Maintenance is easy – it only needs regular vacuum cleaning and the occasional mop-up. If you spill something you just wipe it off with damp cloth. Long term maintenance isn’t that hard either - every five years or so they should be sanded and sealed with a good quality varnish..

This is a preview, read Floorboards in full.

DIY Project Diary - week 5

Last week was tough. The tiler spent 5 days doing the tiling (he’d estimated 3 days work) so I decided to do the grouting myself. I thought there was nothing to it, I’d done grouting before! Grouting between big tiles is easy. But the mosaic tiles are a nightmare – particularly cleaning off the dried grout. There was dust everywhere. Anyway, it was a good exercise for my arms but it took me two days to do it! Then I had to seal around the bath and taps with silicon – it’s fiddly but strangely satisfying..

This is a preview, read DIY Project in full.

I keep going on about not using carpets in a home. Why? Because unless you’re a single, obsessively tidy individual, carpets are impractical, unhygienic and require hard maintenance, as they get dirty/spoiled/ burned and wear out easily. So what is the alternative? The best material to use on floors is wood. In the following articles I’ll write about different type of wooden floors. But firstly, I briefly summarise the qualities and properties of wood and why it’s so suitable under our feet..

This is a preview, read Wooden Flooring in full.

Office Feng Shui

Feng Shui is about arranging your stuff and furniture in a way that that helps you to avoid bad energy and to boost your wealth & well being. First you must find out your Kua number and establish your personal trigram – this depends on your birth year and on your gender. This will determine your best and worst directions and whether you’re an East or West person. Then you should work out your house or office’s trigram – this depends on the year the house was built and the direction it faces. You can find many websites and/ or books to help you with this - but it’s very important to establish before you start moving things around. When you’ve done the above you are ready to maximise chi..

This is a preview, read Office Feng Shui in full.

DIY Project Diary ? Week 4

Well, the tiler didn?t turn up ? he hadn?t finished his previous job. We asked him to come over after work at least to look at the bathroom. I didn?t want any more surprises and I wanted to know how long it would take him to tile the whole bathroom. He came over on Monday evening and told us that big tiles cannot be cut around the wall mounted taps..

This is a preview, read DIY Project in full.

Office Decoration

Working from home

More and more of us work from home these days. Yet when it comes to situating on our home office we normally allocate the least used or the smallest space in our home. Many of use the bedroom or the dining room as the office. This is not the ideal solution..

This is a preview, read Office Decoration in full.

Home Decorating: Modern paints

Read article 1 about traditional paints and decorating with paint in your home

Oil paints

Used on interior, exterior wood and metalwork, floors and exterior walls. In most EU countries it’s no longer allowed to use solvent-based paint on interior surfaces. In fact, in many countries solvent based paints are banned. However, on external woodwork it’s still more durable than other high-performing yet water-based alternatives..

This is a preview, read Decorating with paint in full.