June 18, 2013

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Make Mine A Living Kitchen

October 3, 2012 By

In recent years there’s been a trend to make the kitchen a bigger and more important part of the home, instead of it being a remote room where food is prepared and then taken through to the dining room.

It makes a lot of sense, especially if you have young children who you want to keep an eye on while you are preparing a meal, but you want to give them space to play too. Many living kitchens have room for not only a dining table, but also a small sofa or an area to have some toys out.

Of course, whether you can make a living kitchen in your home depends on how big a space you have, and what possibilities you have for making it bigger. Many dining rooms are often adjacent to the kitchen, so it is relatively easy to knock through the two rooms to make one big space. But this may not be the case in your home, in which case you could look at building out into the garden from the kitchen instead, perhaps through extending the kitchen with a conservatory.

You still need to create a certain amount of separation between where you prepare food and where you all sit down to eat, especially for those times that you want to entertain guests. A peninsular work surface with ceiling cupboards above it can provide this separation without cutting the room into two.

If you are keeping your existing kitchen units and work surfaces, then you should choose a dining table that complements the style of the kitchen. However, there are so many different dining tables to choose from now that you won’t be restricted in your choice.

Make clever use of all the extra space that you have in the living kitchen. You may want to increase the amount of storage – with a sideboard or dresser. You can also buy cheap wine racks online that come as standalone units, which can work really well if you have an empty corner that might not otherwise get used.

Spend some time deciding what you want in your living kitchen before you buy anything, and make sure you measure up accurately so that you don’t buy furniture that is too big or too small.

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Ideal dining

September 23, 2012 By

The most important thing when designing your dining space is to create the right environment for eating, drinking and socialising. This may sound like the most obvious thing you’ve ever heard, but it’s surprising how many dining areas are created to impress visitors and to look the part, design-wise, as opposed to their actual designated function.

We use the word “dining area” carefully here as most modern homes and home alterations seem to concentrate on open plan living – with a strong desire to create a dining area in an open-plan kitchen diner. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but you may be in a house where such an approach simply isn’t possible. If that is the case, then it’s important to make the dining room feel as homely and welcoming as possible. Far too many dining rooms are overly formal and are relatively unused outside the occasional requirement for formal dining.

So it’s all about creating the right comfortable ambience – wherever you decide you’re going to do your main wining and dining. This means making the area as comfortable as possible, creating subtle lighting (overhead bright lights are generally a bad idea) and managing the acoustics properly.

In many modern dining areas in modern or re-designed homes, the surfaces are hard, causing the sound to bounce off them – and creating loud noise. This may be great for your kids’ rock band, but isn’t such a good idea for relaxed eating. One good way round this is to use a few pictures on the wall, and maybe even material wall coverings if you can – to help deaden the sound and take off the sharp edges.

Furnishings also help. Tables and chairs in wood, wine racks full of wine, units etc., will all help create the right ambience and quieten things down a little.

Obviously, the dining furnishings are essential. For less formal dining, rustic oak is always a winner. It stands the test of time and family and guests aren’t terrified of marking it in any way. Check out some of the dining room sets from Furnishing Homes – there are hundreds to choose from.

But above all – make your dining area smart, but informal and comfortable; eating and drinking is supposed to be relaxed and fun.

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Have You Woken Up To Wallpaper?

August 24, 2012 By

If you’re wallpapering your bedroom, you’ll be waking up to the walls every day, and they’ll be the last thing you see at night. So you certainly need to be able to live with your wall-covering choice on a day-to-day basis. The wrong wallpaper can be a costly and frustrating mistake.

One of the first things to consider is where you want to put wallpaper – on every wall, or in just part of the room (e.g. to make a feature wall), or under a chair rail. The position and style of large pieces of furniture in bedrooms, such as double beds, fitted wardrobes and chests of drawers needs to be taken into account. You don’t want your art deco style feature wall to mainly be covered by cheap bedroom furniture at www.furnishinghomes.co.uk.

Next comes the design bit. Gather samples like paint chips (the larger the better), fabric swatches, flooring, tiles, etc. You may be inspired by a certain period or style but you need to make sure this will compliment your wardrobes, bed, dressing table and so on, otherwise you will end up buying new wallpaper and new furniture. Have a good look round stores with showrooms, as these will give you an idea of how the finished room could look. Interiors magazines will help you keep up with the latest trends and effects. Now it’s time to hit the shops.

To get a rough estimate of how many rolls of wallpaper will be required, go to a website with an online wallpaper estimating tool for a rough idea of how many rolls might be needed for your project. This will give you an idea of the amount you’ll need to spend. Ideally, before you part with your cash, take some wallpaper samples back with you and place them on your bedroom wall so you can see what the pattern is like to live with. You may not want to wake up to stills from “Gone with the Wind” every morning after all!

 

 

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How To Have A Power Shower

August 16, 2012 By

Let’s face it, we all want a power shower in our homes, but most of us don’t actually get around to it due to the costs involved. But when you stay at a good hotel on business or on holiday, and particularly if you travel to places in the world where having a powerful shower is almost a religion, like North America, you realise just how great an experience it is.

Perhaps you even resolve to do something about your own relatively puny electric shower for when you get home, but then you just don’t seem to get around to it for one reason or another.

This is the same story in so many households, but there’s really no good reason to put up with a weak shower any more – even if you have an electric one.

First – a brief explanation about showers. In the main, there are two basic types; mixer showers and electric showers. With mixer showers, as the name implies, the shower unit mixes water from your hot and cold water supplies to the desired temperature. Because this type of shower takes its water from dual sources and doesn’t have to heat it up en-route, it’s generally the more powerful type. An electric shower, meanwhile, takes its supply from the cold water feed and passes it over an electric heating element in the same way as a kettle.

If you really want a power shower, then go for the mixer variety and, if your water supply is a little low, get a pump installed to rev it up a little. If you get power shower from Mira, you’ll really see just how powerful a mixer shower can be.

But if you want a limitless supply of hot water 24 hours a day, then go for an electric shower, but make sure it’s got modern flow technology and it will still be pretty powerful, if you get a good make. If you get mira shower from Mira, for example, you will be getting the most powerful type available.

Either way – electric or mixer – there’s really no reason not to have a power shower any more.        

 

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Your Dining Room

August 4, 2012 By

A dining room can become a bit of a no-go area in some modern homes. With so many people eating on the run and rarely sitting down to a meal, the dining room sometimes only gets used a few times a year – for big occasions like Christmas or Easter.

However, it doesn’t have to be this way. You can reintroduce the idea of eating in the dining room on a regular basis, and make it a room that’s a part of the household, not one that you close the door to for the majority of the year. It’s easy enough to reinstate the dining room; you can start off by making the effort to have Sunday lunch in there once a week, and then perhaps introduce a second meal during the week. Once you get used to the routine of carrying dishes and plates through from the kitchen, it suddenly won’t seem so much of a chore to set the dining table and you’ll begin to enjoy spending time in the dining room once more.

Of course, another way to tempt your family back into the dining room is by giving it a whole new look. Sometimes, we put up with a dining set that our tastes have outgrown and there’s no appeal to sitting in a room that you no longer like the look of.

Fortunately there is plenty of great dining room furniture available in stores and online, and there are prices to suit every budget. You can transform the whole dining room without too much expense.

The choice of table is really important, as it sets the tone for the whole room. Traditional polished wood is a classic choice for dining tables, but if you like a more modern feel, then glass dining tables look great – and also help to make the room feel bigger than it actually is. Another advantage to glass is that it’s very hardwearing; you won’t need place mats or to put down protection if the kids are drawing in there.

Whatever look you go for, make sure it’s something that works for your family, and you’ll soon be using the dining room every day of the year.

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Summertime Inside

July 16, 2012 By

I don’t know about you but I am totally fed up with the rain. If I see another flood warning followed by a hose pipe ban I think I will stop watching the news altogether! It feels as if I will never get to sit in the garden soaking up some rays, and the wellies, umbrellas and raincoats by the front door have become a permanent fixture. And forget straightening your hair – I don’t even want to talk about it.

To combat the depressing state of outside I have decided to spread a little sunshine inside with some summery-inspired interior design. The focus for all this seasonal attention is my bedroom: out go the dark, boudoir-look heavy fabrics and in comes the sun! The summer look is all about fresh, soft colours and loads of light and air. If you want to have a go yourself then start with the main pieces of furniture in the room; dark wood just won’t hack it so get inspired with blog sites like Furnishing Home Blog and pick out lighter wood or white designs.

For more inspiration take a look at French country or ‘shabby chic’ interiors which have a great summer feel to them. Distressed white painted furniture teamed with quaint antiques and embellished fabrics feature, alongside scrubbed pine floors and miss-matched rugs. Mix delicate floral fabrics with crisp white linen and don’t be afraid to pretty things up with lace edgings, buttons and bows for a truly inviting bedroom look. Open up the opportunity for natural light to flood in with light window treatments, and reflect the sun around the room with mirrors and polished metal ornaments. Check out ideas for accessories by following @furnishinghomes on twitter and have access to all the latest designer looks at your fingertips and buy cheap pine bedroom furniture online.

Get the summer bedroom you always wanted and use the latest accent colours without breaking the bank too. Think acres of white with a dash of grass green, sunshine yellow or rose petal pink and you won’t go far wrong. DIY and home crafts are at peace in this kind of cosy, homely space, so put those skills to good use as well and create some unique personal touches. Don’t forget to bring a little bit of outside in by displaying fresh flowers too – pick them from your own garden and show off your green fingers while you’re at it!

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Search Around For Cheaper Home Insurance

June 21, 2012 By

As with every form of insurance, renewal time for home insurance comes around every year and barely gets a glance from householders across the country. Insurance companies rely on people’s laziness to gradually bump up the premiums year on year, even if you haven’t filed any claims during the past year.

So, next time you get a renewal advisory letter in the post, take the time to check it over and then get some comparison house insurance quotes from a few different companies. The easiest way to do this is through an insurance comparison website – so that you only have to go through all your details once.

There are certain ways that you can reduce the cost of home insurance premiums:

Increase the excess – by increasing the voluntary excess amount that you are willing to pay you will reduce your premiums. Ask what the maximum voluntary excess amount is and cut down the premium.

Valuables – assess what valuables you have and what they’re really worth. Most home insurance will offer a minimum cover value of £2,000 on valuable items. Unless you have something really special that you want to cover separately, this is probably enough for most people.

Limit the extras – when a company is putting an insurance quote together for any customer, it will often include optional extras and you have to make sure that you know which features these are. To reduce your premiums, take off all the optional extras like accidental damage cover, personal possessions out of the home cover and legal protection cover.

Lower your contents cover. When insuring your home, there are two sides to the insurance. Buildings cover is essential and will protect your property asset in case of fire, flood and theft. Contents cover is optional and you can certainly set it to a minimum value in order to reduce your premiums.

If you find a quote seems unreasonably high, run through the checklist above and you should be able to reduce it quite substantially. If not, ask them to hold the quote and go and find another elsewhere to compare.

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International Money Transfer Can Be Easy

June 18, 2012 By

If you have a holiday home, or take regular holidays abroad, you probably already know that transferring cash from one currency to another can be a bit of a pain. Often, when rates seems a little out of kilter, you think you’d like to change a few pounds into Euros or Dollars or vice-versa for a trip you may like to take in the future – but you simply don’t get around to it as the rates on offer may not be great – or you simply don’t have the time to go into a bank or call a company up.

But now, you can do all that online far easier than ever before – so there’s really no need to wait. Overseas money transfer from HiFX is a specialist in money transfer; that is its business. The company has long experience in managing billions in foreign exchange each year, and to make the process easier, the company has created a simple online international payments service.

HiFX Online provides its clients with a quick and easy way to transfer amounts ranging from £50 to £300k online at the click of the mouse wherever you have access to the internet. You don’t need to telephone a broker or stand in line at the foreign exchange counter of your local bank.

What’s more, with online money transfer from HiFX you can guarantee a good rate of exchange. The company checks all main high street bank and building society exchange rates each month to make sure its overall price (including banking charges, exchange rates and other fees) is better.

The actual exchange rate you’ll receive will depend on a number of factors including the amount you’re transferring, the currency you’re buying and of course, the exchange rates at the time of purchase. Also, bear in mind that credit card payments incur a processing fee of 1.6%.

All in all – it’s easier than it’s ever been.

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Disappointing Dining Experiences

June 14, 2012 By

It can be really galling when a meal out at a restaurant is memorable for all the wrong reasons and bad value for money. Unfortunately, despite a growing interest in food and service, and a big increase in the number of good UK restaurants and pubs, we still don’t live in a country where you can go to any town or village and be guaranteed good, fresh, tasty food. Taking pot luck means that from time to time you are still likely to come across frozen food, micro waved food, sloppy presentation and limp salad garnishes.

Just as when you are buying bathroom fittings you are likely to consult the internet and click here for Showers from Mira, it is a good idea to look at a few restaurant websites if you are planning a special occasion. Most sites will give you sample menus and photos of the dining area, which should give you a good idea as to whether the food and ambiance will be to your taste. You may also find out about special offers such as early-bird menus if you sign up to the restaurant’s mailing list via email.

If you have been invited out and find yourself sat down at a restaurant that’s not exactly confidence-inspiring – perhaps the staff look fed up or are inattentive (the person who’s supposed to be finding you a table is busy on the internet, following links that say click here for thermostatic shower from Mira) there are food stains on the table cloth or you’ve heard the ping of a microwave – then it might be best to keep your order simple.

At times like these, don’t go for anything to complex, such as the “marine special”. Stick to dishes which are plain and straightforward, such as steak and chips. If you are in a pizza restaurant, go for pizza – it’s likely to be a better choice than the token pasta dish.

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Buying Furniture From Scratch

May 25, 2012 By

If you’ve just moved into your first place of your own, you’re unlikely to have much furniture at your disposal, and with the amount of money you need to pay out when you buy your first property, it’s possible that you’ll be feeling a bit strapped for cash for a while.

However, it’s not very practical to do without at least some furniture while you start to save up spare cash again. There are different ways round this:

Beg and borrow

Now is not the time to be proud. Ask around all the people you know – especially friends and family the same age as your parents – for any hand-me-down furniture they no longer want or need. You’ll be surprised just how many people will unearth tables and chairs, display cabinets, sofas and beds if you’re lucky.

Of course you may not want to keep these items forever, but they may be great to get you through a couple of years.

Buy now, pay later

Many furniture stores now offer interest free payment plans on their furniture. And the more you buy, the longer you have to pay it back. This means you can buy bigger items straight away and then pay for them in monthly instalments. Just make sure that you make the payments affordable, as otherwise you do stand at risk of losing your new furniture.

It’s a great way to buy things like beds and sofas. For example, Harveys sofas can be purchased in this way, and the payments spread over a 12 month, 24 month or 36 month period – depending on how much you spend.

Probably the best solution is to do a little of both – the borrowing and setting up flexible finance plans. For example, most people will want to buy a new bed that hasn’t been used by anyone else, whereas we’re a little less fussy about tables and chairs.

Gradually, as you are able to afford more things, you can pass along any hand-me-downs you no longer want to someone else in a similar situation.

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