Author: |Posted: 12:11 pm on 27/08/09
Category: DIY & Self Build, Property Development, expert advice, gardens
So, we at 4Homes have been banging on for some time about how you should improve rather than move, how DIY is achievable for all and how you should check out our very handy step by step A-Z of DIY & Building Guides and Design & Style How Tos to tackle anything from making cushions to fitting a new sink. All this in an effort to make your home worth more, make it look better – and save money in the process.
We don’t want to put you off. Oh no. While we’re enjoying our August bank holidays, the 4Homes team will lie back (metaphorically) and think of you all beavering away in the garden, laying a new deck, or up in the bathroom, replacing old taps. However, a word or two of warning. We’ve been told that we Brits pay a massive £1.5 billion to fix DIY jobs gone wrong. Worse still, 250,000 people suffer DIY-related injuries every year (I can prove that – I’ve got a damaged finger from the gardening I did last weekend).
So, while it may seem like a good idea to use the break to do that wallpapering or tile a floor, it’s also worth preparing properly to avoid those DIY disasters. Kensington Financial Management Consultants have rather handily supplied us with some tips to avoid throwing a spanner in the works:
1 Check your tools – make sure they are in good working order to avoid any mishaps. Check that equipment carries British or European quality or standard marks in the manual.
2 Know your limits – if you are unsure of the extent of the job, call in an experienced professional, which may work out cheaper as you won’t have to fork out for specialist tools.
3 Insure and be sure – check insurance policies to see what you are covered for in case of an accident (not as silly as it sounds…).
4 A rushed job is a botched job – take your time and don’t leave anything unfinished, or sharp tools lying around.
5 Finally, from the team at 4Homes – don’t do a thing until you’ve checked out our DIY advice pages.
Good luck – and let us know how it goes – at our Rate My DIY Disaster pages.
You heard it here first – Kirstie Allsopp is looking for contributors to take part in series 2 of Kirstie’s Homemade Home.
If you’re fed up with flat pack, had enough of the high street and want your home to ooze individuality, get in touch and you might be selected to get Kirstie’s help transforming your interior. Kirstie will enlist the services of skilled craftspeople from across the UK, to give your house its own signature homemade style.
You can find out how to apply for Kirstie’s Homemade Home here, and follow the programme’s makers on Twitter.
Author: |Posted: 3:08 pm on 25/08/09
Category: Design & Style
If your kids have recently picked up their A-level results and are gearing up for three or more years at university, don’t miss our top 5 bargain buys for new students.
Feel free to add comments below, including other products you think are essential for new students leaving home for the first time.
Author: |Posted: 4:34 pm on 21/08/09
Category: Architecture, Buying & Selling
This week, our insatiable hunger for property porn led us to contemporary coastal homes. The collection below brings together some of the finest modern mansions the UK housing market has to offer, and they’re all perched atop cliffs, overlooking harbours or a stone’s throw from the beach.
Click on the photos to see the full listings, complete with lots more pics for you to drool over. All properties were found using the 4Homes Property Search. read more
Author: |Posted: 5:27 pm on 20/08/09
Category: Buying & Selling, DIY & Self Build, Property Development
I decided to be organised about our paint selection, rather than make one of our typical last minute decisions, so I started collecting samples of paints a few weeks before the painter was due to start on the house.I narrowed the paint companies I wanted to use down to Little Greene, Farrow & Ball and Fired Earth because of their low VOCs (volatile organic compounds) which means the paint is less toxic, mild smelling and… can be licked by my tiny-and-eats-anything son.
The day Lynn (the painter) started, I arrived with my box full of sample paint pots and colour charts and explained the look we were trying to create – breezy, light, airy. We went through the various pots and she painted each one in a chunky patch on a wall she had prepped that morning. She wrote the name of each paint above the patch (in pencil) and we let them dry for about an hour so we could get a sense of the true colour of each one.
As anyone who has painted a room before knows, what a colour looks like on a colour chart and what it looks like on a wall can be two very different things, so I was very curious to see how the test would go.
When the paints dried it looked like a charming mural of whites, greens and greys. The colours I preferred jumped out at me right away and, luckily, my husband had the exact same preferences, so no battle there. We decided to go for Little Greene Linen Wash for the majority of the house and Little Green French Grey in the kitchen. I had not even heard of Little Greene until this project, and had discovered them in a mention they had in Grand Designs magazine where the paints were described as being environmental, chalky and very washable. They are pricy, but so are Farrow & Ball and Fired Earth. (Each sample alone for my short list of brands cost around £3.) And even though Lynn thought I should consider colour matching my Little Greene preference to Crown to save money, I was quite sold on the low VOC and ‘easy to wash’ combination.
Lynn was also worried it would be too watery, as some designer paints are. But after putting on the first coat she called to say it went on beautifully and that there was virtually no smell. And after a few days of painting with it, she let me know she loved it (’it goes on like butter’) and planned on using it in her own house. I have to wait until my trip down next week to see it for myself.
Author: |Posted: 5:36 pm on 03/08/09
Category: Buying & Selling, On TV
Earlier today, regulatory body Ofcom cleared our 2007 programme, Best & Worst Places To Live In The UK, of any wrongdoing after the formula and statistics used to calculate the list resulted in Middlesbrough being named the worst of the UK’s 434 boroughs. read more
