All posts tagged: property

New Homeowners

A Guide for New Homeowners – Where to start, the dos and don’ts

There’s an epidemic afoot everyone. It’s called “first time home owner syndrome”. As we already know, people are getting onto the property ladder later in life. Renting well into your 20’s and 30’s, even 40’s is becoming the norm. House prices are mental and mortgages are a nightmare. I was one of the lucky ones, I got my grubby mitts on my first house, a 3 bed, ex-council semi, back in 2003. It felt like a HUGE amount of money at the time. £38k. I have no doubt anyone would bite your hand off to be able to buy a property for that now. The current property climate has led to a high number of long term renters, many of which have never been hands on with a property. Maybe getting as far as hanging pictures, a shelf perhaps. But when it comes down to learning about the nuts and bolts of a house and how to look after a property, renters tend to leave that job to the landlord/lady. That’s what you’re paying for …

The Pre-reveal – The Loft Extension Wk 16

Week 16? Is it? I’ve lost count now to be honest. It feels like we’ve been living in another universe where time as we know it doesn’t exist. We were hoping to be done for Christmas. And we should have been really. Easily. But we weren’t. And it was fine (it wasn’t, but you know what I mean). So the project continues into 2017 and every time I think we might have just one more week left to wait, something crops up. I’m fed up of waiting for the final reveal post now, so i’m going to have to write this Preveal post, just to satisfy myself really. Oh and to keep you guys up to date too I guess. And if i’m being totally honest, to thank all the brands that are working with me for being so patient throughout this whole project. I’ll be giving them a little shout out so you know who they are… First off, some slightly better photos of the staircase. Instead of a landing balustrade, I really wanted boxed in …

Where to start…? (a guide of what to spend your money on at home)

Happy January 2017 everyone. We made it! I enjoyed my week away from work, writing, interiors and all things loft extension, but it’s now time to crack on with life again. And i’m ready for it. It’s at this time of year, after taking the Christmas decs down and giving the house a good clean we start thinking about making home improvements and giving our homes a bit of love. My inbox has been rammed since December with people wanting some help, advice and design work done in January. Which is brilliant of course. Home Office in a Day My first day back at work in 2017 was a full house consultation in Manchester. The homeowner had been working really hard to save some money in order to give her family home, a lovely 3 bed, pre-war semi an update. When you’ve got several rooms to tackle, each room with its own issues and problems, it’s hard to know where to start. The last thing you want to do is go about it the wrong way, and …