What I've learnt from being a homeowner

John and I are finally coming to the end of our second home improvement project and aim to sell before the end of the year. This will be the second time we have done this although our current home is the first one I have also been on the mortgage and deeds. Like many I spent years renting both in the UK, Europe and in South Africa and while renting can be exhausting in many different ways there are certain things you are not responsible for such as major repairs or mortgage payments and there are certainly some differences you notice when becoming a homeowner and knowing the buck stops with you should something go wrong. Owning a home can be expensive so you need to be on top of things While our mortgage is a lot lower than rent the general upkeep of a home can really add up. You have to become savvy when it comes to bills and providers and I know a lot of people mention this but do shop around for the best deal, especially when you come to the end of a contract. We have......

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Beautiful Bathrooms Sell Homes

Now I know a lot of you have read that title, and raised your eyebrows. In all likelihood you are thinking what is she on about? How can the statement that bathrooms really help sell houses be right? It's often on of the most overlooked spaces in any home but if your serious about selling than you really can't afford to overlook any part and having a beautiful bathroom certainly helps.  Recently I have been helping a friend to dress her house for sale. She has had it on the market for a while, and is desperate to sell, and her agent advised her to spend a bit of money, and stage her home properly, something which is very big in South Africa but not so much in the UK, although I think it really helps set the stage to potential buyers. He told her that the two most important rooms of the house were the kitchen, and the bathroom. We were not surprised that a nice kitchen attracts buyers to a property, but did were a little taken back that the same applied to......

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Redecorating your bedroom on a budget

If you are redecorating the bedroom, how do you to about utilising your finances? Depending on whether you need new furniture, new drapes, new electricals in the bathroom, or simply want to buy a few accent rugs to spruce up colour and style, you have to know how to utilise your money to make the most out of it. These are a few tips to consider finding the best designer styles, all while making the most of your funds when redecorating. Shop around and Spread the wealth  Don't spend it all in one place. If you need new furniture, look at thrift shops, consider online catalogues, consider financing. Look for ways to save, and ways in which you can reduce this burden, as it is typically the priciest of all things you are going to do when remodelling a room. Also you no longer need to go to shop at expensive interior design stores anymore with so many amazing products being stocked on the high street as well as supermarkets such as George by Asda investing a lot into large ho......

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French Flooring & Interior Giveaway

As many of you may already know I am a huge fan of wooden floors, I grew up with them in our home in South Africa and there is something so warming and homely about them and I love the natural feel under foot and as the house ages so do they, in the best way possible. My mother currently has wooden flooring in her house she is renovating and I have major flooring envy at the moment. We where hoping to have moved from our current home but having the baby has slowed things down somewhat but it's still very much on the table as soon as we get all those little jobs finished in our home but one thing for sure when we do move into a more long-term property wooden flooring is very much on our "must-have" list. My mothers lounge The great thing is even if your current home does not have useable floor boards you can have wooden flooring installed, although like with any big purchase you want to make sure you going with not only an ethical and environmentally friendly......

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Snippets of my mothers home

By the time I turned 4yrs old I had already moved house 6 times as my parents loved buying wrecks and doing them up, selling them and moving on. They believed that property was the way forward in terms of investment and when we eventually settled down when I was 5 when they bought the place I called "home" (which was also a wreck) pretty much mortgage free. Once my brother and I had reached our late teens they decided it was time for another project as our current home was finally finished and boredom had set in so they sold up again while I moved over to the UK in search of my own adventures. More than 10 years on and and many things have changed, my mother now lives in the UK and after retiring 3 years ago has thrown herself into another property challenge which has not fazed her at all even though she is in her late sixties. She bought this beautiful but very tired and neglected Victorian Bay fronted home 2 years ago with major work needing to be done through......

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Bathroom dreams, treats and dry skin beats

So our bath has sprung a bit of a leak...well it's a little bit more complicated than that but after having the floor recently re-tiled and the walls painted with thought besides replacing the glass screen on the bath and a few other little things that the Bathroom was fairly straight forward with regards to getting ready to put the house on the market - alas that is not the case and instead we have to replace the whole bath, the shower unit above the bath and the wall tiling around the bath...all before the baby pops out next month. In the perfect world we would replace it for a beautiful roll top bath but when renovating a property the first thing you need to do is separate your wants and desires to what is the most practical, finically beneficial and what suits the property the best. Of course having a roll top bath would bring the wow factor but as we are marketing it towards families and want to keep the costs down the best options is something simple and less lavish...althou......

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Growing up - Our Home

Bringing colour into our living room and home So as many of you many know we are well into our second property project as we gear up for some final changes and works to be done before putting it back on the market next year and moving onto our third longer term home (well thats the plan anyway). We have found this house to be a real learning curve, perhaps because we have such an active son this time round as well as being pregnant again and has made us mature in ways we never could of realised. Every time we do something like this we gain a further insight into each others likes and dislikes and we are always learning what is import to each of us. While I find the interior decor important John is always on the more practical side of things but together we have the same goal - to make a warm, comfortable and cosy home wether we are staying here for a year or ten. Our entertainment area is starting to take shape We are very excited to be apart of the Hiscox - The House we......

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Family safety tips during home renovations

We have been working on our home since we moved in last Dec Home renovations can be at once both exciting and stressful, a chance to inject your own personality into the place you live and to look back with pride at your workmanship and design skills. For safety and convenience it is best to move the family out of the house for the duration of the renovation. But that is in a perfect world and, as we don’t all live in a perfect world, a complete evacuation of the home is not always possible. Therefore, additional measures may need to be taken to keep everyone out of harm’s way. Here are a few tips to ensure your family is safe during your next home renovation project. Watch your Height Issues During most renovations, there is always going to be a time when you or your contractor is required to work on ladders, scaffolds or other height equipment. This is one area where safety should never be compromised in order to save a few bucks. Falls from a height due to shoddy gear,......

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Bedroom beautiful and Headboard inspiration

Love the painted brickwork and headboard ( image ) So I recently got back from a lovely short break in a beautiful traditional cottage in West Wales, every inch of was in keeping with it's age, which original floor tiles and exposed wooden floors upstairs, a large open fire place and original beams, exactly what I love. What really inspired me the most was the simple but super cosy bedrooms, each with a different style bed and all with the most comfortable mattresses and luxurious duvets, it truly was a treat for the soul. It made me realise how much we have been neglecting our bedroom, it's just been one of those things, with so much work to be done to the whole property, recently re-tiling our bathroom, painting throughout (still on-going), working on the garden, sorting out Mr A's room it's made me think how I need to put together a simple plan for our bedroom. Love the subtle colours in this bedroom ( image ) We have made a start though and one of the f......

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