Love my house

Photo source: PXHere http://bit.ly/2wtCBwL

If you love the period charm and heritage innate in your wooden sliding sash windows but hate the draughts, rattles, rot and heat loss that can also be part and parcel with an older property then.

You need help from experts. Traditional timber sash windows are an essential feature of a period buildings character. Therefore, it is vital to retain them, not only because of the appeal, but because they add value to your property. Also, known as a sliding sash or vertical sliders, they rely on a weighted system that allows the heavy sashes to lift and fall with ease. In order for the sashes to move in the box and operate smoothly there is a 3mm gap between the sash and the frame which is often the cause of draughts, rattles, dust and rain ingress and heat loss.

Dating back over 300 years, sash windows as we recognise them today have steadily evolved as technology and fashion have changed. At one time, due to a punitive window tax, the size of your panes was seen as an indicator of your wealth and interestingly the design was influenced by the Great Fire of London when post fire legislation required the windows to be recessed in to the brick work.

The most common cause of decay is water penetration. In a high percentage of cases, water penetration has often been caused by one or more of the five common problems listed below.

  • Failing of the exterior paintwork to the sashes and box frame.
  • Holes drilled into the window sills for cables.
  • Gaps between the window sill and the stone threshold.
  • Failing of linseed oil putty allowing rain water to sit on the glazing rebate to the sash, normally to the bottom rail and top meeting rail as water runs down the glass.
  • Failing of the perimeter pointing allowing water to build up and decay timber members inside the reveals of your sash windows.

All of which are very easily repaired.

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Photo source: Ficklr http://bit.ly/2wtCBwL

Original reclaimed timber flooring has a truly authentic appearance, which celebrates the marks, dents and scuffs of its age and radiates the richness of its historic past to add a layer of depth and warmth to the home. It also works exceptionally well with under-floor heating or in kitchens with range cookers, as the age of the wood means that it is stable and has already been acclimatized for centuries.

Reclaimed timber can also be a good choice if you need to match existing floorboards to extend flooring into other rooms, or replace damaged original boards. Go for the thickest boards you can accommodate and then maintain them with a light sanding every 15 years or so, to bring the floor back to how it was when you installed it.

Unique history

Reclaimed flooring is often rescued from historic houses that are beyond repair, industrial buildings, factories or dockyards. The majority of available boards are Victorian, made from timber originally used as floorboards, joists, beams or close boarded roofs, but the wood can be more than 400 years old, sourced from anywhere in the world. The planks must be dried in racks to ensure they will not shrink, split or expand when fitted. They should be moisture tested before being installed, but with already so many years’ drying out, the wood is usually dry enough. In order to retain the patina of the reclaimed floor, the wood is passed through a drum sander and lightly brushed, leaving the aged marks undamaged.

Care and attention

Personally, I love the look of a waxed floor but it does need more regular attention than other finishes. A fresh wax every year would be ideal. Water-based varnishes are a close second choice, and will last up to five years without doing anything other than sweeping.

Creative uses

I’ve noticed an emerging trend over the past few years of people getting more creative with reclaimed wood. Such examples are cladding walls to create an alternative focal point, or using it to custom-make a rustic-looking headboard.

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Photo source: Pixabay http://bit.ly/2wKeTPG

Preparing to be a parent? Prepare yourself mentally, but remember to prepare your house too, because the impact is going to be major.

Preparing the home for a child is very helpful for parents because it takes them one step closer to the real thing. It takes a lot of imagination to create the perfect child-ready house, but your effort is going to be well rewarded when the baby comes.

First step is to think like a curious baby! Imagining life from the baby point of view is going to make you more aware of the dangers that it might encounter inside the house. For examples, cabinets with cleaning products should be carefully locked before the baby starts moving.

For the kitchen, we suggest you keep only the essentials for you and make some ‘room’ for the baby-food maker or for a bottle rack.

The baby room is a must, but most parent prioritize decorating it for the baby. Instead, you should be focusing on making it friendly – and by ‘friendly’ we mean efficient – for you as a parent. Organize the room properly to easily find diapers, clean ‘outfits’, baby toys etc.

You will find more inspiration on what to do first when preparing your home for a baby in the following articles:

9 Things to Do to Get Your House in Order Before Baby Comes

12 Ways to prepare your home for your new baby

For toddlers you can find some ideas on how to make their life more fun and frustration-free in this article:

7 Ways to Make Your Home Kid Friendly

After you have all these in order you can go ‘over the top’ with these fun ideas to entertain children inside your home:

Top 10 Kid-Friendly Houses

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Photo source: http://bit.ly/2uYMnbq

A man travels the world in search of what he needs. He arrives home, and finds it.

George Moore

 

The most important work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own home.

Harold B. Lee

 

A good home must be made, not bought.

Joyce Maynard

 

My home is not a place, it is people.

Lois McMaster Bujold

 

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones…. The ones at home.  

Mother Teresa

 

Home is not where you live, but where they understand you.

Christian Morgenstern

 

An Englishman’s home is his castle.

Unknown author

 

There is nothing like staying home for comfort.

Jane Austen

 

Peace – That was the other name for home.

Kathleen Norris

 

A comfortable home is a great source of happiness. It ranks immediately after health and a good conscience.

Sydney Smith

 

Charity begins at home and justice begins next door. 

Charles Dickens

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Pinterest is a good place to go when you’re searching for redecorating ideas. 

Photo source: & copyright: Sherwin-Williams Instagram

What you’re going to find all over the visual social media platform this month is a calming shade of grey and blue mixed together. It is called Stardew and was launched by Sherwin-Williams suppliers earlier this month.

The specialists in decorations picked up the trend fast and we already could find some recommendations for an interior decor based on the new Stardew color.

 

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Subsidence is never a good thing right? Wrong! There is a little public house in Himley, Staffs that over the years has suffered subsidence due to mining since the 1800’s.

The crooked tavern has been named as Britain’s drunkest pub, as even the soberest of visitors will have a wobble once inside the crooked interior. Even before sinking a pint, glasses on seemingly flat surfaces often slide across tables, and coins appear to roll up, rather than down, the bar.

One end of the bar is 4ft lower than the other.

Sonny Mann, property surveyor for owner Marston’s, said: ‘When a ten pence piece rolls up the bar you ask yourself “Do I really need a drink?”.

‘All buildings move, but this one has moved more than any others I know of. The area is known for subsidence – probably because of the old coal mines settling underground and a river that’s close by.

Originally built as a farmhouse in 1765, it later became a public house called the Siden House – Siden is Black Country dialect for crooked.

It then became the Glynne Arms, named after Sir Stephen Glynne, on whose land it stood before being condemned as unsafe in 1940s.

The building was rescued by Wolverhampton and Dudley Breweries and reinforced with supporting buttresses and girders to make it safe and stable.

It is now a tourist attraction as visitors from around the world come to see its odd features.

Mr Mann said the level floors combined with the leaning walls can create some very intriguing optical illusions.

‘The pub’s quite safe though and hasn’t moved for ages,’ he said. ‘We carry out an annual inspection and use special ‘glass tails’ over cracks on the walls – if the glass breaks then we know it’s moving again.’

Photo source: Flickr (labeled for re-use)
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If you are fortunate enough to have a front garden as well as a rear garden, then you have probably considered paving it for easy maintenance… don’t! The front garden is more important than the rear garden. They are for show and not for relaxation and for curb appeal, not for parties and play.

Start with these seven golden rules and your front garden will impress every passer-by:

Blend in with the street. Every road has a ‘look’ and if you take your front garden too far away from what’s normal for your street, you will create a ‘wow’ but not in a good way. You can still raise the tone, if other front gardens in your street are neglected you can go for quietly smart. And if every other garden has been made over like a daytime TV programme, you might have to work a bit harder and invest some more time in your project.

 

Symmetry and structure will give a great aspect. Look for well defined flower beds, straight lines and solid planting. The hardest look to pull off in a front garden is a wildflower meadow with plants flowing everywhere – go for the opposite of this and you’ll be on the right tracks.

 

Structure will maintain the aspect of the garden even if it’s wintertime. And winter is a key period for the front garden! It will likely be your one glimpse of greenery on your way from the house to the car, so getting the winter look right is crucial. The shapes of the flower beds will be seen, and is therefore crucial to get this right.

 

The layout – the bones of the garden – needs to signal where people should go. It’s an obvious point but one that’s often forgotten. When folks walk to your house the front garden needs to show them the way to the front door. It’s purpose, if you like, is to direct. The easiest way to do this is with a clear path and a big signal to mark the front door. Big pots either side of the front door will do the job. They say ‘Hey look over here, this is where you need to go!’.

 

When you’re putting in the structure, work with the house and the windows. Planting should be high between the windows, low in front of them. Accentuate the patterns of house, don’t work against them. This will often give you a good pattern to copy around the rest of the front garden. The pace of the lower and higher planting can be used at the sides and alongside the road. Use the same spacing and the whole thing will come together like a symphony.

 

You may not think about selling right now, but it’s likely to happen at some point, so if you’re putting money and effort into your front garden think about kerb appeal to buyers. What would you like to see if you were thinking about buying this house? It’s another really good reason to avoid anything whacky at the front. Kerb appeal is about looking neat and well maintained, cared about and sensible.

 

Finally, watch out for planning rules. These are often specific to front gardens and can cover anything from the height of your front fence to the colour of your house. To find out what applies in your area the planning department of your local council will be a good place to start. If in doubt – check it out.

Source of photo.
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Don’t throw away that old ladder. It might not hold you while trying to change a light bulb, but it can still hold books, paintings of photos, candles and other small objects. Just turn it into a nice accessory for your living room!

Turn a ladder into the best accessory for your living room!

Posted by Hometalk on Tuesday, 1 August 2017

You can also use it in the garden or a balcony to put all the flower or herbs pots.

 

Source of the video and source of inspiration: Hometalk TV.

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“Your home is your castle” or “Your castle is your home”? In some very fortunate cases, the later is also true for real castles and their inhabitants. 

Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castle Labeled for reuse.

All across Europe, castles have been built as a sign of fortune and fame. Queens, kings and their children – princes and princesses, lived once in the most fortified and beautiful buildings in their land.

In those times, only royalty could live the fairy-tale of having a home that included: a dance hall, at least one dining room with an enormous table, bedrooms for themselves and the servants, more than one bathroom, a library, dressing rooms, and stables. Well, this is the kind of house you want to play hide-and-seek in as a child.

Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f7/Krakow_Wawel_20070804_0930.jpg Labeled for reuse.

However, those fortunate (and we mean this in the most literal way, as in owning a fortune) enough can still live in a castle today. Europe has castles that can be lived in today in countries like Italy, Germany, France, and UK. The largest inhabited castle is the Windsor Castle in Berkshire, for example. One can also sleep in the Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, and maybe feel like the Sleeping Beauty waiting to be awakened by a prince.

These type of properties usually have prices that exceed 2,000,000 GBP. Just like in the case of a normal property, the price depends on the number of bedrooms. An indoor garden the size of a park or a football field rises the value of the property, just like a big balcony might raise the value of an apartment.

If you are one of the potential buyers of a castle, to get a clear picture of what your life will be like, please read this article. It will give you a sense of the burdens, not only the advantages of living in a castle. Like the “agonizing five (5) minute walk to the home from the car” or the “We forgot the butter” problem.

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If you’re one of those countryside folks trapped inside an apartment for living purposes only, we have an idea on how to ‘cultivate’ your farmer side. Create a garden on your balcony and start growing your favourite plants this summer.

Balcony gardening became a trend a couple of years ago. It started as a hobby for some, but it was rapidly adopted by those who wanted more control over what they put on the table.

What can you grow on your balcony?

Culinary herbs like basil, chervil, chives, coriander, dill, mint, oregano, parsley, rosemary, thyme.

You can also grow small vegetables – actually any kind of vegetable if you do not want to mass-product it. Some suggestions are: cherry tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, green onions, radishes, beans, carrots

What do you need to create the garden on the balcony?

Enough light, to start with. It’s not merely as precious as space, since space can be maximized by rational use.

Pots of all types and sizes. Containers and a good soil create a good basis for your garden apartment.

Don’t forget the seeds. Choose plants that grow fast enough. It can be a bit frustrating just looking at an empty pot for a couple of days, but keep in mind that the seed what planted! It takes time and water to grow.

And one more advice: make full use of your vertical space. Climb anything that can climb on the walls of the balcony.

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