Decorators tips: How to hang your Christmas decorations.
Lesson One: hanging on brick walls Planning to decorate the house this year? Perhaps you like the understated elegance of this example? Even if you’re not so brave, I thought you might like a decorator’s tips on how to make decorations stay up without incurring a repair bill in the New Year, so here are some…
Decorating tips – and some new words
As I drive around London in my van I have to think about something. So what about this: Is there a collective noun for decorators? I sometimes use old-fashioned anglo-saxon words to talk about my workmen, but really they are warm and cuddly people. They deserve a proper collective noun, one that isn’t a swear-word….
What Adam and Eve got up to on your roof with a ladder
I always thought it would be nice to have a roof garden. Somewhere to relax and maybe enjoy a frolic in the sun with the benefit of complete privacy. In my mind’s eye it would be something like this: Imagine my surprise when I took a ladder up to my roof and found that I already HAVE a…
‘My Son used my iPhone as a hammer’
School holidays apparently see a spike in insurance claims – kids cause an average £176 of home damage a year, according to insurance industry figures from Policy Expert. More than a quarter of this damage is caused to paintwork and interior décor. A survey of parents found that the top excuse for causing damage in…
Batman in your bedroom?
If you want to get creative, read this first I read two stories about Star Trek themed houses this week. Both of them (surprise!) in the USA. One fan spent $300,000 on converting his New York basement into the bridge of the USS Enterprise. The other did an entire house in Florida. Surprisingly, at least one of…
The view from your back garden…
One of these days I’m going to get lucky. I’ll get home early on Friday, the sun’s still shining on my garden, the barbecue has been lit & my favourite beverage is chilling gently in the fridge. I always seem to fall at the same hurdle; getting home early. But I’m working on it. But the view…
PROCRASTINATION (what’s that got to do with decorating?)
The great British Summer is threatening once more. With it come to mind all the wonderful things we’re going to accomplish this year, like losing those extra pounds ready for the beach (hmm… I may move that one down my list a little…) or getting those new wardrobes you’ve been talking about since you…
Oh dear! More things we didn’t know about the colours we paint our houses
Sorry to keep coming back to this, but you might have seen my previous newsletter about green paint in bedrooms, and how it’s supposed to promote…well, let’s say, night-time exercise. Bad luck for the owner of this bedroom. And as we come to Easter it struck me that all the seasonal symbols – eggs, rabbits…
To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail
The quotation above is one of my favourites from Mark Twain. Working in the decorating industry, I see a lot of men with hammers. They’ll hit anything. So when salesmen urged half of London to replace old wooden doors with UPVC, they weren’t necessarily just thinking about the commission. I’m sure many of them genuinely believed in…
What to watch out for after all this rain
All this rain is causing damp problems to homes all over London, even in areas which have avoided flooding. I hope you’ve not had any serious damage, but I thought you might want to know the main things to watch out for. Water can get into walls through various ways, including: Cracked or missing roof tiles Gaps around door and window frames Breaks in…