Great Spruce Up Your Home Hunt

singlehouseholder

i've just painted my landing and passage way, looked on EBay for some funky retro fabric offcuts bought some plain canvas stretched fabric across, now have my own original artwork- people have asked where I bought it form, it looks cool! Alternatively you could buy some 2x2 and make your own frame.
I bought a tin of spray starch, less than a quid, to make sure the fabric was well rigid before attaching, with staple gun, to frame.
Crack on!!

ruth_helen

Just wanted to post my tip for up-dating kitchen cupboard doors,in the past I used wallpaper to cover all of the door.Then coated them in water based varnish, this must be put on with a foam roller.Now I have them covered in thickish card[I know you are thinking UG] but it really does look great.And you can use any colour to suit the colour scheme of your kitchen.Oh by the way if you do use the wallpaper you will need at least 2/3 coats of varnish. Then just add new handles, or if your handles are metal just spray them any colour you like.

booty40uk

Had a great deal a couple of months ago. I was doing out our bathroom and the Mrs had been on and on about getting a free standing Victorian bath............yeah, the ones with the roll top and ornate feet etc etc. Looking on the internet the prices ranged from about £800 to £2000 with all the fittings, taps, pipe covers etc. Anyway, i happened to notice an old house near us had just sold and the builders were in doing a refurb. It hadnt been touched for about 60 years and was in a right state. What was outside............yep, just the kind of bath i was looking for ...............and believe it or not they were going to skip it!!!! I asked them if i could have it and being a Friday afternoon with pub time looming, they were more than happy with the £20 i gave them for it. I had it re enamelled and put new taps, waste etc on and it now takes pride of place in the bathroom. And the Mrs is happy...........in fact she spends more time in the bath now than watching the soaps! In all it cost me just over £400 so, if you see a refurb going on near you its always worth a look.........you just never know.
Andy

barrymoney

dustycat wrote:

Make your own abstract art prints. You can get pre-stretched, pre-primed canvases from Au Naturele Interiors (and elsewhere I imagine) for a few

(replying to slightly old message). Hobbycraft stores have cheap-ish art materials. I dont remember the exact prices, but its on my list to go back to -- I was there a few months ago and I remember being surprised how big the canvases were for the price (and I am pretty thrifty). Store locator at http://www.hobbycraft.co.uk/
Looking forward to producing some dodgy art soon :cool:

Dr.Lou

*****"Originally Posted by strangel
Can you please help me??? I live in a council house that is always freezing, heating is on all the time and radiators feel hot but they just dont heat the rooms up, council wont replace them as there is nothing wrong with them (apart from all being painted strange colors!!!) and I cant afford to replace them. Im open to any and all ideas.
Thanx"*******


Can you try and put some silver foil behind the radiators to reflect the heat back into the room? As ajd says above, check the radiators are bled properly,it is very easy to do and we found it made a big difference after doing it this winter. Also, we find that keeping the doors in the rooms shut keeps the heat in a little better, and use a draught excluder for any draughty doors.

Recently we put down a wooden floor in our front room, and bought the silver backed liner underlay to put down prior to laying the floor.... it really makes a big difference to the temperature of the room...now its a bit too warm if you ask me!!!

SooTee_2

vfm72 wrote:

Sprucing up your house can be achieved for next to nothing.
There's a site called Freecycle (http://www.freecycle.org) which is for recycling, well, anything! Basically you sign up for a yahoo group in your area (mine has about 4000 members) and you can 'Offer' unwanted items you may have or post 'wanted' if you need something specific. Most of the stuff on offer are household goods, fridges, tables, beds, fireplaces etc (but plenty more- unused paint, computer equipment, books... anything!) So it's a GREAT place to get the things you really need (but don't want to pay for!) and also to declutter by getting rid of items which are perfectly good but you don't want anymore.
The best bit is it's all FREE. :rotfl:

Now how cool is that?

I agree about Freecycle. I've both received and got rid of stuff on there. I think it is a great site and the moderators work hard to make sure that people don't abuse it. It is all over the world, so, if you know people in other countries, they can sign up locally. I've seen everything from horse manure and rubble to G-Plan furniture - even vehicles and bits. Make sure you're signing up for your local one; for example, Norfolk has a big Norfolk site but lots of local ones, West Norfolk, North Norfolk, ... Had a lovely big mirror and a perfect bedside unit from someone in my town and a powerful AquaVac with all the bits AND INSTRUCTIONS from someone in the next village. :j

Teresa60

We did however shell out on a new kitchen. If you can wait around, DIY stores have some very good deals at certain times of the year. We bought the Arran kitchen from Focus at half price this time last year. The sale is back on again now. They aren't end of line sales, just price cuts. If you've just moved house, get yourself a home movers discount card too - 10% off everything, including sale items, for 6 months.

Are you sure you get the 10% discount on sale items too?

SusanCarter

George_Bray wrote:

I think it's a pity that tiled work surfaces have gone rather out of fashion, for the time being at least. I too like the surface and wall (splashback) to be all tiles; the same texture and colour.

Kitchen suppliers like selling granite worktops for £3000+. One place warned me against tiles saying they were a death trap for salmonella and other germs. I'm not deterred. You can buy epoxy resin grout which should be impervious to these threats. And ceramic tiles should be at least as resistant to bacteria as granite, and a lot more resistant than wood.

Just make sure the tiled work top is done properly. We rent and I really hate our tiled worktop. I keep having to clean black mould off the grouting and it is not flat so I had to buy a large board for making pastry.