Top tips for sprucing up your home’s exterior this summer

With summer fast approaching, homeowners wishing to upgrade their property’s exterior features and garden this year can look to these home improvement tips, compiled by the experts at East Midlands based Stormclad. John Evans, managing director at Stormclad home improvements,... View Article

Breaking the rules

Julia Kendell, interior designer for the Homebuilding & Renovating Show, offers her tips on which kitchen design rules can be broken. First of all, ignore the kitchen work triangle ‘rule’. This concept of ensuring minimal movement between the cooker, sink and... View Article

Garden lighting: How to plan your own installation

When it comes to garden lighting, knowing what and where to illuminate can seem confusing. In this article, Rachel Morris of 4Lite offers her advice on how to approach your own installation. An effective lighting installation can transform gardens, improving... View Article

Goodbye grey – hello navy and black

Colourtrend reveals the darker hues as the most sought-after shades for paint, according to recent searches Shades of grey have been spotted everywhere in interiors over the last few years, with the muted neutral being cemented as one of the... View Article

Home Styling – Make room for relaxation

While you may already know how you want your kitchen and bathroom to look, the crucial space that is the living room can be more tricky to conceptualise. Interior designer Claire Rendall of Berkeley Place provides some styling tips Living... View Article

Looking into timber

Richard Dollar from The Sash Window Workshop discusses what self-builders should consider when choosing wooden framed windows for their home, in order to ensure that the windows not only look right, but also help make it more comfortable to live... View Article

Laying out the options

With flooring being the first thing you feel underfoot every morning, it’s important to consider all factors when specifying a floor that works within your home. Here, leading suppliers Quick-Step and Abingdon Flooring provide their insights into the options when... View Article

Seeing the light of day

Choosing the most suitable rooflight for your build can be anything but straightforward, with a variety of important aspects to consider including shape, size, and the materials it’s made from. Paul Trace from Stella Rooflight offers some practical advice to... View Article

Graven Hill returns to Build It Live

Following on from the success of 2021’s event, Graven Hill has announced plans to return to Build It Live, which will take place Saturday 11 June until Sunday 12 June at Bicester Heritage in Oxfordshire. Graven Hill, the UK’s largest... View Article

Access all areas

A kit home has plenty of benefits – including its price tag – but buying a ‘house in a box’ doesn’t mean sticking to the plan, as this wheelchair-friendly redesign near Cornwall’s Atlantic coast illustrates TEXT CAROL BURNS IMAGES EWEN... View Article

Breaking down barriers

For Patsy Parr, getting approval and building her first home in her native rural Staffordshire meant overcoming countless hurdles, but project management experience, plus a bit of family knowledge, resulted in an award-winning build TEXT ROSEANNE FIELD IMAGES IZAAK CAAN... View Article

Practice makes perfect

Serial self-builder Mark Young’s fourth project, an ICF-built family home, has scored so many hits on his family’s wish list that it might be his last project TEXT ROSEANNE FIELD IMAGES MARK YOUNG Back in the November/December 2018 issue of... View Article

Maintenance in mind

Choosing the right decking material can be the difference between enjoying your outdoor space and spending all your spare time maintaining it. Caroline Birdsall from Millboard gives some practical advice on picking a long-lasting decking area for your property One... View Article

Crown Paints autumn/winter 2022 trend report

As the world moves on from the past few years of uncertainty, it isn’t just our lives that have changed dramatically, but our homes too. We have become braver with the colour choices in our homes, moving away from safe... View Article

Recipe for success

Cooking-mad ex MasterChef contestant Ashley Byrne and his wife Alison have managed to create an eye-catching contemporary home through close working relationships with their architect, builder and suppliers – so who says too many cooks spoil the broth? TEXT JESS... View Article

The right balance

When specifying systems to control temperature in your self-build, the key is to balance style, substance and sustainability to ensure the end result ticks all the right boxes. Greg Cooper from Radiana looks at why radiant cooling could be the... View Article

Ask the Expert – Delivering low carbon

LISTEN HERE 🔊 Like a lot of self-builders, you may be looking to stay clear of fossil fuel heating systems and install a heat pump in your home. However, you may be asking how exactly does a heat pump work... View Article