Category: Uncategorised

Is this your time for a little dopamine hit?

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Open Mind

New Year, new you

New Year, new start

New Year, new ... whatever

We seem to put a lot of faith into the transformative eruption that comes when poor, tatty ol' 31st December explodes into a bright, shiny 1st January. We set personal goals just for ourselves, to get fit, thin, happy, healthy, save money and be kind. Most of these are admirable aims and you'll be sharing them with millions of other people in that lovely, warm after-Christmas, happy glow.

But YouGov1 asked people to cast their minds back to the beginning of 2024 and say whether they had kept their New Year's resolutions. One in six (17%) said that they had but, of that group, only one in three claim to have kept all of the resolutions they made. And, of the overall group of people quizzed, one in five (19%) admitted that they failed to keep any of their New Year's resolutions.

" It could just be a simple case of challenge and reward. "

So, do we seem to be flirting around the edges of insanity at lea...

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Retro Not Your Vibe?

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Retro Life

Retro clothing, retro music and even retro artwork. It's quite a big thing at the moment and seems to add a touch of warm nostalgia to people's rather stressed lives. 



But it's not for everyone, particularly when it comes to houses and interior design. Retro has its own time limits and what's retro today is going to be old fashioned tomorrow. That's not a good idea for something as fundamental as your home, which is too valuable to need to be updated with every swing of the fashion pendulum.


There are still probably hundreds of thousands of houses built in the 70s and 80s which still reflect that period in their interior design. You know what I mean - ranch railing on the staircase, formica kitchen units, or just lots of B R O W N!


But this also means that it offers you a blank canvas for bringing your home right up to date and give it some design integrity, some quality elements which will carry you and your home comfortably and s...

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See our Modular Staircase on Grand Designs!

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Grand Designs Henley

A moving episode

Did you see the rather moving episode of Channel 4's Grand Designs Series 22 Episode 8, which featured Tony and Ara's healing house set in a wonderful woodland garden? This turned out to be quite a big project, starting with the demolition of Tony's childhood home nestled in an idyllic woodland setting.

Grand Designs Henley Garden

Their intention was to create a home of "healing" dedicated to health and wellbeing for themselves and guests, a project which they knew would be challenging and costly - but they had no idea just how challenging it would become.

Four Years of Hard Work

It took the couple an unexpected four years of tremendous personal effort and distressing health setbacks. For Tony, though, he faced an uphill struggle of his initial lack of the skills needed for a selfbuilder but he persevered and overcame that steep learning curve. The shock of Ara's health challenges were more difficult to come to terms with, but they hope that the house, that was created as a ho...

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Room At The Top | Part 4 :: And Now For The Red Tape!

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Velux Roof Balcony for Loft Conversion

If you've been following the previous instalments of our guide to loft conversion, you've probably already built up a good picture of how your potential loft room will look and feel. But we have often mentioned the need to look at the various statutory regulations (in UK) which come into play for loft conversion projects and we'll give you a quick overview in this issue.

Roof conversion inspiration from Velux
Image courtesy of Velux.co.uk

Regulations

There are two main areas of legislation involved - Planning Permission and Building Regulations. Planning Permission focuses on the look of the project, how it fits in the neighbourhood and how it might affect neighbours, and Building Regulations deal with the safety and structural integrity of any proposed work. There is also good information freely available on the Government Planning Portal by clicking here.

Many loft conversions won't need Planning Permission as they probably fall within permitted development rights, or unless you are thinking of putting in ...

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