I travel around to visit relatives and contacts all over the home counties – to some rather attractive and capacious houses that in the late ’70s and through to the ’90s, seemed distinctly modern and of their era.  We were greatly influenced then by up and coming entrepreneurs – the high flyers just beginning to … [continue…]

I was eating out at a very country pub the other week.  I’ve been there before, several years apart,  with an ancient relative who only ever eats at top quality locations.  Non of the spit and sawdust style for her.  Any artisan activity has to be the most expensive.  This pub certainly fitted that criteria.  … [continue…]

This is definitely the time of year when we start thinking about more entertaining.  Lots of fok around for patio parties and bar-b-qs…….  that’s all very well but for the person who is responsible for keeping the house and garden in tip top visitor ready condition, it’s not so easy.  When  you have a busy … [continue…]

When you get to realising you need that new cooker in your life, it can take a bit of organising to actually find the right model, and whether it will fit your kitchen and will there be any wiring or installation complications. . . .   I know this sounds trivial but the cooker is a … [continue…]

Travelling abroad for a coule of weeks at a time is the most civilised way of viewing other countries, cultures and customs.  If you go for a much longer trip, there can be a tendency to overlook the finer details.  Take the way our cousins in the US do up their houses.  I was watching … [continue…]

We generally think of spring time as optimum for decorating and generally making changes to the happy household.   Naturally the sunlight streaming in does show the marks and grubbiness that may have collected during those duller months since those happy summer holidays.   In the winter we tend to work, eat, congregate round the tv for … [continue…]

Knowing that spring is very much on its way, I was discussing the merits of various decorating options with a pal of mine.  Now she has a much larger house than mine and each of her main reception rooms are square and generally light filled.   My rather bizarre brain doesn’t work with the same logic … [continue…]

You can always tell when Christmas is over and the New Year has finally tiptoed away . . .  the television advertisers go absolutely mad with one brand after another with their suggestions for d.i.y projects to be completed or started afresh.  Then we have the new bed brigade.  Nowadays they seem to come complete … [continue…]

Colour themes come and go – every few years something really exciting will take over the decorating world big time.  Such as a few years ago, the grey/black/grey/red theme seeped through every single magazine and home decor article.  We couldn’t see anyone’s house on the daytime tv leisure channels without being treated to views of … [continue…]

I have been staying right out in the country – my word, now I know where the phrase ‘out in the sticks’ comes from.  This house is surrounded by woods and as much as I love trees, it is a bit weird in the evening watching the shadows of the branches leaping across the garden.     … [continue…]

I’ve just got back from a most interesting few days with some of my large brood of grandchildren.  These days it’s very manageable – they’re not kiddies but teenagers.  Nicely spaced in age range, they each have talents and hobbies that are very individual.  This made me think that perhaps this Christmas, they’d like a … [continue…]

Getting the perfect setting at home is one of the most challenging aspects of owning a property.  One person’s uncluttered minimlist vision is another’s cold unfeeling nightmare.  Fashions in home decor and styling change with the wind.  For a season or two every magazine and tv lifestyle programme promoting this colour trend or that. The … [continue…]

I had the good fortune to meet up with the most glorious looking cat whilst I was away on my hols this year.  I was happily sunning myself on a pal’s balcony – overlooking their very grand patio and pool area, minding my own business and generally noting the fantastic new decor and whizzer furnishings … [continue…]

When you buy a new house built by a major house developer, you very rarely think that the kitchen may not suit your needs.  Usually we are so overcome with excitement at the prospect of a lovely shiny brand new home that we don’t ever consider whether the sink is where we’d put it, or … [continue…]

Some of the programmes on daytime tv at the moment are very old repeats of the good old ‘houses bought on auction, done up and sold on for a mint’ or couples who are downsizing and moving to the country.  This always amuses me, when in the introductory blurb the family say they have no … [continue…]