Category: Featured
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Turning a dining room into a home office
The dining room may be enjoying a quiet revival in interior design, but in many homes it remains one of the least-used spaces during daylight hours. And with hybrid working now firmly part of modern life, it makes perfect sense to put that overlooked square footage to better use. Transforming a dining room into a…
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A unique self-build plot in a quiet Suffolk village
In the quiet corner of Cambridgeshire known as Westley Waterless, a small rural settlement of around 150 residents, a new planning-approved site has appeared that’s attracting attention among self-build enthusiasts. The village, tucked between Cambridge, Newmarket and Bury St Edmunds, rarely sees development opportunities emerge, and Plotfinder has unearthed this gem of a plot. Its…
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12 things to know before you buy and fit a Wickes kitchen
When my partner and I decided to replace our tired galley kitchen with a new Wickes design, I assumed it would be fairly straightforward. We’d start with a bit of measuring, spend an hour or so making colour and unit choices at the showroom, and then after a couple of flat-pack building sessions (one of…
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Kitchen island regrets: 5 things I wish I’d known beforehand
If there’s one thing Pinterest hadn’t prepared me for, it was how dramatically a kitchen island would change the way I moved around my home. When I renovated my kitchen, I was convinced an island was the pièce de résistance the whole space needed. But in all honesty, my island and I have a slightly…
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ABC Elects Thomas “Murph” Murphy as 2026 National Chair
Associated Builders and Contractors has elected Thomas “Murph” Murphy, vice president of Power & Construction Group in Scottsville, New York, as its 2026 national chair. The vote took place during the association’s annual Leadership Institute in Marco Island, Florida. Murphy, who began his career in the field, said he aims to support ABC’s advocacy efforts…
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What Are Your Simple And Memorable Family Christmas Traditions (Especially For Tweens/Teens Especially After The “Santa” Years…)
I had a dumb panic last week. I feel like I haven’t been the best at keeping to “family Christmas traditions,” instead trying new things every year, which is all fine and good, but is it less memorable? And now that Santa is behind us, will the kids even look forward to Christmas morning? We…
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Is carpet in a dining area ever a good idea?
Choosing the right flooring for a dining room isn’t always straightforward. Carpet might sound appealing – it’s soft underfoot and instantly makes the space feel warm and inviting – but the dining area sits right at the crossroads of spills, crumbs and constant footfall, which can make it feel like a risky choice. If you’ve…
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Is knocking through from a dining room a good idea?
Dining rooms have travelled a bumpy old road over the years, with homeowners frequently changing their minds over how they feel about them – are they the height of sophistication or a fusty, unsociable relic of a room that no modern homeowner should consider? Opinions on dining room ideas remain divided. That said, there is…
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Is your rising damp really rising damp?
If there’s a phrase that can spread fear into the bones of homeowners, it’s someone saying ‘it looks like you have rising damp.’ Enough to make a wallet twitch and your heart race, it’s been the subject of home horror stories on more than one occasion. But, what if your rising damp isn’t really rising…
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Floating solar panel heads to the UK
Floating solar panels are a growing trend around the world, and the UK seems to be cottoning on to their potential. The government has just approved the largest floating solar panel project in Barrow in an attempt to generate cheap energy. The project promises to solve one of the biggest problems with large-scale solar projects,…