We all like our homes to say a little something about us.  Whether it’s modern and classic, feminine chic or loud and bold.  Well what better way than plastering it all over the walls for all to see!  That’s right, with stunning statement wallpapers.

Now I know that painting’s much easier; I know it’s less messy and I know there is nothing more frustrating than 2 ends of paper sticking together with paste.  But, with a boom in beautiful wallpaper designs, it’s difficult to resist.

If the feminine touch is what you’re looking for, try one of these stunning florals.  For a classic, soft approach look at Nina Campbell’s Barrington design (£54 per roll), or choose Duchessa design by Graham & Brown (£25 per roll) for a bolder splash of colour.

For a more gender neutral floral, you could try a large design such as Graham and Brown’s Traviata (£25 per roll), or opt for more unisex colours such as red and white with their Elinor design (£25 per roll).

If florals simply aren’t your style, why not use stripes to enhance your living space.  A pretty candy stripe effect such as Nina Campbell’s Bicton wallpaper (£47 per roll) is full of fun.  Graham & Brown offer their Figaro design (£25 per roll) as a subtler alternative.

Be bold and display you love for retro with these cool geometric patterns.  Go for monochrome chic with Graham & Brown’s Mika (£18 per roll), or create a cool, cosy backdrop to your study with Chameleon by Osborne & Little (£84 per roll).

However you plan to wow your house guests, remember there is a whole wealth of designs and styles you can choose from, to suit your personality and style.  Go on, be daring and make a real statement with your décor!

There’s nothing like summer to give us all a breath of fresh air, just when we need it most. So it’s a delight to see the arrival of a brand new range of made-to-measure blinds from Plumbs.

If you’re stuck for ideas on how to revamp your living room, or give your bedroom a new lease of life, the experts from Plumbs are here to bring the warmth and colour of Summer into your home.

Windows are the focal point in most rooms; Modern, minimalist interiors shun heavy fabric treatments and instead favour the simple, straight lines of Roman or Roller blinds. Blinds offer a perfect mix of security, shade and style.

Plumbs Merchandise Director, Linda Hindle says: “if you prefer plain walls then bold, dramatic blinds using an eye-catching patterned fabric is very effective. You can really enhance the effect by adding a co-ordinating cushion or two.”

Linda continues: “Our home consultants always advise people to pick colours from their existing furnishings as a starting point. They will bring along samples and swatches so that people can match their new blinds to their carpets, upholstery and wall colours”.

Plumbs offer a free measuring and free quotation service by a fully trained home advisor. Plumbs can also provide curtains to co-ordinate with blinds – again a free estimate service is provided.

One of the easiest ways to update the look of your living room without having to spend money on new furniture is to buy loose covers. Here are our top 5 reasons why furniture covers can make your life so much easier and breathe new life into your existing furniture.

1)      No need to buy new furniture

As Mr Osbourne announces his much awaited budget cuts, everyone is finding it more and more important to save money. And shelling out £2000 or more on a new suite is just not in everyone’s budget. With loose covers there is no need to anyway, you can extend the life of your sofa for years because the damage and stains caused by everyday life are no longer there for everyone to see!

2)      Give your living room a brand new look

Nothing can make your room look more weary than furniture that looks like it has seen better days. With loose covers you can liven up your furniture in a whole new way.  Plumbs have a wide selection of fabrics in plains, florals, stripes and mini designs in a whole array of colours. With everything from classic to contemporary, you’ll be able to find the perfect fabric, which will instantly breathe life into your living room.

Loose covers also enable you to match up all your mismatched furniture. I’ve collected different pieces of furniture over time and therefore they all have a different ‘look’. You may have bought a recliner one year and then a sofa a year or two later and they just don’t match. Loose covers mean that you can now match all of these odd pieces together.

3)      Protect your furniture from everyday mishaps

If you have children, pets or have witnessed the dangers of red wine then you’ll know that accidents tend to happen. Drinks will be spilled, food will be dropped and furniture will look tired after being jumped or slumped on by children and teenagers. By using loose covers you can protect your original, and often expensive furniture from these everyday mishaps. This ties in nicely with point 4…

4)      Easy to care for

This is one of the big reason why people purchase loose furniture covers, they are just so easy to care for. When they become dirty (just see the above!) you simply put them in your washing machine and they will come out looking as good as new. It’s that easy!

5)      Help protect the Environment

By choosing to buy loose furniture covers and not a new sofa, you are saving your current furniture from landfill. Not only that, but all of Plumbs products, be that loose covers, curtains or reupholstery are made in the UK with many of the fabrics being locally sourced too.

These are Plumbs top 5 reasons for using loose covers, we would love to hear yours if you have any!

With consumers looking for products with a low carbon foot-print around the home, loose covers can go along way towards this:

Is recycling old furniture set to become more popular?

But this goes for any product around the home from, especially ones made from materials that can be recycled such as; glass and metal etc. These will play a big part in this year’s renovations.

One such product is a work surface created using pure natural quartz and recycled metallic chips. As well as being kind to the environment it is a durable solid surface offering excellent resistance to acids, abrasion and wear. The surface comes in four polished colour tones: white, black and two shades of grey. The worktops are also able to be created to support the stylish continental trend of slimline work surfaces.

For further information please contact: Chiltern Marble Group

If location, location, location is the motto of estate agents. You could say an interior designers slogan would be lighting, lighting, lighting but is also usually the most overlooked aspect when a person comes to re-decorating. Many of the most successful hotels and restaurants you will notice have got lighting down to a fine art by creating a welcoming atmosphere.

So before you begin planning a restoration, building a new home or just up-dating your current decor. Remember when it comes to lighting you can never have too many light sources.

Decor that is well designed and thought-out will utilise all three types of lighting:
• General Lighting – this illuminates an entire space.
• Task Lighting – bright lights used to focus lights on a particular area for tasks such as reading, writing or cooking.
• Accent Lighting – used to spotlight decorative objects and create mood.

Walk into many thousands of homes across the UK and you will find one light fitting in the centre of the room and not much else. Just by the addition of extra lighting a room can feel warmer and more inviting, with strategically place spotlights you can direct the light to various areas to help with certain tasks.

The ability to transform a room just by adding different types of lighting is amazing. Up-lights, which are canned lights that sit on the floor, are wonderful items to use in corners, especially with large plants. They shine the light up onto the walls and ceiling creating a warm glow to an otherwise dark corner. Small rooms will seem larger with the installation of recessed ceiling can lights or wall washers, which will shine the light down onto the peripheral walls. Hallways and entranceways are sometimes dark; brighten them by adding canned light, track lights or picture lights.

If you need to get some inspiration or just simple ideas why not Visit high-end restaurants, hotels or bars and you’ll see the incredible difference lighting can make – and duplicating those effects can be simpler and less expensive than you think. The reward is a lighting atmosphere in your rooms that will be warm, unique and very inviting.

We would like to welcome Helen Silver as out newest Guest Author, who will be contributing to our Article directory. Helen is a Property Stylist based in Bath, her business “The Property Styling Company“, has had great success stemming from Helen’s innovative style and award winning reputation.

Being passionate about beautiful interior design is reflected in the finishing touches of Helen’s portfolio of client properties from all over the UK.

Helen has written an article about how to feel at home after moving house with some great tips and advice, please read it here:

Got the New House Blues? Your new place doesn’t quite feel like “home”?

Throughout homes this spring, on all types of furnishings from fabrics and wallpaper to homewares, leaf motifs and tree designs and patterns are blooming. It seems like the biggest trend this season is ‘going back to nature’.

“Its appeal is perhaps symbolic of our desire for a simpler life and a need for a stronger connection with the natural world,” suggests Sarah Quilliam, head of product design for Hillarys, a window blinds specialist.

“When times get tough there’s a tendency to return to a more organic, holistic and nature-inspired feel in the home.”

Annie Deakin, editor of online home shopping emporium mydeco.com, agrees: “This year marks the bicentenary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the focus on nature has helped heighten the focus on textiles and home products which echo that theme,” she said.

Deakin says it’s time to turn on to funky botanical wallpaper and fabrics for a bang-up-to-date take on bringing the ‘outdoors in’.

There are many ways in which to reproduce this look in your home by using a feature wall of woodland print wallpaper and scatter cushions.

“Woodland patterns are huge this season,” says House Beautiful style editor Charlotte Boyd.

“Even if you don’t have a large garden, it’s possible to create a sense of the natural world in your home by using one of the new designs.”

She suggests adding a touch of woodland spirit with one of the new metallic tree motif papers.

With the housing market crawling to a halt and Spring just around the corner, people are looking for cheap ways update their tired decor and give it a brand new twist.

There is a great article here:

Give tired decor a modern twist

From the Hexham Courant, there’re some really good ideas on how to do this. Take a look!

Every year many sofas get thrown into landfills or left on the streets to rot, this is because no-one really knows what can be done; this is where Save Our Sofas come in.

Save Our Sofas gives you advice and ideas of ways to keep your old sofa, giving it a new lease of life, or provide environmentally friendly ways for disposal if it is beyond repair.

Plumbs, along with Save Our Sofas believe every sofa deserves a long life in a good home.

In just the last couple of weeks two articles have been extolling the virtues of loose covers as a credit crunch busting way to imrpove the look of your home environment.

 The January 2009 Country Living runs a great article ‘Recycled Chic’ on page 27. The essence of the feature is about finding and restoring interesting furniture tracked down through charity shops or ebay.

You may not need to trawl through ebay looking for ‘elegant upholstered pieces simply in need of new covers’ as Country Living journalist Caroline Reeves suggests. Take a look at what’s already in the family. Now picture that interesting old couch transformed with a new fabric outer and looking just like new. How would it look in your living room. It’s worth considering.

 Good Housekeeping January 2009 edition number 1 tip on page 66 – “Expert updates on a credit crunch budget” is….yes you’ve guessed it….”Give your threadbare sofa a new incarnation by shielding the shabbiness with removable washable loose covers.”

Who am I to argue with Good Housekeeping journalist Samantha Trapp.

Best wishes one and all for a very Happy Christmas and remember, if it’s all starting to look a bit tired and worn in the new year, just follow the advice of the home magasine experts and consider loose covers or reupholstery to breathe new life into the look of your home.