A third alternative to the popular struggle of  ‘buying new or making do’ when your furniture is concerned can be answered simply! Do both!  If you want a change from your sofa, chair or suite but have had enough of your current style, there’s still a choice besides having to buy brand new.  Why not consider  taking in unloved, second hand furniture and really putting your stamp on it with re-upholstery or loose covers in the fabric of your choice?!  Great compromise right?

So where do you find these furniture treasures I hear you ask?  My port of call is always online – there are a wealth of brilliant websites where you can really pick up a bargin.  Consider auction sites like ebay or private listings like Preloved.  You could even visit a recycling site where second hand goods are literally given away for better use in a new home!  Look at freecycle and recycle to find unloved furniture in your area that could really benefit from loose covers or re-upholstery.

Another great resource you could consider is your local newspaper.  You can find lots of unwanted suites or sofas in the classified ads section of your paper.  Some supermarkets may even have a notice board of similar posts.  And finally, never forget about the good old fashioned second-hand store!  There’s bound to be one near you that may just have what you’re looking for.

Wherever you decide to find your perfect sofa, remember the one golden rule:

Don’t be put off by even the ugliest of sofas.  With loose covers or re-upholstery you could completely transform it! Click here to find out more about how Plumbs loose covers and re-upholstery can make old, unloved furniture beautiful again!

A popular means of showing your home to its greatest potential, room or house staging is often used when trying to sell a home.  But there’s no reason that you couldn’t use the techniques to make the best use of your home space for yourself.

When thinking about your living room for example, the following room staging tips can appeal to potential buyers or help to create a calm, spacious environment to entertain friends and spend time with your family.

Tip 1. – Make it Social

Arranging furniture to face each other or creating social clusters will encourage conversation and make for great entertainment space.

Tip 2. Create Space

Even in the smallest of living rooms, you can create an illusion of space by simply arranging your furniture appropriately.  The key is to ensure there is a clear path around the room for you to easily manoeuvre around your furniture.

Tip 3.  Neutral doesn’t have to be boring

Another way of creating a spacious effect is to keep your palette light and neutral.  Particularly appealing to potential buyers, a neutral palette will allow them to see your home as a blank canvas for them to put their mark on.  For you however, neutral doesn’t have to be boring – choose a bold accent colour to suit your personality and use sparingly for maximum effect.

Tip 4.  Re-cover worn furniture

A quick and easy way to spruce up your furniture is to opt for loose covers.  A new fabric can instantly freshen your room.  Click here to find out more about Plumbs Loose Covers.

Tip 5. Focus on interesting architecture

Forget the TV as a focal point and make a feature out of interesting architecture or a fireplace.  Arrange your furniture around the feature to emphasise and create a talking point!

It can be difficult to know how to arrange your furniture.  Do you follow latest trends, give Feng Shui a go, or do whatever works for you?  I would always go for the latter, but at the same time I’d need to know my room had a specific focus; a spot or area that draws the eye and brings the whole look together.

Once you’ve decided on a focal point, the rest should come easy.  You can harmoniously arrange the rest of your furniture around that one point. Simple!  All you need to do is figure out your focal point, and how to best enhance it.

Architectural Focal Point

For some, you may be lucky enough to have some significant architectural feature that lends itself as an obvious choice.  This could be a fireplace, an interesting alcove or even large windows.  Bay windows are particularly striking as a focal point.  They can be dressed elaborated and your main furniture positioned to accentuate the feature.  The light will also illuminate your furniture, creating a feeling of space.

Social Focal Point

Often the living room is the hub of the home, a place to relax and enjoy time socially with family and friends.  If this most suits your lifestyle, you may choose to make the social area your focal point.  Mixing fabrics and furniture styles can bring great interest to socially clustered furniture.

Feature Wall Focal Point

You can create a stunning focal point in even the simplest of rooms by creating a feature wall.  A popular trends with designers and home-owners alike, there is a whole wealth of beautiful wallpaper designs for such a purpose.  Innovative paint designs and wall decals also give great effects.

How do you like to create focal points in your home? Drop us a comment – we’d love to know!

We’ve all heard the saying less is more, so why not adapt it to your home decor.  This beautifully simple, white hallway shows us exactly how to make a statement without the fuss!  Don’t be afraid to choose a blank palette, but take care in choosing your accessories, as these will stand out against the white backdrop.  The use of silver here gives the room enough sparkle, while the natural colours and materials keep us down to earth.

Wouldn’t it be great if your living room looked like this?  No clutter, no mess.  Well, at the beginning of January, it sort of did.  The tree had come down and everything was put back in its place.  Three weeks into the New Year, and my home is back to its usual weekday mess.

But, with the start of the year being the perfect time to adopt new habits, here are a few that I will be trying out to keep my home looking ship-shape throughout 2012!

1) A Place to call home

If there is a place for everything, and everything has its place, then surely you can’t go wrong.  Give all of your items their own special place and ensure they get put back there! Simple!

2) Decorative Storage

For toys, blankets and other nic-nacs that get left lying around, choose decorative storage boxes.  These need not be an eye soar.  Opt for boxes that will match your décor, or better still, disguise your storage areas as coffee tables.  This is easy when using chests or ottomans.

3) Rack ‘em up

My guilty pleasure is home magazines and consequently these will often find themselves abandoned in a pile next to the sofa or strewn along the sideboard.  A simple option is to invest in a magazine rack (or even recycle those you’ve definitely finished with.)  For a more creative approach, stack in an unused fireplace for a quirky storage solution.

4) Regular upkeep

If you get into the habit of vacuuming and cleaning one or twice a week, you will inevitably tidy up and put things away.

Failing these simple steps, it may be an idea to consider minimalist décor.  The less stuff you have, the less mess they will create!

6 days to go – who’s excited?  With Christmas looming and the sound of sleigh bells circling our neighbourhoods it’s time to get prepared!  And I don’t mean putting the finishing touches on the Christmas cake or wrapping those last few presents.  We need to prepare our homes for the inevitable high traffic of family and friends coming and going, (not to mention Father Christmas and his reindeer!).

The hallway is likely to see the most increase in footfall over the festive weekend, so protect flooring with long runners or assorted rugs.  If weather is particularly poor, you could also ask your guests to remove their shoes.  If you do however, ensure that you have a shoe rack to hand and that your home is lovely and warm to invite cold feet!

Ensure that there is plenty of space to hang coats to prevent them being strewn across your furniture.  Similarly, make a designated space where umbrellas can be left to dry.  If you have a porch, this is ideal.

Prevent any spills by having side or coffee tables within easy reach.  If though, during the jollity of Christmas, there happens to be a spillage, clean this immediately.  It is more likely to stain if left to settle into your carpet.  To be on the safe side, ensure you have plenty of kitchen roll, stain remover and sponges on stand-by.

Use blankets or throws to protect soft furnishings whilst adding a cosy feel to your home.  For more permanent protection, consider loose furniture covers that you can remove, wash and re-fit with ease, as often as you like.  At Plumbs, we also offer a range of anti-macassars and arm covers for added protection for your furniture.  You could also use loose covers to protect your dining chairs.

To find out more about loose furniture covers, click here. Now that your home is protected, you can sit back and relax with a mince pie.  Why not browse the blog for more great tips!

The clocks have gone back, the nights are drawing in and the first signs of Christmas are adorning the shop fronts – winter is well and truly on its way.  But for many of us, this year’s holiday cheer is being dampened by news of rising energy costs and worries of the implications for our heating bills.  With the ‘big six’ energy companies including British Gas and EDF Energy all announcing rises of up to 18%, it’s no wonder that so many of us are searching for a solution.

The struggle is often not heating your home, but keeping that heat in.  A huge proportion of heat can be lost through windows and under doors, as the image below shows.

So, to help you on your way, we’ve come up with 5 top tips to keeping your home warm, keeping your heating bills down and keeping your spirits high!

1) Don’t invite the cold in! Draught-proof your front door by adding a door brush; particularly useful in windy conditions.  Consider getting a door curtain – not only will this reduce the draughts coming in and the warm air getting out, a door curtain can add a real cosiness to your hallway.

2) Fill in the gaps! If your radiator is directly below your window, tuck the edges of your curtains onto the window sill.  This will prevent the hot air from the radiator escaping straight out behind your curtains.  Alternatively, you could invest in a radiator cover to ensure that heat is directed out, into the room.

3) Safeguard your windows! Opt for lined and interlined curtains to keep the draughts from coming in. Interlinings act as an extra insulation layer within the curtains. To be twice as prepared, add a blind behind your curtains.

4) Pick a pelmet! Not only do pelmets provide an excellent finishing touch to your window dressing, they can also reduce the amount of heat lost when hot air that has risen begins to cool and fall.

5) Bathrooms and kitchens! In rooms where you may not have curtains such as bathrooms or kitchens, consider installing blinds.  They may be less effective insulators than curtains, but they should certainly make some difference.  Avoid slatted blinds and opt for roman styles.

Plumbs offer made-to-measure curtains and blinds in a beautiful range of designs, so you can keep warm and you won’t have to compromise on style.

To view our range and find out more about about Plumbs’ Curtains and Blinds, click on the link below:

http://www.plumbscurtains.co.uk/

Thermal Imaging picture taken from http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/science/aqa/energy/heatrev3.shtml

Get a statement piece of furniture. Look in auctions, or antique shops for big, glass-fronted cupboards. They aren’t popular so are reasonably priced – and they’re perfect to paint. Go for a pretty French look.

Buy fresh flowers. These can be expensive, so display them carefully. Put one stem each in several bottles or vases and place them in a line. Or buy pretty junk-china cups or teapots and plant them up with bulbs.

Paint a wall. Choose one that is more dominant – behind the bed, say – and paint it a contrasting colour. A cheap, quick way to modernise a room.