home improvement

Lockdown technical issues 16

This entry was posted in DIY & home style Random and tagged home improvement IT on

I could write for days about the mental and physical stresses caused by the coronavirus pandemic, but right now, I’m focusing on the technical nerdy issues home working and home schooling at the same time bring. My Husband works in IT (thank gawd), one child is 12 and doing senior school remote learning, and the other lad is 18 years old and doing his Oxford university degree online at home. The eldest live streams lectures, and also does video chats with other students on his course. This means 3 people in this house need the internet, and I just really want it for Spotify, entertainment and such. Jen spends his school day in his room, in streamed lessons, or quietly working on his iPad. We had a basic WiFi extender upstairs, but it’s no longer working well enough for this kind of demand. It bounces enough signal for a browser […]

Carbon Monoxide Alarm

WIN – Carbon Monoxide awareness week 24

This entry was posted in DIY & home style and tagged Carbon monoxide home improvement safety on

Ages ago I wrote a post about Carbon Monoxide. Carbon Monoxide can commonly come in to the home via a faulty gas powered appliance, such as your boiler or kitchen hobs. The huge problem with CO is it is invisible, tasteless and invisible. The only way to detect it is with a Carbon Monoxide alarm, and that is the point of this post. I Have been offered a CO-9X FireAngel Carbon Monoxide alarm by Corgi Homeplan to give away to one of my readers as part of Carbon monoxide awareness week which ends today. For tips and advice on Carbon Monoxide safety please read here.   As it happens this is exactly the alarm I have. It’s easy to use and set up, the hardest part was drilling a hole for a screw to hang it on my kitchen wall. In the box was a very good instruction leaflet, and I remember […]

Keeping the new carpet clean 3

This entry was posted in DIY & home style Kids and tagged flooring home decor home ideas home improvement kids products on

As you might have read I recently went carpet shopping as I am on a bit of a home improvement mission. It’s got to a stage where I just hate most of the scruffy old stuff in our home, for example old carpets or faded/tainted paintwork. I haven’t exactly got a plan to how I am sorting the house out, I just repair or update whatever is annoying me the most. A little while ago that meant fitting a new fire and tiling it myself. Now it is most definitely all about the floor. My new carpet is being fitted in early January which means I have a little time to find a rug that I like, is machine washable and goes ok with the new carpet. This isn’t so easy! As is common with me, I’ve been distracted by cute stuff. Namely this football rug* from Zurleys website.

The Little Things 7

This entry was posted in DIY & home style Home and tagged boys DIY & home style flooring home improvement Kitchen on

Today I’m happy. A few years back I knocked our kitchen and hallway wall down to make one large kitchen. Since then the floor has been covered in thin boards, which looked so temporary. The walls and ceiling were painted, curtains were up, everything else except the floor. I felt embarrassed to open the front door. But not today, because now it’s finally homey and finished. At last!