Homes & Gardens

The Best Ways to Make an Open-Plan Home Feel More Practical

Open-plan homes can feel spacious and bright, but removing internal walls also removes many of the boundaries that make individual rooms easy to organize. Cooking, dining, relaxing, working, and social activities may all happen within sight of one another, so a practical layout needs more than...

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The Two Exterior Timber Choices Defining Contemporary UK Home Design in 2026

The exterior of a home has never been more considered. What was once a functional surface to keep the weather out has become a design statement, a material choice, and increasingly an investment decision. And two natural timber materials are defining the conversation around contemporary UK home exteriors more than any others: charred timber cladding, with its dramatic deep black finish, and...

Creative Ways to Refresh Tired Furniture on a Sensible Budget

Furniture does not have to be damaged or unusable to start looking tired. A chair might still be comfortable but have faded covers, while a sturdy chest of drawers may feel dated after years in the same room. Replacing these pieces can be expensive, particularly when several rooms need attention at once.

Fortunately, a few creative changes can give existing furniture a fresh...

How to Create an Outdoor Space That Fits a Busy Lifestyle

A well-planned garden can provide valuable extra living space, whether it is used for weekend lunches, children's play or a quiet cup of tea after work. Yet keeping a garden looking good can easily become another job on an already long household list.

For people balancing work, family life and social commitments, spending hours every week on garden maintenance may hold little appeal...

Small upgrades that can improve everyday comfort at home

Making a home feel more comfortable doesn't have to mean a full renovation. Often it's the smaller, more affordable changes that make the biggest difference to how a space actually feels to live in day to day.

Create a More Comfortable Living Space

A living area can feel transformed with a few simple additions. Cushions and a soft throw instantly make a sofa...

The DIY jobs homeowners should never tackle themselves

Rising prices and long waiting lists for skilled tradespeople are encouraging more homeowners to tackle major renovation projects themselves.

New research from BuildSafe found that 70% of DIYers were primarily motivated by saving money. However, 79% underestimated how long their project would take, while 68% encountered unexpected costs or delays.

Only 27% felt fully...

Five skip hire mistakes that could leave homeowners facing fines

Searches for skip hire have risen by 18% over the past month as more UK households embark on summer projects.

However, experts at Yell warn that mistakes involving prohibited waste, permits and overloaded skips could lead to extra costs, delays or fines.

Hazardous materials including asbestos, chemicals, paint, gas cylinders, batteries and tyres should not normally be placed...

The renter's dilemma: keeping shared hard floors clean without the stress

Anyone who's lived in a flatshare knows the particular tension that comes with communal living: shared responsibility for cleaning rarely gets divided evenly, and hard flooring in hallways, kitchens and living rooms tends to bear the brunt of it. Add flatmates coming and going at different hours, visiting friends, the odd house party, and pets that landlords have only grudgingly agreed to,...

How to declutter your shed this autumn

September is the perfect time for a reset, to reorganise your living space for a calmer run into the cold and busy months ahead. Garden sheds can often become dumping grounds throughout summer, so taking time to declutter your shed at the end of the season can make it a far more functional, calmer-to-use space, come autumn.

Garden shed expert, Sam Jenkinson, from garden building...

One in five homebuyers ‘catfished’ by misleading photos

One in five homebuyers ‘catfished’ by misleading property photos

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Digitally enhanced listings may attract more viewings, but new research suggests buyers often walk away when reality fails to match the images

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One in five recent homebuyers say they viewed a property that looked noticeably different from its online listing after...

Can You Part Exchange Your House?

Selling a house can be stressful. You may need to arrange viewings, wait for offers, deal with buyers pulling out and hope that every stage of the chain completes on time.

But a traditional sale is not the only option. In some circumstances, homeowners can part exchange their property , allowing them to move without first finding a buyer on the open market.

If you have seen...