A house lit up with Christmas lights is a beautiful sight to behold. But stringing lights across your roof and around your home can be a real safety hazard if you’re not careful. So before you flip the switch to dazzle friends and family with your spectacular light show, take a few moments to run through a quick safety checklist. Continue reading Christmas Lights Safety Tips
If you have plaster walls in your home, chances are you’re going to have some kind of damage. It could just be cracks but very often, you’ll get a hole in the wall where furniture or a wayward door has accidentally hit it too hard.
Isn’t it funny how we usually manage to ignore this damage until it’s time to sell! So here’s a quick fix on how to patch a hole in a plaster wall — you’ll be wondering why it’s taken you this long to do it! Continue reading DIY: How to repair a hole in the wall
As we head into summer, it’s time to start thinking about the best ways to keep your home cool – and making nature do most of the work.
Offering to be a guarantor can be a great way for parents to help their children into the property market sooner, but first there a few potential catches to be considered. Continue reading Lending a family hand
In 2 words?
Bigger and better, that’s how Aussies like their kitchens and bathrooms.
Just to give you an idea of what people are prepared to spend on their kitchens and bathrooms, here is a quote from the HIA report: they predict that the amount spent on renovations and installations of kitchens and bathrooms will hit a record $12 billion by 2012. Continue reading How Aussies like their kitchens and bathrooms
Different rooms have different lighting needs and it’s a juggling act getting them just right.
Kitchen
A kitchen is the very heart of the house, so its lighting needs to be variable to suit its many uses. When being used to prepare food, bright task lighting is a necessity. The cooktop, sink and benches need to be clearly illuminated while you are creating your latest gastronomic feast. Recessed downlights in the ceiling or spotlights with fully adjustable heads can be positioned to give good directional lighting. An extractor fan over the cooktop can also include bright task lighting to assist in food preparation. If you have cupboards over bench tops, then consider concealed fluorescent strip lights to dispel any lingering shadows. Continue reading Room By Room Lighting Ideas
It’s not easy being green when world leaders are grappling with the issues surrounding climate change.
While we use green bags at the supermarket, recycle our rubbish, maybe do a little vintage shopping and even try to grow some vegies in the backyard or on the balcony – is that really enough? Is green fatigue affecting campaigns to reduce our carbon footprint? Continue reading It’s not easy being green: Why environmental campaigns are dying
LED lights are finally reaching a level that is set to make them the choice of lighting when it comes to what to put inside – and outside – your home.
You might not see them on the shelves of Kmart just yet, but most lighting retailers now carry several lines of LEDs and they come in everything from strip lighting to downlight globes and, thankfully, replacements for what we would consider “normal” globes that fit into bayonet and screw-in fittings. Continue reading LEDs finally hit home
It is the classic quandary for many empty, or soon-to-be empty nesters across the country: what to do with the big family home once the adult children have finally flown the coop?
Is the answer to stay in it, sell it, or rent it out? Continue reading From Empty Nest to Nest Egg
Local identity Hugh Bateman is calling on the region to work together to stamp out littering and keep our area of the world beautiful.
“As a whole it’s not an untidy district, it’s just as much about prevention and creating awareness that littering won’t be accepted as the region grows,” Mr Bateman said. Continue reading Let’s keep Mudgee beautiful