People often forget about small rooms such as studies, downstairs toilets and box rooms or choose plain simple colours because they don’t think a small space can take a strong design, but it is often the case that using a busier wallpaper or more extravagant floor covering can transform a small space making it look effective or even make it look bigger.

There are a number of wallpaper ranges that are on the market providing a more luxurious option for fully wallpapering a small room. They are often more expensive but can add a contemporary designer wallpaper look to your home. Some include LED lights which provide atmospheric lighting in the small room too, or can feature crystals or glitter adding sparkle and reflecting light around the room, or even hollograms and thicker piles with soft flocked designs.

Sometimes being brave and adventurous choosing a bright, individual designed wallpaper can pay off providing a very effective interior design option which you can enjoy or can help sell your property if you’re thinking of moving house.

In addition to attractive and bold designer wallpapers, floor coverings can also help make small rooms look bigger and the options for bolder and more individual flooring are increasing. Metallic finishes can be good for bouncing light around a room and can be combined with metal mosaic tiles for a co-ordinated effect to travel the effect from the floor onto the walls.

Another option which can add colour in a very modern and unusual way is to use resin bonded aggregates. This is where lots of tiny stones are set in a resin on the floor and can be in a range of colours which is ideal for picking out a colour scheme or being highlighted by accessories.

Whatever choice you go for when decorating a small room, choosing a more luxurious high end wallpaper may cost more money but when being used to paper walls in a small space, it is more affordable so gives you the chance to have a taste of luxury and expense in your home.

Related posts:

1. Decorating Children’s and Teenager’s Bedrooms
2. Is Using Wallpaper Borders When Decorating Fashionable?
3. Decorating Your Home – Preparing To Hang Wallpaper

In addition, people have held back on paying out for non essential work on their homes such as changing colour schemes, however people are now beginning to look towards replacing their outdated kitchens and this usually means upgrading appliances to match new colour schemes to provide an all-round co-ordinated effect for their home.

The research has also shown that people are more aware of choosing kitchen products that last longer, both from an environmental perspective, but also because it is often cheaper to pay out more for a higher quality appliance initially than end up paying out twice for a product with a shorter lifespan.

Senior retail analyst at Mintel, Richard Caines, said,

“The recession has had a mixed effect on sales of kitchen appliances. While many of us will have delayed the replacement of kitchen appliances, lack of funds has led to a boost in interest in in-home food and drink preparation, underpinning the growth prospects of the market.”

The popularity of celebrity chefs and increasing public interest in home grown fruit and vegetables also has an impact on the amount of people venturing back into their kitchens and more bespoke kitchen design services are becoming available to design a kitchen around the needs of those using it.

If you are planning on replacing small kitchen appliances, remember that your old items cannot be disposed of in your wheelie bin. WEEE (waste electrical and electronic equipment) regulations mean that any electrical items, from fridges and freezers to toasters and kettles, have to be disposed of responsibly. Although some electrical superstores and retailers will take away old appliances, this is often limited to larger items or for customers having a home delivery, however most local council recycling centres have WEEE collection points.

Alternatively, if your old appliance still works and you’re only replacing your kettle, toaster or health grill because your colour scheme has changed, you can still sell your old appliances or give them to a charity shop that is able to accept donations of electrical items.

Related posts:

1. What’s “In” For 2010 Kitchen Designs
2. Kitchen Design and Changing Times
3. Brits Spend More Time in the Kitchen Than the French

Parents are recommended to choose hard wearing products such as textured carpets that can easily cope with things such as spilt paint, dropped food and stains from muddy football boots. Another consideration when choosing carpetting would be picking one that is hardwearing and easy to keep clean. Darker coloured carpets are often most effective at hiding general dirt, but it is certainly a good idea to avoid light coloured carpets such as beige and cream. Choosing thick carpets, especially for teenager’s rooms, can also provide good sound insulation to reduce the amount of noise escaping from the room. If you’re still unsure of the best flooring material to choose, speaking to a reputable carpet fitter to get expert advice can often be the best approach.

When it comes to choosing furniture to decorate your child’s room with, there is a lot of choice out there. When choosing children’s beds and mattresses, go for the more hardwearing options. Storage is also a big concern – the more storage options available, the more chance your child might keep their room tidy!

It is believed also buying neutral coloured furniture is a great plus because as we know, as time goes by, the luminous bed stead may not be something that is suitable or continues to be a popular choice for your children.

Getting onto the walls, a popular method of dealing with changeable teenage or children’s taste is to paint the walls with neutral colours, and taking advantage of new paint products such as wipeable paint will help reduce the amount of work repainting the walls if they get marked or your child changes their mind about their preferred colour scheme. Favourite colours can be incorporated through use of accessories to jazz up the bedroom design.

Related posts:

1. Greener Decorating – Eco Paint and Clay Paint
2. Decorating Ideas For Small Spaces
3. Decorating Your Home – Preparing To Hang Wallpaper

There are a number of different types of coving that you can purchase, each with their own different characteristics, making some more appropriate for your project than others. These are:

1. Polystyrene coving
2. Plaster coving
3. Paper covered plaster coving
4. Duropolymer coving

It is important that you choose the best type of coving to meet your needs. As budgets often have an impact on the choices made when redecorating or renovating a property, this could be a large factor in choosing the right type of coving for your project.

Polystyrene coving is the cheapest type of coving, but there are a couple of drawbacks from the money you save choosing this over the other types of coving that are on the market. As polystyrene is light, it is easy to fix to the wall and won’t be a problem weight-wise. It is however quite delicate so could easily be damaged, therefore if you are not careful when installing it, you could end up paying out to replace broken pieces of polystyrene coving. As polystyrene is an absorbant material, you will also find it takes more coats of paint to get the desired finish compared to coving made from other materials.

Plaster coving is at the other end of the spectrum in terms of cost, being the most expensive option. It is also often quite heavy therefore you may find you need to use screws to secure it to the wall in addition to using adhesive, but one big plus point is that it does not need so many coats of paint because of the bright white smooth finish plaster coving naturally has. It is often the most attractive option, especially for period properties, as a number of different mouldings are available, including ceiling roses and door surrounds, which can give an excellent coordinated finish overall to your room.

Using paper coated plaster coving can help cut down on the amount of coats of paint required compared to polystyrene, and the coating of paper provides an easier surface for applying paint. Weight is also a consideration with paper coated plaster coving however.

Duropolymer coving is a new product on the market that is lightweight compared to plaster coving and also offers the same benefits that using plaster coving offers in terms of painting and decorative mouldings. This could therefore be the most attractive option for your redecorating project.

Whichever type of coving you decide to go for, it is worth measuring your room prior to settling on the product for you so you can know your budget in advance rather than getting a nasty surprise when the quote comes in. Alternatively, you can speak to a professional plasterer who can advise on the best product to suit your needs.

Related posts:

1. Decor Disasters – Getting Rid Of Artex From Ceilings Or Walls
2. Choosing The Best Type of Kitchen Tiles or Bathroom Tiling Finish
3. Greener Decorating – Eco Paint and Clay Paint

I would like to introduce you to the main types of eco flooring available on the market today. Different types of flooring are suitable for different rooms and purposes, in much the same way that other types of flooring are not suitable for every room. I have therefore broken down by room the different types of more sustainable flooring types you could consider when replacing old carpets or outdated tiles.

Eco Flooring for a Lounge or Living Room

1. FSC certified solid wood flooring
2. FSC certified engineered wood flooring
3. Reclaimed wood floor boards
4. Bamboo flooring
5. Sisal carpet
6. Coir carpet
7. Sea grass carpet

Sustainable Flooring for Kitchens, Bathrooms or Conservatories

1. Reclaimed tiles i.e. terracotta
2. Tiles with recycled ceramic content i.e. Johnsons Tiles
3. Poured rubber
4. Rubber tiles
5. Resin set aggregate

Environmentally Friendly Flooring for Bedrooms

1. Bamboo flooring
2. Cork tiles or floorboards
3. Reclaimed wood floorboards
4. FSC wood flooring
5. Natural carpeting – sisal, coir or seagrass
6. Paper carpeting

All these types of green low carbon flooring are increasing in popularity and have both positives and negatives which will make them appeal more or less to your personal requirements. You are unlikely to find natural carpeting as a cheap roll end at the carpet shop, and it may take a little more research to find a local green flooring supplier, but there are more and more companies switching to sustainable flooring options or adding eco flooring to their existing flooring ranges. Different types of green flooring all have one important feature in common however, which is that although some may cost you more than traditional flooring options, they don’t cost the earth.

Related posts:

1. Support Earth Day By Making Your Home Greener
2. Alternatives to Tiles – Tile Effect Laminate Flooring
3. FSC Accreditation Awarded to Online Flooring Supplier flooringsupplies.co.uk

To do this, the tools you will require are a drill and suitable drill bits, an adjustable pipe wrench, and an adjustable spanner which you will need to use to unscrew the taps and waste outlets. You will need to unscrew the screws that are holding the basin to the wall and if brackets are used to hold the bath up against the wall, these can be removed with a hammer and chisel.

You then need to prepare to install the new basin and bath. Firstly you can fit the taps but it is important to ensure that they are at 90 degrees to the inner rim of the basin and are positioned equally. You will then need to fit the flexible tap hoses. These should be affixed to the tap tails which you can see slotted through the tap hole once your taps have been fitted.

In order to secure the basin and pedestal you will need to drill holes in the floor for the floor fixing screws and in the wall for basin screws. Ensure if you are fitting the basin to a tiled surface that you take care not to damage your tiles, and if in doubt, consult an expert. Put the pedestal in place and secure it, but before screwing it to the wall fully, ensure the basin is level. If you are satisfied that it is level, tighten the screws and use silicone to seal round the pedestal, trimming off any excess to leave a neat finish.

Assuming your bath is being positioned along a wall, fixing the bath into place will require drilling holes for the wall fixing brackets, and if your taps are not going to be in the same place, you may need to adjust the waste and water pipes. Ensuring that the bath is level, and having attached your bath feet if the bath is open rather than concealed behind a panel, attach the taps and the flexihoses, position the bath and inject silicone between the bath and the wall to provide a waterproof seal, then screw the fixing brackets to the wall and the feet to the floor.

After this you will need to connect the flexible tap connectors to the water pipes, taking care to ensure that there are no twists or kinks in the hoses. When all is complete, turn the mains water supply back on to check for any leaks. If you prefer a stress free bathroom installation or require a professional bathroom fitter or a plumber, you can find the best tradespeople at localtraders.com.

Related posts:

1. Bathroom Designs – Traditional Victorian Roll Top Baths
2. Installing a New Bathroom in Your Home
3. Making Your Own Chrome Shower Curtain Rail

If you know where your new bathroom will be located, the next step for you is to work out your budget for building your bathroom and purchasing materials such as wall coverings, bathroom suite, flooring and bathroom accessories. Whenever you are adding an extra bathroom I would always use new fixtures this will add value to your home and give you a more modern effect, and there are often good offers in DIY stores or plumbers merchants.

As long as there is no building work to be done, once you have chosen your bathroom suite and have your bathroom design sorted, you can fit your new suite. Make sure your water is turned at the stop cock and run the hot and cold taps to remove any water still in the pipes and flush the toilet to empty the cistern. You can then install your toilet, sink, bath and/or shower. If you are fitting a bath that you will be able to see under or behind, such as a roll top bath or a bath that goes against the wall but does not have a bath panel, you should tile the floor and around areas that will be inaccessible once the bath is fitted before you install the bath itself. You can then continue tiling above and around the bath after the bath has been installed.

A good tip if you have chosen an interior room for the location of your extra bathroom or WC is to put in an extractor fan to remove moisture from steam and condensation stopping the walls from getting damp. This should then stop any mould or mildew appearing.

The next part is really all down to yourself and how you want to decorate your new bathroom e.g. all your painting and tiling. Your choice of wall and flooring materials will obviously will depend on your budget and how much you have allowed for this, but one major thing to keep in mind when you are deciding on your budget is that unless you are planning to do the work yourself, you will need to bear labour costs in mind, and this can often cost as much as your bathroom suite and tiles put together.

If you want a full bespoke bathroom design at a competitive price, submit your details and localtraders.com will put you in touch with up to 6 local kitchen and bathroom installation specialists who can help you draw up plans for the perfect bathroom.

Related posts:

1. Bathroom Designs – Traditional Victorian Roll Top Baths
2. Different Types of Showers for your Bathroom
3. Different Types of Shower Curtain Rail

Step 1: Laying Tiles

Most floor tiles are laid running in the same direction, starting from the centre out. The best approach is to lay whole floor tiles on an even spread of tile adhesive making sure you use a notched adhesive spreader according to the adhesives instructions. Only spread roughly 1 square metre of adhesive as it may dry out if you use too much, and make sure the floor tiles are pushed firmly but not too hard into the adhesive. Place tile spacers between each floor tile that is laid and continue until you have reached the edge of the adhesive before spreading some more.

Step 2: Fitting Border Tiles

When all main floor tiles are laid you can then measure and fit the any edging tiles. This can be done by laying a tile exactly over the last whole floor tile, place another tile on top of this and butt it against the wall. Mark on the bottom tile and you will have the measurement for the edge tile. To ensure a clean cut and neat edges for your tiles, cut the floor tiles using a scribe and a tile cutter.

Step 3: Finishing Off Your New Tiled Floor

Ceramic floor tiles need to be grouted. You would ideally need to leave them for 24hrs for the tile adhesive to dry and then mix the tile grout to the manufacturer’s instructions. Apply the grout using a grouting tool and wipe off any residue with a damp sponge and leave it to dry.

You should now have a beautifully tiled conservatory or kitchen floor that will give you many years of use thanks to the durability of tiles. But fitting tiles yourself isn’t everybody’s cup of tea so why not get your floor tiled by a local tiling professional to save you the hassle of a DIY tiling job? This will save you time and will ensure a great tiled finish in your home. You can get a quote now from up to 6 local quality tilers from localtraders.com

Related posts:

1. A Guide To Planning A New Tiled Floor
2. A Simple Guide To Applying Wall Tiles
3. Preparing to Lay a New Floor with Carpet Tiles or Vinyl Tiles

It can be stressful when things go wrong in your home. For most people it’s their worst nightmare to discover damp problems that could result in the disruption of having to take kitchens out, strip plaster off walls to put a moisture barrier in place or dig up a floor to install a damp course. We know how important it is that disruption is kept to a minimum and you can find a quality tradesman first time round.

As well as building work or emergency repairs being stressful, however, you also need to be able to trust the person you’re allowing to enter your home. This works both ways, because, as a tradesman, there’s little worse than having a customer watching your every move because they don’t want to have left valuables lying around. But trust doesn’t only cover being confident that you have a trustworthy tradesman in your home. You need to be able to trust your builder, tiler or bathroom fitter to complete work to a high standard. You want to be sure that if you have any problems with your new conservatory roof leaking or your block paved driveway drainage, the qualified professional you let into your home will be available to resolve your queries and answer your questions.

That’s why localtraders.com only work with the best 6 local traders in each area, so you know that when you contact us for a quote, you will only be contacted by recommended tradesmen from your local area. So sit back and relax knowing that our local experts can be trusted to give a professional service and the highest standard of workmanship.

Related posts:

1. Household Repairs – DIY or Call A Local Tradesman
2. Screwfix on the Hunt for Britain’s Best Tradesman
3. Tool Manufacturer Launches Ultimate Tradesman Challenge

Plastering Over Artex

Generally it is said that to cover over artex, you first need to remove or knock off any large points as these would protrude through the plaster that would be used to give you a smooth surface. Once the surface is prepared, adding two layers of PVA undercoating is said to give you a firm enough base to plaster onto, and then the actual plastering can begin.

Up to three layers of plaster tend to be used to suitably cover the original textured surface and give a good quality finish. This is a time consuming task that requires skill, and is generally considered not for the untrained due to the amount of prep work and the actual plastering work itself that are involved, so if you are considering plastering over your artexed ceiling, you should consult with a quality and professional time served plasterer.

Removing Artex

Although artex can be sanded down or scraped off your interior walls, this method can be considered dangerous as older artex can contain asbestos. This makes sanding or scraping artex off a wall or ceiling a potential problem for both people living in the house and the tradesman completing the work as the carcinogenic fibres would be released into the air.

Wallpaper removers can be an effective method for removing artex, although this can turn messy as the plaster returns to its original form. If you are planning to scrape or sand your artex, it is essential to seek professional advice, find out when your artex was installed and whether it’s safe to sand it off.  Local councils may be able to help with this.

In summary, there are two solutions to your artex nightmare – to plaster over or to remove your artex from the wall or ceiling.  Both methods require skill and caution is advised. The best advice we can give you is to speak to local quality plasterers who know their trade, and get quotes on both methods to enable you to make an informed choice. Remember some plasterers may prefer one method over the other, so speak to a few to get a balanced view on how to go about removing or covering that artexed ceiling or wall.

Related posts:

1. Decor Disasters – Getting Rid Of Artex From Ceilings Or Walls
2. Firm Destroys Historic Plaster Ceiling During Renovation
3. Choosing the Best Type of Coving and Cornicing