Home Sweet Home

Depending on its size, condition and accessibility, a cellar has the potential to hold almost anything.

Older houses often have nonhabitable cellars which have traditionally been used for coal and junk — but with careful thought and planning they can be transformed quite cheaply into efficient and capacious storerooms. Some of the best uses for the cellar are: (more…)

Bathroom surfaces, like those in a kitchen, have to work hard — choose the right materials when you decorate your bathroom and it will emerge unscathed from the steamiest affair.

Inevitably, bathroom surfaces are subjected to the arch enemy of all decorative finishes — water. Spills and splashes cause puddles or worse, while steam insidiously works its way into every crack and crevice. The surfaces also receive their fair share of knocks — slippery fingers easily drop bottles of shampoo or hair colour, and junior can pack quite a punch with a plastic bath toy. Despite all the punishment, the surfaces must not attract dirt and harbour germs. (more…)

A deskmate is a mobile storage cabinet which is stored out of the way under a desk and rolled out when needed.

There is a number of different configurations ranging from simple storage of paper, envelopes and a few files you may be working on, to a deskmate which can store a printer on the top with the paper feeding from the shelf at the hack. (more…)

This modular stereo and home entertainment centre can easily be expanded or adapted to suit your needs. It has been cleverly designed to accommodate equipment as well as an extensive collection of CDs, records, videos and cassettes.

The project consists of three units which have a total width of just over 1500 mm. Although the centre is modular, it is also relatively low level, and a single top and kickboard draws all three units together. (more…)

Painting Stenciling

Stencils are most often applied as a border and provide an ideal embellishment for ordinary storage items. You can customise a chest of drawers, for example, by adding a simple floral or geometric motif to the painting top and bottom of each drawer, or to the corners of cupboards on a bedside cabinet.

When applying stencils, which you can either create yourself or buy ready-made in painting kit form, it is important to fix the stencil in place — masking tape is ideal — and apply the paint carefully to prevent it running underneath. The paint needs to be just the right consistency. It is wise to experiment on a piece of old timber or card first. (more…)

Step by Step

1 Slate must be laid on a firm base that will support it. Timber floors present a problem in that timber and particle (chip) board expand during humid periods, and shrink during drier times. Timber floors can be prepared in several ways. Care should be taken with all the procedures however, bearing in mind that timber or particle (chip) board is not the best base material for slate.

2 A number of slate suppliers have specially developed membrane systems available for the installation of slate on a timber floor. The one used here is the hessian and bitumen method and will provide the necessary `slip’ joint between the rigid tiles and the timber. (more…)

Openings in houses may be voids, doors orwindows. Voids tend to be in areas where security is not a consideration, such as between rooms in an open-plan living area. Doors provide a means of access and security to the building. Windows, however, are designed to provide daylight and a means of ventilation. They should also provide a view, but still allow for privacy when required. (more…)

Give the lid of the paint tin a good wipe before opening it to avoid getting dust and dirt in the paint. Mix the paint thoroughly and pour some paint into the tray. (Cover the tray with clingwrap or tinfoil beforehand to make cleaning afterwards easier.) Before using a new brush the first time, work its bristles back and forth over your hand to get rid of loose bristles and dust.

Don’t dip the entire bristle area into the paint; you’ll have major job cleaning it and get paint clogging at the base, eventually turning your paint job into a mess. No more than half the length of the bristles should be covered in paint.

The basic rule is work top down and outside in. This means you’ll start with the smaller brushes, do all the corners and edges and cover for roughly 5 cm into the larger areas so that you leave enough space when working with the roller. (more…)

Boiserie

A French term for woodwork or wainscoting. In decorating it refers to the carved woodwork and paneling of seventeenth- and eighteenth- century French interiors. The carved details were often picked out in gilt and frequently were extremely elaborate. Traditionally used in conjunction with gilt furnishings and frames, and with an overdoor paneling with painting, boiserie blends only in very formal settings. (more…)

Bathroom

Why is cleaning the bathroom always the worst? The stains are the pits — once they are there they stay, so don’t let them. Use these concoctions to get rid of them, clean regularly and keep the stains away.

Toilet bowl

Most old toilet bowls have stubborn stains that, regardless of how may litres of bleach you’ve poured in there, still remain. With a gas mask securely tied over your mouth and nose and industrial strength gloves on your hands, mix 5 cups of bicarbonate of soda with 1 cup of caustic soda. Sprinkle the mixture in the bowl and leave for half an hour. Give it a quick scrub with the toilet brush (you DO own a toilet brush, right?) and flush. (more…)