Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Property Improvement UK Blog

Welcome back to property improvement UK, a home improvement blog for all you British DIY lovers! If like me you love nothing more than to climb up that step ladder and add a lick of paint to your crumbling house walls, (but are not perhaps too clued up on how to do it) than this is the place for you! Please keep checking my blog and share all your DIY delights, bathroom banter, or tiling tips, as well as passing on any home improvement and gardening advice which you feel will be helpful to suit any house - from a simple flat (like mine!) to the grand old British stately homes of yesteryear. Please pass on your home improvement advice as I need all the help I can get if I am to make any sense of my own bizarre desire to do the jobs around the house which should clearly be left to professionals (or maybe my Dad!)

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Property Improvements in the Garden


As you may have read in my previous home and property improvement posts, I've been in the back garden recently doing a few general odd jobs, in addition to planting a range of fresh herbs and giving the new place a bit of atmosphere with some solar powered garden lights. I was kind of beginning to actually get into my stride a little bit, especially when considering my limited experience in actually having, never mind having to look after a back garden of any note. Inevitably though, the great British summer once again expressed itself in some style. Rain poured down pretty much all afternoon, thus doing some DIY in the back garden seemed more like a polar exhibition than a lazy slouch around out the back of the house. Not much solar power for those new garden lights then eh? :-)

Simple Property Improvement with Garden Lights


What a delight it is to tell you about the easiest addition I have made to the garden. A little twinkle in the eye! Yes you guessed it, it’s some exciting lighting! Your local DIY shop is the ideal place to pick up a few cheap and cheerful solar powered garden lights. With no wires and very little damage to my rather skinny wallet, these new lights have added a little spark of their own to my new back garden. Easy to pick up, cheap to buy and well, even easier to install, solar powered lights are becoming increasingly popular in UK homes as a way to brighten up those summer evenings in the back garden. They are also much more environmentally friendly than running lights off the mains power supply so why not grab some down the local home improvement store in your area? Even a garden novice such as myself had no problems with the simple style of design outline in the picture below, so why not put a spark in your life with some exciting garden lighting!

Improve Your Property by Improving Your Garden



Today, having got over my recent bathroom and shower related DIY frustrations; my attentions have temporarily shifted to my back garden. Gardening has of course, has in recent times developed a certain stigma attached amongst the younger generation, with its “old man” image not exactly providing a great stimulus for a young man such as myself to dive into the garden and tend to my plants, lawn and other horticultural needs.

     Like many other people however, in spite of the outdated image of gardening, financial circumstances have provided me with the impetus to grow my “green fingers”, pick up my trowel and get out in the back garden - but hey, at least the sun was shining! Having read around the whole subject of horticulture on the internet it seemed as though the easiest (and most importantly cheapest) first horticultural steps for me to take were to plant my very own herb garden. Having visited the local supermarket and picked up the seeds for a variety of weird and wonderful herbs and spices, I set about the surprisingly simple task of planting the tiny seeds in my back garden. According to the instructions it may take several weeks for the shoots to appear, so I opted to sit back in my garden sunshine and enjoy an ice cold beer. It seems this gardening malarkey wasn’t so difficult after all! “Here’s to Alan Titchmarsh” I thought as I swigged on my cool one and dozed off in the afternoon sun.

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Finding Courage to Try Property Improvements in the Bathroom

In the forthcoming days it seems I will be forced to begin to trawl through the apparently neverending mass of UK bathroom websites the great expanse of links that is the internet has to offer - now not only for shower parts but for a suitable polish for my once beautiful and spotless bathroom’s laminate flooring. With a bit of luck I will  manage to locate the parts I need and wait patiently for there arrival at my (fast becoming a nightmare) new home.

     When my new shower parts arrive, I think I'm going to rush eagerly to the bathroom only to discover my DIY skills are perhaps not as extensive as I had first anticipated and envisaged. I predict that after trying in vain for several hours to fix the bothersome shower, I will finally decide that calling one of the local plumbers may perhaps be a better option in order to save further embarasment and most likely, damage to my new house. Oh well, we will see. Maybe i will pluck up the courage to try some property improvements in my bathroom after all!

Property Improvement Plans On Hold Due to Leaking Shower


Fate has as it oh so often tends to do has inevitably conspired against me, as within 2 weeks of moving into my new house a serious bathroom malfunction has rather frustratingly occurred, thereby resulting in my shower handle breaking off the wall and ultimately resulting in water leaking all over my brand new bathroom. Try as I might, the shower would not cease from its seemingly never ending torrent, proceeding to make a terrible mess of what I hoped would remain a rather well maintained laminate bathroom floor.
    
     British bathrooms are of course, notoriously difficult to deal with for any DIY lover, but an essential part of property improvement for homeownerse and property developers alike. For a near complete DIY amateur such as myself, I'd rather not face up to a bodged job with a monkey wrench in what is essentailly not my own proerty - but a quick fix with a monkey wrench was the best situation salvaging thing I could do to at least stop my beutiful new bathroom from falling through the ceiling and into the spotless living room below!

Buying Supplies for My Property Improvement Mission

I've just been thinking about how best to spend the rest of my weekend and thought that I might just go to the DIY shop tomorrow afternoon to pick up some supplies. I'm drafting together my first ideas of how to spruce up the house and I thought a trip to the DIY superstore would be a good starting point for inspiration. I'm thinking of improving my home with maybe some boring stuff like a new wardrobe built fromscratch, and while I'm there its almost inevitable that I'll buy some random things that I always seem to end up picking up in that crazy shop! Dog shaped bottle openers, windscreen wiping devices, and erm, Swedish meatballs! You name it, those Swedes must certainly love their DIY and property improvment as much as we do here in the UK.
    
     Having recently moved into a new rented house and having little money of my own to spend, I have naturally begun to be been drawn to the great and wonderful (if not weird) world of DIY and home improvement in a (most likely vain) effort to make the best of my new home and garden. As many of you will know, the first steps in a new home can always be tricky and deciding exactly which jobs I could actually carry out on my shoestring budget and limited DIY experience was always going to be a daunting task. While my property is rented, I hope you enjoy my tips and advice for property improvement over the next few weeks,

Property Improvement Made Easy


DIY and general property improvement remains a highly popular UK past time, and with the long term effect of the credit crunch now being felt by people of all backgrounds in areas across the country, we are all looking for effective ways to improve our dwellings and add value to our homes without forking out hundreds of pounds that we simply mcannot afford. Property Improvement UK aims to inspire people to ward off the negative impact of the credit crunch by offering DIY tips and advice, home improvement ideas, and general ramblings about how I look to improve my place of living.

     With times so hard for homeowners and renters alike, many people are now relying on themselves to meet all their home and property improvement needs in order to save themselves a few quid. But apart from the obvious money saving advantages, lets not forget that DIY can be fun - and most of all, extremely rewarding! You will be pleasantly surprised that a little bit of hard work can change your house or garden in so many positive ways and add value to your home. 

     I personally take great satisfaction in completing a task that I have put my heart and soul into - and so can you, so why not try your own hand at DIY today?! What are you waiting for? Pull out the workbench, dust of that old toolbox and read my property improvement blog pages to learn of the ongoing trials and tribulations of one man on a home improvement mission! Over the next few weeks I will be publishing douzens of useful but easy home and property improvement tips which I hope you take on yourselves.