This is a building project which is squarely in the DIY category. Removing old coving may result in damage to the walls and ceiling, so be prepared for some plastering, painting and decorating. But unless it’s part of a major property development project, you’re not going to need expert tradesmen or architects.

Whether you’re using polystyrene, paper-covered gypsum, plaster or new ultra-light SuperCove, begin by cutting off 100mm of cove. Use it to mark the edges on the walls and ceilings at regular intervals and join the marks together with a pencil and straight edge. Score the area between the guidelines with a craft knife in criss-crosses to make a key for the adhesive.

Use a mitre box and fine toothed saw to cut the angled edges of the cove or cornice so that the corners can be fashioned accurately (use reverse angles, of course, at either end). Use a filling knife to ‘butter’ the back and top of the cove with adhesive, press it gently into place against the ceiling and the walls along the whole length, taking care to line up with the guidelines. With long stretches, support the cove against gravity temporarily with the occasional galvanised nail (you might need some in the ceiling, too, to prevent it sliding forwards).

Beware: external corners can catch you out unless you’re wary – they need to be cut at the same slope, rather than opposite angles, at each end. Measure the total length from the bottom edge of the cornice or cove, not the top, for these corners. Finally, invite the family to give you a round of applause.

You’ve dug deep into your old, dark bathroom cabinets for the last time, only to come up empty-handed. Where is that spare bar of soap or the shaving crème? One of the fastest ways to make your bathroom more accessible and enjoyable is to rip out those old cabinets and replace them with new ones.

A bathroom cabinet dates a room, so if yours are from a bygone decade or even a bygone era, you may be creating more work for yourself than is necessary. Today’s bathroom cabinets come with all sorts of conveniences and amenities to make your life easier and the mornings much more pleasant. 

Slide-out drawers and racks allow you to reach everything, even that extra soap bar at the back, with ease. Built-in organisers keep everything in it place and easy to find and recessed lighting means even on the darkest winter morning you can see the things you need. New bathroom cabinets are also a wonderful way to update your decor. Choose from every kind and colour of wood imaginable or consider more modern touches of chrome, steel or glass. 

Pre-built cabinets, in standard sizes, can save you quite a bit of money. If your bathroom is an odd size or has non-standard angles, consider installing pre-built cabinets for the bulk of your transformation and adding one or two custom pieces to fit into those odd corners.

Whatever you decide, you’ll love the transformation of your bathroom once the new cabinets are installed. As an added bonus, the ability to find everything easily will get your mornings off to a much better start.

Adding a wooden gazebo can really enhance the use and fun you get out of your garden.
What are the advantages of a wooden gazebo, and what accessories can you include?

* A wooden gazebo provides you with an extra outdoor room, adding value to your property.
* A wooden gazebo can be used all year round, right through from winter to spring and summer.
* A gazebo can include a relaxing wood-surround hot tub for those chilly evenings.
* Gazebos come in all shapes, sizes and colours, including either a tiled roof or a sturdy canvas canopy.
* It is now a breeze to arrange a romantic evening for two with champagne in the hot tub in your cosy gazebo.
* A wooden gazebo can be designed with any furniture and dining configuration you prefer.
* Gazebos can house a state-of-the-art barbeque for entertaining stylishly on those summer days with friends.
* A gas heater can be included to get year round use.
* Gazebos don’t require planning permission if they are freestanding in your garden.
* A gazebo made from wood in the style you choose can be installed on an existing patio.

These are just some of the wonderful advantages to having a garden gazebo that can be a visual asset to your home while increasing its value. You will find endless uses for the garden gazebo, and enjoy dining outdoors more.

Many older homes have artexed ceilings – that is, ceilings that have been treated with a water-based coating that has then been textured and painted. Quite fashionable in its day, nowadays ridding themselves of the artex “look” is one of the first tasks many DIYers face when remodelling a home or building. While removing artex is fairly simple, in cases where artex was applied pre-1980 (and may contain asbestos) or was applied to cover a damaged ceiling, it may be wisest to leave artex in place and plaster over it.

The first task in plastering over artex is preparing the surface. Loose and flaking bits must be removed, along with all of the bigger stipples. It is strongly advisable to wear protective eyewear (goggles) while doing this to avoid injury.

Once the surface is prepared, two coats of diluted PVA adhesive (1:1 water/PVA) should be applied; leaving an hour of drying time between each coat. Do not be tempted to skip this step and go straight to skimming. Artex is extremely porous and without the PVA, your plasterwork will be a disaster. The PVA coats will seal the Artex, thus giving you more time to work.

Once the PVA coats are dried, it’s time to apply your skimming plaster. Plastering is a difficult art, so work in manageable areas. Mix your plaster using a wooden stick or mixer drill, adding the water first and then slowly adding the plaster until you have a creamy consistency. Because plaster dries quickly, always work in a cool room.

Bathroom accessories come in numerous different types in the modern world. From toilet roll holders to towel racks to towel rails, bathroom shelves, tumblers, toilet brushes, robe hooks and soap dishes, bathroom accessories are a permanent fixture in every household.

Soap dishes are, as the name suggests, small dishes that are designed to hold bars of soap. Soap dishes were invented for a purely practical and logical purpose. When wet, bars of soap become notoriously slippery and thus after use they are very difficult to keep in one place, such as on the side of a wash basin or bathtub; therefore the soap dish was invented to keep the soap in place whilst still located near the area where it is most likely to be utilised. Some wash basins actually come with their own soap dish already built in, usually in the form of a small groove near to the tap area. Usually coming in an oval shape (although there are other variations in existence), soap dishes are made from various substances including metal, ceramic, plastic and glass. Soap dispensers can vary in price from very cheap plastic versions to surprisingly expensive designer models.

For soap variations such as foam soap or liquid soap, a soap dish is not used, with those usually being kept in soap dispensers, which are essentially plastic pumps that squeeze out the liquid or foam soap when a handled is pressed. This kind of soap is most often the favoured form of soap used in public facilities.

If you are thinking about installing an underfloor heating system, you have two primary choices: a warm water system or an electric one. Whichever system you choose, there are definite benefits to underfloor heating that go beyond aesthetics.

How Underfloor Heating Works

Whether choosing an electric or water system, underfloor heating works the same way – by warming a room from the floor up. This means that people begin to feel the effects more quickly than they would with conventional radiators. The heat is also radiated rather than convected, which means the room is warmed more evenly across its space.

Warm Water Underfloor Heating System

A warm water underfloor heating system uses flexible pipes looped under the floor and connected to an existing boiler or radiator via a manifold. Any type of fuel can be used to heat the water, including conventional substances like gas and oil, or contemporary methods like Agas or solar panels. Because water underfloor heating systems rely on long-duration heating, a condensing boiler is often recommended as a cost-effective choice.

Electric Underfloor Heating System

An electric underfloor heating system usually comes in thin, installable ‘mat’ form. Placed underneath flooring and connected to a power supply, this type of system uses a thermostat to control the heating activity. Underfloor mats are much easier to install than warm water piping, and can often simply be glued beneath the floor tiles. However, electric underfloor heating systems tend to cost more money to operate than their warm water counterparts.

With the drop in property prices, many people have chosen to remain in their current homes; however, the reason they wanted to move originally has not gone away. As a result, there has actually been an increase in the number of people taking on DIY projects and bathroom renovation is leading the list. 

New bathroom cabinets are a quick way to give your bathroom an entirely new look and feel. Sleek, modern cabinets with built-in or recessed lighting can update your bathroom in a weekend. Add a fresh coat of paint and perhaps a new light fixture or two and an old, small and dark room can look completely different.

When choosing bathroom cabinets, look carefully at the design and construction, and compare that with how long you plan to remain in your home. If you intend to be there for a number of years, spending a little more for higher-quality construction is a good choice. This is also a consideration for children’s bathrooms, which tend to take much more abuse than adults rooms.

A bathroom cabinet can have a wide variety of options, such as slide-out drawers, recessed lighting, hidden storage and shelves in a variety of configurations. If you find an exterior or face that you love, very often the interior can be modified to suit your needs. This is known as a semi-custom cabinet and is a wonderful option for those who have specific needs, but also want to save money. 

Measure your space, consider your needs and then find the bathroom cabinets that do everything you want. You’ll be amazed at what a difference it will make.

Electric underfloor heating
Electric underfloor heating systems can be quickly and easily installed in a home and work well in small spaces. Electric underfloor heating comes as a length of cable that is placed on the floor in a weave pattern, or as a cable mat that is rolled out and cut to size. While cheaper to install, this type of floor heating system is more expensive to run.

Water underfloor heating
Water underfloor heating (or wet underfloor heating) is more expensive to install, but more economical to run. Furthermore, by using systems with full lengths of piping, without joints, a wet underfloor heating system can last the lifetime of a building, remaining virtually maintenance free in the duration.

Carbon floor heating
Carbon film heating systems work with wood, laminate, or under carpet or vinyl when placed in combination with a plywood overlay. The advantages of carbon floor heating are that it is fast working and controllable. It is an inexpensive choice, but easy to install (as a DIY underfloor heating project), and has little effect on your floor height.

Insulation

Proper insulation plays an important part in maximising the benefit of any floor heating system, especially when using low temperatures. When building a new homes or extending an older one, insulation can be incorporated into the flooring at the design stage.  For already-built homes, underfloor heating insulation boards can be used. In general, these boards are made from low-conductivity material and provide the needed strength to support thick screeds and tile and laminate floors.

The beauty of a gazebo is that it is often portable. It can be positioned in one area of the garden, but easily moved if need be. Of course, there are gazebos that can be firmly fixed into the ground, which are not so easy to move. If you are buying one of these, how do you know where it should be placed?

It is all about personal preference. Garden gazebos look perfect both on decking or similar patio areas, and can be positioned for the perfect place to shade from the sun. For those sun worshippers, it can be placed in the ideal position to catch the sun. A gazebo on a deck can also double as a bar area for those who wish to entertain.

Those with larger gardens may wish to consider positioning their gazebo at the bottom of the garden. When placed amongst foliage, a feel of a secret hideaway garden room is created; a romantic setting for both young and old alike.

Having a gazebo in a garden is also the ideal place for children to play. In this case, positioning it closer to the house, so that it is under adult supervision at all times, is best. Enclosed gazebos can be used as extra rooms, and often these are used for offices. If this is the case then again, the best position would be closer to the house for easy connection to the mains electricity if needed.

Bathroom cabinets, also known as bathroom vanity units, are cabinets that are placed in a bathroom, either above the toilet or usually above or below the sink. Occasionally, these vanities are sold with a sink, but most of the time it is up to the consumer to purchase a vanity which will fit with the sink that already have installed in their bathroom. Even when the sink is included with the vanity cabinet, more often than not the consumer will still have to also purchase faucets for the sink. They are there to store items relevant to bathroom activities, such as toothbrushes for teeth cleaning, soap for washing purposes, and even make up. Family medicines are also sometimes kept in the bathroom vanity, and some vanities will even come with an additional small cabinet specifically for such medicines.

Bathroom cabinets come in a variety of different sizes, shapes and styles; this can be daunting but a bathroom supplier like UK Bathrooms can help you choose the right one. Some bathroom vanities resemble traditional cabinets, while others merely look like an attachment to the bathroom sink, which can be a more appropriate choice for a particularly small sized bathroom. There are even some much larger bathroom cabinets with both a normal cabinet area and even drawers for items such as towels and razors etc. As a result of the various types, bathroom cabinets likewise range in price, with some available for just a few hundred pounds or less, with others priced as high as several thousand. Bathroom cabinets generally come with a top that is either tiled or made in marble.