RED SKY AT NIGHT
Don't leave home without your umbrella if the bindweed has closed its flowers, swallows are flying low and there's a smell of drains - weather forecasting the traditional way .....


One of the most frequently asked questions must be: 'What's the weather going to do?'.  Nowadays, we get the answer from radio, TV, phone and websites but, in times past, forecasting was a do-it-yourself activity.
By reading the skies and observing the countryside, people - especially farmers, fishermen, shepherds and sailors - discovered all kinds of predictors and gradually amassed a treasury of weather wisdom.  Modern meteorology has since shown that although some of this weather lore is superstitious nonsense, much of it is not.
Since weather clearly comes from above, the heavens are an obvious starting point as Shakespeare confirms in Richard II: Men judge by the complexion of the sky / The state and inclination of the day.

Another version goes this way: 
Evening red and morning grey / Set the traveller on his way;
Evening grey and morning red / Bring down rain upon his head.


This popular prediction, available in many versions, highlights the fact that a rosy-hued sunset - not a fierce, fiery glow - indicates clear skies stretching far into the west, where most of our weather comes from.  In contrast, a red sunrise in the east suggests that fine weather is moving away.


The moon is another sign in the sky about the weather.  A clear moon means a dry day, but if it shines weakly or has a hazy halo, rain follows.


Clouds can also bring good or bad news.  Small, fluffy cumulus clouds are associated with sunny weather:  If woolly fleeces spread the heavenly way / Be sure no rain disturbs the summer day. But if they mass together and swell up into 'rocks and towers, the earth's refreshed by frequent showers'.  At much higher altitudes, the stippling of a mackerel sky and feathery mares' tails 'make tall ships carry low sails' - advisedly, since both these wispy formations herald unsettled conditions, even storms.


When rain does fall, if it's 'from the east, two days at least'.  However, if it comes from the west - much more common - then 'rain before seven, clear by eleven' often holds true.  This is because rain belts, crossing the country eastwards, generally move quite quickly.  For confirmation that rain is over, trust only a evening rainbow: with your back to the sun, this will be in the east, indicating that the rain has probably passed.  Whereas 'a dog (rainbow) in the morning, sailor take warning' for here the rainbow lies westwards and so the rain is oncoming.

Plants and animals are another source of information about the weather.  Various flowers warn that rain is imminent by closing their petals.  One of the prettiest prophets, the tiny scarlet pimpernel, is actually called the poor man's weather glass.  Others include the dandelion, marsh marigold, anemone, gentian and convolvulus.  
Pondweed tends to sink before rain, while seaweed feels moist - possibly because the salt in its fronds readily absorbs any humidity.  Whatever the science, seaweed has long served as a natural barometer: a piece hung up by the door becomes dry and shrivelled during find weather, but plump and damp as rain approaches.


Some trees also give notice of wet weather: When the leaves show their undersides / Be very sure that rain betides.  The increasing moisture in the air softens the leaf stalks, causing the leaves themselves to turn over - a phenomenon associated particularly with poplar, sycamore, plane and lime.


Animal Behaviour
Animals, too, are sensitive to atmospheric change and, in many cases, their behaviour yields useful weather clues.  To begin with, nature tends to get noisier when rain threatens.  Blackbirds sing shrilly, woodpeckers laugh loudly, barn owls shriek and and screech, frogs croak and as for donkeys: Hark! I hear the asses bray; / We shall have some rain today.
There is a general air of restlessness and a reluctance to go far from home.  Bees stay in or near their hive, cattle move off hill-tops, pheasants roost early and rise late, while rooks either remain in their nests or tumble down to ground level.  Fine weather of course, reverses these behaviour patterns: When bees to distance wing their flight / Days are warm and skies are bright.

In such conditions, many birds take to the heavens.  This is especially true of swallows: Swallows high, staying dry / Swallows low, wet 'twill blow. The reason is that in settled weather swallows can find insects to eat high up, but in poor weather, only near the ground.


The contrast between good and bad weather behaviour is very noticeable in pigs.  According to legend, pigs can see the wind.  This is such a fearful experience that an approaching storm causes pigs to rush around in a frenzy, tossing sticks and straws hither and thither:  When pigs carry sticks/ The clouds will play tricks; / When they lie in the mud, / No fears of a flood.


Spiders deserve a special mention as their webs - constantly monitored - provide an up-to-the-minute forecast.  When conditions promise to be warm and dry, spiders industriously spin a large web, but if bad weather looms they keep their webs small, or even destroy them.


Alongside animal and plant indicators, there are various everyday omens of eather change.  When rain is on the way, ditches and drains stink, stone walls and floors sweat, rheumatic pain worsens, ropes made of natural fibres shrink, smoke hangs in the air, soot falls down the chimney and distant landscapes seem clear and close.
In the past, lists of signs were put together in easy-to-learn poems.  The following extract is from one such poem, by Erasmus Darwin - Charles' grandfather:  The walls are damp, the ditches smell / Closed is the pink-eyed pimpernel. / Hark! How the chairs and tables crack. / Old Betty's joints are on the rack . . . / Loud quack the ducks, the peacocks cry, / The distant hills are looking nigh . . .


Red sunsets, cotton-wool clouds, croaking frogs, damp flagstones . .. signs like these all relate to today and tomorrow and, for short-term forecasting, traditional weather lore is relative reliable.  But long-range predictions are a different matter.  

Often, sayings that look beyond are really about the present or past.  For example, country lore holds that when rooks build their nests high in the tree tops, the summer will be good.  More prosaically, it shows that conditions were calm at nesting time and also that last year's rookery had survived the winter and could be refurbished satisfactorily.


Oak before Ash
And then there's the belief that holly trees laden with berries herald a hard winter.  Not so. The abundance of berries reflects mild, moist weather in the preceding spring and summer.  Similarly, Oak before ash, only a splash; Ash before oak, expect a soak, highlights past not future weather.  If autumn and winter have been wet, the oak is always in leaf before the ash - and summer will not necessarily be dry.
Equally doubtful are predictions associated with specific days. The most famous of these, dating from the 10th century, recalls how St Swithin caused a 40-day downpour in protest at his remains being transferred from a graveyard to inside Winchester Cathedral.  In consequence, rain on St Swithin's feast, 15 July, is said to guarantee rain for the next 40 days.  Records reveal otherwise.


Many saints' days and religious festivals have similar links with the weather, however all are unproven.  A random selection shows that a fine St Paul's day (25 January) ensures a year of good weather, while Ash Wednesday's wind lasts throughout Lent; conditions on Ascension Day prefigure the autumn and 'as at Catherine (25 November) foul or fair, so will be next February'.


Even some non-religious days were thought to be significant, like 1 January.  One very old tradition defines the year's weather according to which day of the week it starts.   
Almost as improbably are sayings that link one month to another, such as 'a warm October, a cold February', 'as November, so March', or 'a wet June makes a dry September'.

A few long-range predictions, however, do contain an element of truth.  Take: 'If there's ice in November to hear a duck / There'll be nothing after but sludge and muck'.   Following a very cold spell in November, the ground is unlikely to thaw properly and winter's wet weather will certainly create plenty of 'sludge and muck'.  

And then there is the well-known warning that 'when March comes in like a lamb, it goes out like a lion'  (or vice versa).  March, at the end of the northern hemisphere winter, does experience very variable weather.

Dr Johnson once said that when English people meet, their 'first talk is of the weather' - undoubtedly because it is so varied.  That same diversity has given us a wealth of weather wisdom which, like much traditional lore, retains some relevance.  In these days of global warming and climate change, it's worth recalling a saying that emphasises the weather's capacity to sort itself out: Be  it dry or be it wet, The weather'll always pay its debt'.

From an article by Catherine Dell


See also: The Rough Guide to Weather by Robert Henson (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rough-Guide-Weather-Robert-Henson/dp/1858288274)

Continuing the pre-move series of transferring tiny scraps of paper into usable info - not always topical but it'll be easy to find at the appropriate moment:

How to Win When Pulling a Cracker

• Hold your end lower than the other person's, so the cracker tilts downwards towards you.
• To prevent the cracker tearing, use a firm, two-handed grip.
• Apply a slow, steady pull, rather than a swift tug, which will only compromise the integrity of your section of the cracker.
• Avoid twisting, as this will add stress to the cracker wrapping.  For the same reason, avoid laughing too hard at Uncle Bob's annual 'joke' about 'pulling a cracker'!

Be a better listener

• Forget yourself: put your own thoughts to one side and concentrate on what the other person is really saying.
• Keep up a steady eye contact.
• Nod and make encouraging noises to show you're listening.
• Ask questions that will help the other person to open up about their feelings, such as: 'when did that happen to you?' or 'how did that make your feel?'
• Try to empathise by saying 'that must have felt horrible' or 'you sound really angry about that'.
• Make sure you ask them to explain if you haven't understood, with questions such as 'so, why did you go back to the supermarket?'.
• Set a time limit to how long your're available to listen, otherwise  you may end up switching off out of sheer exhaustion.  Try saying something like 'I can listen until three o'clock, but then I really do have to go and pick the children up from school'.

DON'T

• say 'that happened to me too', and start talking about yourself.
• interrupt.  It shows that you're more interested in getting your own point across rather than listening.
• offer your advice or opinion.  Even if you think the talker has got it completely wrong, it's not helpful for you to say so.
• halt the conversation in mid-flow by getting up to make a cup of tea, or changing the subject abruptly.
• rush to fill in any silences with humour or pointless chat.  Be sympathetic.

By the way, imagine life with no facebk: http://social-catalog.com/imagine-a-world-beyond-facebook

Stocking Fillers - extract from a letter in the paper many years ago:

'Some years ago, when I left home, my mother gave me a list of what she believed to be the contents of a traditional Christmas stocking, together with a brief explanation as to why each item should be included.  It went as follows:

• Socks, pants, hanky, toothbrush: the emergency kit.
• Pencil, notebook: to use later to record who sent what.
• Book/toy, food: to keep the child quiet for another few minutes.
• Chocolate money: reminder of the gold
• Shiny money: St Mick's first gift.
• Smelly: the frankincense.
• Spicy: the myrrh.
• Candle/torch: the light of the world.
• Round thing, ball: the world.
• Soft toy: the animals and lambs.
• Tangerine: gold, found and food.
• Nuts: the hard life of the Christ child.
• Mouse: traditional? but why?

Over the years I have found many people who agreed that the stocking out to contain such a variety of things, without necessarily sharing the reasons, but no one has ever been able to supply an explanation for the mouse.'

You know you're in 'Barnsley' if ...

• you identify a Sheffield accent as southern
• you have ever been frostbitten and suntanned in the same week
• 'down south' to you means Chapeltown
• you were brassed off by the movie Brassed Off
• summat to eight is a meal, not a time of day
• you  have one word: 'ayup,, which means 'hello', 'how are you?', 'that's this?', 'hang on a minute' and 'bloody hell!'.
• you know that Jump is a real place
• you think there should be a 'southern puff, go home' bumper sticker on every car north of Ecclesfield
• kids roar.
• pop is a drink, not your dad.
• you are unaware there is a legal drinking age
• you have caught a fish in the Dearne and it glowed in the dark.
• you don't have a coughing fit from one sip of Barnsley Bitter.
• you proudly claim that the Town Hall is the highest point in England.
• You can pronounce 'Alhambra' but can't spell it.

The last time Britain staged the Olympics - in 1948 - the country was still recovering from the war, there was rationing of food and petrol and restrictions on building.

They were the 'austerity games'.  The government was unable to give any money, so existing facilities were adapted.  Those games were the most glorious piece of improvisation that sport has ever seen - and we as a nation are wonderful at improvisation.

The war taught the lesson that anything could be adapted for ultimate triumph.  In 1946, the International Olympics Committee asked Britain to stage the event. After coping with the blitz, the Olympics was really not too difficult a hurdle for the British to surmount.

Teams were housed not in an Olympic village but largely in barracks and schools, some with field kitchens.  
Competitors were even allowed a ration of 8oz of chocolate a week.  The tone of restraint is show by the official report, which confessed almost shamefacedly that 'typewriters were hired and, in some cases, purchased, but these found a ready market after the games and were therefore not a liability'.
Food was sent from overseas, including 100 tons of fruit and vegetables from Holland; 160,000 eggs from Denmark and 20,000 bottles of mineral water from Czechoslovakia, and the colonies provided parcels of food just as they had during the war.


Some coaches who helped were given extra petrol coupons and food parcels from abroad to help prepare for the games.  The British athletics team even had a training camp, at Butlin's in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, where some competitors learnt to use the 'new-fangled' starting blocks which were used at the games for the first time.
The games were a resounding success, even making a £30,000 profit.  It was the first thing since the war that the British had had to look forward to (apart from the wedding of Princess Elizabeth (later the Queen) and Philip Mountbatten, previous year).
When the Olympic torch carried by runners from Greece arrived at Dover, thousands crammed the quays.  At Charing, Kent, 3,000 people mobbed the torch bearer, even though it was 1.30 in the morning.  
The games opened in splendid sunshine, with a record 59 countries taking part, before a capacity crowd at Wembley.  The event was reported by 2,000 journalists, including 134 foreign radio reporters. The BBC used a staff of 1,750 to screen more than 64 hours of the games, although there were only 80,000 TV sets in Britain, largely in the south east.
Goodwill overcame many problems, for instance, the British flag was left locked in a car before the opening ceremony and the window had to be broken to retrieve it.  The gymnastics were scheduled to be held in the open air at Wembley, but the British weather reverted to type and rain led to the event being switched to Earls Court.  A shortage of venues meant that the boxing was held on a bridge across the swimming pool at Wembley Stadium.

The organising staff of 219, supported by the army, civil servants, thousands of volunteers and endless enterprise, ensured the games flourished.
The visitors did not scorn the facilities; they were the best available at the time. There were even programmes at 6d each.  


Rewards through sponsorship and prize money for athletics events were virtually unknown; the first prize for a race was not allowed to be worth more than £7.00.



In 1948 people did not celebrate their victories; people were expected to stand still, catch their breath and shake their rival's hand.


The games marked a turning point in sport, with harder training regimes; the era of the carefree Olympics was ending. 
Also see: http://www.olympic.org/london-1948-summer-olympics and http://www.red-grey.co.uk/general/olympic-games-1948.html

It's in the bag for whom?  


Shoppers may think they have a choice, but are they being subtly manipulated?


It's the Saturday before Christmas, and you decide to take your family to buy those last few gifts.  You think you know roughly what you need and how much you have to spend - but as you step into the shopping centre, there are invisible forces at work.

We may think we are free spirits who make our own choices but in fact enormous amounts of research and money have gone into manipulating the shopper for the benefit of the shop manager, cajoling us into spending more than we ever intended.
Inside, the seemingly innocuous muzak is skilfully varied.  It speeds up around 11am and again near 4pm, the times when our biorhythms would otherwise slow us to a natural low.  
Hard-bitten store managers did not always believe that this would work, until they were shown videos of tired shoppers perking up and scanning the store more actively.  Indeed, researchers have shown that cows produce more milk within earshot of a quickening pace.


The family is lured deeper into the store.  They quickly lose sense of time, as clocks are banned.  It's also going to be hard to get out, for exits are far away and difficult to find.


Faint clouds of ionone molecules (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ionone) - the active chemical in the odour of fresh hay - are likely to be emanating from ventilation ducts, making people feel strangely at ease.


There's a delay at the lifts and the store has to prevent shoppers from getting restless.  The simplest solution is to put mirrors on the walls between the elevators, for it's almost compulsive at least to glance at your reflection.  According to one poll, men claimed never to look at themselves in shop windows, but video evidence showed them twice as likely to do so than women.

The next best thing is to keep shoppers happy while they wait is to install an information display near the lift: as many as one in three people are curious, or nervous, enough to stop and check location details.


Some stores even keep one lift with its doors permanently open.  People march in, and although they end of waiting as long as they would have outside, they invariably feel better huddling inside than out.
Indeed, at one airport it took two minutes to walk to the carousel where the luggage arrived, and eight minutes for the luggage to appear.  Customers were unhappy, so managers redesigned the path so it took eight minutes to walk to the carousel.  Luggage 'magically' arrived a bare two minutes later, and complaints dropped.


At the clothes shop, women happily plunge in while dad is more likely to be spotted on video cameras waiting fearfully inside the entrance.  Stores try hard to help men.  In expensive boutiques, female sales personnel are often trained to greet buyers with their mouths slightly open - a sexy trick copied from air-hostess manuals.


In medium-price stores, the most over-priced jeans or shirts are often put on large tables near the entry.  This wastes valuable space, but only when the psychologically crucial 'petting' of the fabrics has taken place is there much chance of a sale.


At all stores, wall displays are designed to appeal in different ways to men and women:

• Men find it almost impossible to resist a sexy photo or drawing - the pupils of their eyes are liable to expand by 2% simply by seeing the word 'nude'.  
• Women, however,  turn to displays that show success in group activities, such as a bunch of chatty friends being attracted by a new aerobics outfit.

Men are uncomfortable with that, and a certain shop has gone so far as to have only single samples of suits on display, rather than entire racks, to emphasise individuality.
There's nothing in the clothing store so the family tries another department, then another.  They think they're the ones deciding what they choose, but that is unlikely if you are in a hurry.  Items with a low mark-up tend to be stored in narrow aisles, which shoppers rush through.  It is in the slower, wider aisles, where the family is likely to meander, that items with the highest profit margins go.
Since we also tend to look straight ahead, shelves at eye-level usually have the worst bargains of all.  In the business these are called 'hot spots', a place where you are twice as likely to buy than anywhere else.


When tired, a family will make selections following rules of thumb - almost all of which are wrong.  Items that are widely advertised are often felt to be the best, but branded goods often cost 50% more than the same item in a less celebrated container.


The wife reaches for kitchen paper towels - there will be a lot of cooking over Christmas - and instinctively selects the mega-pack roll, assuming it will be the cheapest. But manufacturers know that consumers reason this way, and regularly take advantage of it.  One company made sure that there were fewer pieces of paper on each roll in its biggest packs, so that the average price per sheet of kitchen towel was actually higher.

Finally, when all the goods are gathered, dad reaches for his store credit card.  Stores only receive a profit from those shoppers who accumulate interest charges: big stores often hunt through data banks to find people reputedly slow at paying back debts.  


As you trot, hands full, back to your car, you chuckle quietly to yourself: that seems to have gone as planned.  Which is exactly what the storekeeper thinks....

What your husband does't understand but your girlfriends do ...
... or why women sometimes buy each other flowers for no reason

• Saying 'but you've already got a pair of black shoes' is as irrelevant as saying 'but you've already got a computer game'.
• That when you finally give in to 'flu' the correct response is: 'poor you, is there anything I can do?'.  Not 'funnily enough, I can feel a bit of a sniffle coming on myself'.
• The difference between a cream, ivory and off-white linen jacket.
• That Fat Days make you miserable, while Thin Days make you feel ecstatic (or even what a Fat Day and a Thin Day actually are).
• That having a long hot bath with lots of essential oils doesn't always mean you want to have sex afterwards.
• Why you have to have different moisturising creams for each part of your body - and why he can't use any of them.
• Going out shopping and coming with nothing except lifted spirits isn't a waste of time.
• Holding contradictory ideas is a sign of intelligence, not stupidity.
• The indescribably cold rush of fear at finding a lump in your breast - even though it's almost certainly benign.
• That sharing embarrassing anecdotes about your marital life isn't undermining him, it's bonding.
• That sometimes a good cry is enjoyable.
• That having a smear test is NOT the same as having your blood pressure taken.
• That all conversations about new cars can be over in two minutes.
• That going to a camp site isn't what you call a holiday.
• Why chatting on the phone for hours is healthy communication.
• You can still be fond of an ex-boyfriend, but he can't be of an ex-girlfriend.
• Ordering just a salad - as it is with no dressing - isn't ruining anyone else's night out.
• That not all sexy actors are 'probably gay' and even if they are, you still fancy them.
• How to load a dishwasher with a complete dinner party's worth of crockery.
• A spider is never to small to be scary.
• That cellulite can made you cry.
• That if you have children, you have several social diaries running in your head at all times (when he can't even manage one).
• That telling jokes isn't how women make each other laugh.
• That you would rather go without much food for a week than move up a dress size.
• That 'yes' and 'no' are not satisfactory answers to a question - and 'fine' is not a satisfactory answer to 'how do I look?'.
• That buying birthday and Christmas presents for his family is an annoying chore, not a 'chance to go shopping'.
• What pelvic floor exercises are.
• That you can take pleasure in criticising other girlfriends behind their backs without liking them any less.
• That if he gets turned on by you wearing stilettos to parties, he should also arrange for a door-to-door taxi to transport you there and back.
• That a whole evening spent moaning about him with girlfriends can cheer you up.
• What going through the menopause feels like.
• That saying: 'nothing's wrong', means exactly the opposite.
• Why we eat chocolate whenever we feel fat.

HOUSE HORSE-SENSE

1   First impressions count, and nowhere more so than with the front door.  The finest can add up to 10% to the value of a property, according to some agents.  Neatly painted, with smart letterbox and doorknob is a must, but colour also matters.
Workmanship is always the most important - a smart door will reassure potential buyers that the whole house is well-maintained.
At the moment people are keen on mossy greens teamed with a nice silver letterbox.  Glossy black looks great on grand, stucco buildings, but rather forbidding next to red brick or on a smaller house or cottage where soft greys work well.  Blue was voted most appealing in a survey of buyers, but whatever the colour, a trick used by high-end decorators to achieve the best finish is to use several coats of paint thinned with white spirit.
Regarding the door furniture, chrome has largely taken over from the traditional brass.


2  If the budget allows, give your house a facelift. This can transform an ugly ducking facade with clever rendering or re-cladding in timber or tiles.  Study the local vernacular and contact an architect before devising a scheme that is in keeping with the rest of your street or area.
Consider rendering and limewashing the lower portion of an uninspiring b4rick house and weatherboarding the top half.  For the environmentally-aware, radial cut timber creates less waste.
Consider banishing flat roofs: a tiled pitched roof provides better draining and insulation, and improves the look for the house.

3  Are your windows as attractive as possible?  Replacing PVC windows, particularly in a period house, can add value to a property.  But it can work in modern houses too, where PVC windows have been installed that look ugly, either because they have yellowed or because they are poorly designed.  Ask whether your local building firm has a qualified joiner and view the work to check on quality.

4  Make sure your front garden lifts your spirits whatever month of the year it is.  Buyers often walk away without viewing a property if confronted with an unattractive approach.  Take a good look at your front elevation and see how to improve the facade with planting.

Accentuate good points, disguise eyesores.  Carry through front door colour to any pots or plantings.  To maintain substantial healthy plants in pots which don't blow over, need watering or get pinched, remove the bases from the pots using an angle grinder and put deep pockets of soil beneath them to the plants root into the ground.



If you have steps up to the front door make sure they are over-wide and generous, perhaps planting bay, box or yew balls within the treads to give them an edge.


5  Hide the car.  If you have space out front, you have options.  To avoid fighting your way to the front door through a sea of metal work, you need to earmark car parking spaces for yourself and visitors away from the line of vision to the front door.  Then treat the space immediately in front of the door so that it is possible to drive over it occasionally (when you arrive home in lashing rain and laden with shopping), but so that it still looks to visitors as it if is a car-free zone.  Use a pattern of gravel, paving and setts, combined with cleverly positioned planting.

Avoid the Gobi desert look of block pavers or bald tarmac.  To hide or partially conceal cars you can use edging, dense trellis (to a height of around 1.5m), or both.  Add the odd small tree.  Car ports or a simple structure of beams and posts with evergreen climbers have the advantage of providing extra camouflage.


Start from the bottom ...

6  Once inside, flooring is central to the feel of a home.  Genuine wood floors look and feel wonderful to walk on and will stand the test of time: reclaimed flooring always has the most character.  Natural stone flooring looks stylish in modern or traditional homes.  Laminate floors instantly undermine any property.  If you are stuck with them, invest in some plain, good quality, contemporary rugs that will feel nice underfoot and absorb sound.  
In summer take up heavy, dark-coloured rugs and revert to floorboards (paint in pastel green or blue for a fresh look) or replace with simple sisal runners.
Think about underfloor heating, especially if you are considering a tile or stone floor.  The heat in your home will be much more even and you can do away with bulky radiators.  Choose from either electrically heated cables or hot water flowing in pipes.  But be aware, if your insulation in walls and windows is inadequate, then underfloor heating  won't provide enough warmth.  It's vital that the system is properly designed and installed.


7  One of the cheapest ways to transform your house is with a pot of paint.  In our silvery northern light, plain white walls can look drab. Consider repainting with a clever use of three off-whites to give a room more depth and warmth. (http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/rich-brown-pale-blue-colorther-93793) A trick of interior designers is to paint the three parts of a panelled door in three different whites, the darkest one in the panels, to make it look more substantial.  The skirting and floor should be the same shade to increase the feeling of space, the walls another, and the ceilings the third colour. Avoid bright white ceilings, as they are too harsh.  Use a colour with a slight blue or pink tinge instead for definition.  Achieve a contemporary look by painting cornices the same colour as the walls, rather than white.
For a softer effect, try limewashing walls, either by thinning paints with water -half and half works best - or sourcing specialist limewashes.
Considering painting your walls a taupe colour as it makes everything - whether mirrors, flowers or paintings - look grander.
Invest in the best5 paints you can afford.  They earn their keep with better coverage and colour.
Buy good quality brushes and eco paint in inviting colours and attack any loitering pine, be it floorboards, furniture, panelling.  Unless it's antique pine, paint it!  New pine looks cheap, and makes a space feel smaller.


Let there be light ...

8 Lighting can make your house appear bigger, fresher and decidedly more chic, as well as add value.  Here are some trade secrets:  

• Light up your best features, such as a good fireplace, by installing tiny uplights either side.  It provides a focus to a room, even when the fire is not lit.
• Make your kitchen look contemporary while also saving money by installing hidden fluorescent lights at the top of the units.  These bounce an attractive light off the ceiling and cost little to run.  It's a trick used by many of the most expensive kitchen designers.
• If you want to make a room such as the sitting room look bigger, put an uplighter in the corner.  It will pool light on the ceiling and increase the feeling of space.
• Achieve a contemporary look by replacing table lamps with recessed light strips, or horizon lights, at the back of a long bench built along a wall. Cover with frosted glass for a wonder, soft light.
• The underside of stairs is always dark, but you can increase the feeling of space in your hall with clever lighting.  One solution is to conceal a light behind a batten four inches away from the wall and painted in the same colour.  This creates a lovely, soft light.  Uplighters in wall recesses create a dramatic look.
• If you're extending into a new basement, lure people down there with the most fantastically lit staircase. LED lights sunk into the walls alongside the stairs can work wonderfully.
• Obscure an ugly view by planting up a window box, with fake plants if necessary, and position a light outside above the window.  At night this will increase the feeling of space inside as the eye is drawn out, as well as providing something attractive to look at.
• Place a downlighter or other light source directly over the dining table to create pocket lighting.  It looks really dramatic.
• Instead of putting downlighters over a shower, particularly in a room with high ceilings, put smart stainless steel external lights just above the tiles. 

9  Mirrors can help make the most of the light in a room.  Open up dark rooms and areas with floor-to-ceiling mirrors.   Or find appropriate salvage (large overmantels, paned windows, great picture frames) and add mirror panels to them.  Otherwise consider buying an old mirror and repainting the frame the same colour as the walls.

10  Nothing beats the glow of a real fire.  Installing a fireplace in your home will add both warmth and value: traditional or contemporary woodburning stoves, coal and gas burning fires and stoves.

11  Hang crystals on fishing wire at the windows to catch the sunshine and send it dancing in rainbows round the room; inexpensive but so effective.

Cook up the perfect kitchen ...

12  Kitchens are the heart of the modern home but they date quickly.  Travel through the smart showrooms for inspiration and then go about sourcing similar products for less money.  A local carpenter may be able to copy the style of cabinets at a fraction of the cost.  Alternatively, buy low-cost carcasses and have bespoke doors made to your taste.  Doors are also available from specialists online. 

Or simply upgrade your existing kitchen: worktops are perhaps the single most effective improvement.  

Adjust kitchen cupboard doors so that they close properly and line up with each other.  People often think they need a new kitchen because the doors and drawer-fronts on the old one are a bit wonky. Every cupboard door has two hinges, and each hinge has four adjustment screws - two for up and down, one for in and out, and one for tilting side to side.  Half an hour with a cross-head screwdriver and a bit of patience can have your kitchen looking like new again.

Banish broken bathrooms ...

13  Bathrooms can clinch the deal when it comes to selling your house but that does not necessarily mean that you need to rip out and start again as plumbing can be both expensive and troublesome.  
As long as you have the obligatory white bath, basin and loo, there is much to be done that doesn't cost the earth.  Start with the taps. While your bath may not be anything special, it can be upgraded with decent taps, the higher quality the better.  Central taps, rather than end ones, are gaining popularity, but classical or timeless styles are undoubtedly the best investment.  
Buyers expect luxurious bathrooms theese days but what they absolutely don't want is anything gimmicky such as water fall taps or shallow basins without plugs.  
Showers should be as spacious as possible, and at least a metre across.  Look at sales at big, upmarket showrooms as they regularly offer discounts. Wet rooms are an option but do investigate the practical considerations of installing one (http://www.wetroomexperts.co.uk/). Boring or tatty tiles should be replace.  Try large slabs of marble or stone, rather than smaller tiles, for a clean contemporary spa look.  As well as well knows places also look at local tiles shops for cost-effective copycat styles.
Install a downstairs cloakroom, especially in a family house where a second lavatory is essential.  Annexe space in a large utility room, hallway or even under the stairs.  Corner lavatories and wash basins fit snugly into the tightest of spaces.


Door to door ...


14  If you can't face a total overhaul then revamping old, tired doors on cupboards can completely change the feel of kitchens, bathrooms and bedrooms.  Repaint your existing cabinet doors a contemporary colour such as pale grey, eau de nil or taupe.  

Standard sized, plain round knobs emphasise the mass-produced look of cupboards.  Replacing them with unusual handles will add interest and character.  Cup handles are an original option.  Aim for texture, and avoid bright lacquered brass; it looks tacky and wears badly.  

15  Get creative with your visible and concealed storage options: dry goods, bathroom accessories and other paraphernalia are more accessible and pleasurable to use if you keep them in wicker, jute, bamboo or similarly interesting containers.  A freestanding ottoman can serve as comfortable seating, coffee table and concealed storage; opt for a plain, contemporary shape, or the more traditional curves.


Spring into summer ...

17  It's easy to give your home a fresh new look and feel with the seasons.  Just as you peel off wintry clothes when the weather warms up, remove unnecessarily heavy layers from your windows and furnishings.  Those heavy velvet curtains may have been great for keeping out winter draughts but for now all that's needed is yards of floaty muslin or jewel-bright sari silk.
If you prefer an understated style for your curtains try roller blinds in plain cream or white. Dressed with muslin full-length curtains they look light and modern but not too stark.  Natural fabrics work well.
If you're handy with a sewing machine, it's easy to ring in seasonal changes with your soft furnishings.  With a little imagination, you can transform antique linens into unusual curtains, blinds, sofa and armchair slipcovers, cushion covers, upholstered seats or linen bags.  Vintage white and cream linen is perfect for spring and summer soft furnishings.


Add a touch of glass ...


18  Adding a conservatory or glass fronted extension is one way of enjoying the changing seasons from the comfort of your own home. Modular extensions not only save you money, they also keep building hassle to a minimum.  Made largely off-site in a factory, these steel and glass constructions can look just as good as the traditional bespoke ones, which involve architects and builders intruding into your life for up to a year and usually take just a few weeks to assemble one-site.

Consider replacing part of a wall with floor to ceiling glass as a cost-effective way to light up a dark room.  Low emissivity glass increases energy efficiency by reducing the transfer of heat or cold, keeping your house at a steadier temperature year-round.  Alternatively, try installing glass sliding doors, in aluminium or timber.

Go green . . .


19 Harvest rainwater. Units can be installed on the room to collect rainwater, filter and store it so that it can be re-used for washing machines, flushing the lavatory and watering the garden.  If it cuts down your water bill it might just be worth it.
For ideas for greywater recycling (from baths, showers and washing machines) and ground source heat pumps (http://www.cat.org.uk/).


20  Install a sunpipe, a reflective tube with an internal mirror finish which runs from outside to inside your home, intensifying and reflecting natural daylight.  It is relatively easy with a bit of professional help and can light up a living space without adding to your electricity bill.


21  If you're planning a light overhaul consider switching to a green supplier which uses renewable energy sources such as wind or solar power (http://www.energysavingtrust.org.uk)



Get back to basics . . . with the following advice from building experts.

If you own your home, then, whether you like it or not, you are saddled with the responsibilities of regular maintenance.  That means you must either maintain it yourself, or pay someone else to do it for you.  How much you can actually do yourself depends upon your own skills, physical fitness and enthusiasm for the task, of course.  But many building problems can be averted by simply keeping an eye on things and knowing when to call in the professional.


Overhaul gutters and rainwater goods.  The usual advice about gutters is to clean them out every winter or spring, after the leaves have stopped falling.  If you have a ladder and a head for heights, then it is a good idea to have a glance along the gutters, and to scoop out any excessive build-up of leaves or silt.  

Most gutter problems are not caused by leaves, however, but by leaking joints.  Plastic guttering has a high coefficient of thermal movement, and this constant expansion and contraction can push adjacent sections apart.  Manoeuvre them back into place, and check that the supporting brackets are lined up correctly so that it doesn't happen again. 
If you don't  fancy climbing a ladder, then next time it rains, take your umbrella outside with you and just have a look to see if there are any leaks, if not then all well and good; if there are, get a man with a ladder round to investigate.


Paint external woodwork.  Timber windows and doors will last for years if they're protected from the rotting effects of rainwater and the drying effects of the sun by regular painting.  There are surviving examples from the 15C and 16C to prove the point.   Unfortunately, many modern homeowners can't be bothered with this, and prefer to believe the salesman's hype that replacement plastic windows are 'maintenance free'.  
Strange then, that all the major paint manufacturers are now selling PVC paint, to restore and protect that degrading plastic.  If you're lucky enough to have original timber joinery, then treat it with the care it deserves, and give it a five-yearly rubbing-down with fine sandpaper or wire wool, and a fresh coat of oil-based gloss.

Remove ivy and climbing plants.  Ivy might look nice, but it roots in mortar joints and as the roots expand they push the bricks apart.  In addition, the build-up of fallen leaves around the base of the walls holds moisture and encourages wood rot and insect life.  Keep all vegetation (even pot plants) a healthy distance away from your walls.


Ensure outside ground levels are kept below the damp proof course (dpc) and air bricks. Ground levels should be at least 150mm (6"/two brick courses) below dpc level, because this is the height to which rain can splash off the ground.  Unobstructed air bricks are vital for ventilating below suspended timber floors so clear away raised flower beds and lawns, and don't lay new paths or patios without first excavating the existing surfaces.

Draught-proof doors and windows.  The single most cost-effective way of saving energy is draught-proofing.  As little as £10-worth of self-adhesive rubber draught stripping will make it cosy, and will pay for itself within a year.


Fit secondary glazing.  Once you have draught-proofed your windows, the next best thing is to add sliding secondary glazing.  This preserves your original windows and has the great benefit of reducing external noise, a must for people troubled by traffic.


Check central heating system water, and add inhibitor, system cleaner or both as necessary.  The combination of metals in the average central heating system (coper, steel, cast-iron, zinc and maybe aluminium), connected via the electrolytic medium of water, leads inevitably to corrosion.  At best, this can cause a build-up of sludge in the radiators; at worst, it can cause leaks or boiler breakdown.  Check your system water using a Fernox or Sentinel test kit (from plumbers' merchants) and if necessary add corrosion inhibitor.  If the system has been neglected for years, it'll benefit from first using a system cleaner, and then flushing out before refilling using the inhibitor.  With conventional central heatings, these additives are all poured into the header tank in the loft; with combi systems they can be injected through one of the radiator bleed valves.


Add limescale preventer to the cold-water supply.  People regularly ask about the supposed benefits of magnetic and electronic limescale inhibitors.  These gadgets are not cheap, and there is no clear independent scientific evidence to support their manufacturers' claims.  A cheaper and more reliable option is to dose the water supply with phosphate.  Suspend a bag of Fernox Limescale Preventer in the cold water tank or, if there's a mains-pressure system, fit a Quantomat phosphate doser to the rising main.

Buy a dehumidifier - and use it.  Every home will benefit from one. Most dampness problems are caused by moisture produced in the home, by cooking, showering, clothes-drying and even sweating and breathing.  Good heating and ventilation should deal with most of it, but many british homes have neither.  A dehumidifier is good insurance against condensation, and great for drying clothes.  Plus, for every unit of electricity used, it emits two to three units of heat. Strangely, however, people buy a dehumidifier, find it collects water, use this as evidence that their home is damp, and then put it away in a cupboard.  There is no point buying a dehumidifier and not using it.


In the garden ...

22  Making your garden work as an extra room in the summer is a good way to gain a feeling of increased living space.  Try creating an outdoor eating area with an attractive table and chairs, even junk-shop finds can look every bit as good, especially when re-painted in subtle blues, mauves and greys. A simple pergola will provide welcome shade.  A swinging seat upholstered in faded flowery canvas is inviting and comfortably.  Paving is expensive but Indian stone is low maintenance and more affordable, mix with gravel, bands of planting and generous pots.

Grapevines provide good shade just when it's needed in high summer and a gloriously sybaritic feel, with bunches of ripening fruit dangling overhead.  They can be intertwined with scented roses or jasmine, but while you wait for the plants to grow, you can make a simple yet stylish awning by throwing a banner of white or striped fabric over the top and securing with ties.  
Sari silk would also look sensational.  If you already having a seating area, jazz it up with new cushions or by hanging pretty bunting or weaving tiny fairy lights overhead.  For lounging during the day, it's worth investing in one or two seriously good pieces, such as a free-standing hammock.
Awnings provide a highly usable and comfortable area with extra privacy.  Now with the smoking ban in effect they are popping up frequently.  Check planning laws: temporary structures should only be up for 30 days, otherwise consent is needed.  Wind stabilisers are also available.  


To continue outdoor living into intimate, atmospheric evenings, bring out piles of soft woollen throws and invest in a fire bowl or a chiminea.

Create a honeypot for children by adding a sunken trampoline.  It's great aerobic exercise, ideal for improving co-ordination - it's also fun!  Get the largest you can accommodate and then dig a big hole so that the bed is at ground level.  The excavated earth can be mounded around the edge to form an amphitheatre.  A mini digger can usually do this in a morning at most.  The advantages are two fold: it can be made virtually invisible, even in a small garden, and it's far safer because anyone falling off is less likely to hurt themselves.



Just as you can bring the indoors out, you can also bring the outdoors in, with great style.  Forget expensive cut flowers and plant an indoor garden instead.  Most garden plants will do fine for a few weeks inside and, given the right conditions, many will thrive.  
Lavender would make a stunning scented centrepiece on a dining or coffee table, so long as the light is good.  
You could even bring a potted shrub or tree in from the garden for a short sojourn, covering any unsightly soil with a smart mulch of pebbles, shells, even glass marbles or old corks.  And don't stop there.  Morning glory can be grown in windows to great effect, or screen bathrooms with sweet-smelling jasmine in a pot on the windowsill.  Only remember that most plants will need more watering when inside, so be vigilant about signs of stress.