Lifestyle

November is when winter really arrived. Dark mornings, dark nights, a touch of frost, even a layer of snow. It is also the month many of us will have fired up the central heating for the first time this season.

The Guardian recently ran an article celebrating the ensuite bathroom. It highlighted the changing requirements of home movers who are, as a minimum, increasingly requesting an ensuite to at least one bedroom.

The annual ‘colour of the year’ announcements are always eagerly awaited by those who follow interior trends. The first to stick its head above the parapet and make an announcement this year is paint specialist Dulux. Its Colour of the Year 2025 is True Joy.

One of the most exciting aspects about moving home is starting afresh with your interior design. A new property is a blank canvas, with the chance to express yourself in line with personal tastes or the latest home fashions.

House building trends in the UK haven’t changed for years and it’s common for homes to have different sized rooms. Not all of the dimensions are, let’s say, generous but we have to work with what we’ve got.

How do you create heat in an efficient way, prevent property disasters and keep energy bills in check when mother nature is throwing freezing rain, snow and sub zero temperatures our way? Here are our top 4 property tips for cold winter conditions.

Clutter is one of the biggest contributors to a negative property perception. Whether it’s an agent going out to provide a valuation or a potential mover taking a tour, being met by piles of personal effects and belongings collected over the years can seriously affect what value we place on a property.

‘Doorscaping’ is the latest design trend to catch the eye, with the forthcoming autumn and winter months the prime time to elevate your home’s entrance.

A report from UK Finance found that people stay in their homes for an average of 20 years, and selling and buying does tend to take time, money and effort. So, before you set the wheels of change in motion, try to look ten years ahead and think about how your needs might change over that time.

Using green as a colour in your home has many benefits. Not only is the breadth of shades available dazzling – from mint, apple and lime through to fern, sage and emerald – there are health benefits too. 

Many people buy a smaller property for its potential to extend but the traditional route is to go up – a two-storey extension or a loft conversion, for instance – but how about digging deep? With land at a premium, basements are gaining in popularity as an extension option.

Open plan living has pretty much killed off the dining room, but in the last 17 months, the separate dining area has been brought back from the brink of extinction. Now is a great time to re-evaluate your approach to this most formal of spaces.