How to make a curtain for your kitchen cabinet

Kitchens are an expensive room to renovate and more often than not, we need to find solutions that make what we already have work for us. One inexpensive way to do this is to install a curtain to hide any ugly appliances or clutter you may have on show. Our utility room sits right next to our kitchen and is used as a part utility/part kitchen with our fridge/freezer, microwave, dishwasher and washing machine in there alongside a utility cupboard, coat storage and boiler. The previous owners didn’t have a dishwasher, so we had to make space for both our appliances by cutting out the cupboard that previously sat where the curtain now is. Thankfully the worktop was supported by brackets above, so it was a simple job completed with a circular saw and a lot of noise (it also made the fire alarm go off!) whilst the kids miraculously stayed asleep one evening.

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How to install your own shutters

This is an honest review, written and shared in return for some gifted shutters from California Shutters. Use the discount code OTTO25 for 25% off – code valid until 25/08/2020.

We have been living with no window treatments downstairs for over 18 months. So long, I’d almost forgotten that everyone could see right into our front room from the relatively busy path outside. I’ve never been someone who is overly private, and would always prefer good light during the day over a window covering, but even I began to feel like having people casually snooping on us from outside on the regular was a step too far!

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My top picks from Cotswold Company

Want to win a £400 voucher for the Cotswold Company? Read on to find out how...Whilst we are all spending a lot of time in our homes lately, I am sure many of you are noticing new areas that aren't working so well, or wanting to finish corners that have been ignored for too long. As we all live, work and play in one space, the walls can feel like they are creeping in on us and extra work items or home schooling resources are highlighting a need for more storage and better organisation.

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DIY Tutorial: Ikea Toy Kitchen Makeover with Fluted Wood

Our Ikea Duktig kitchen is definitely our most played with toy. With two girls under five, it has been well loved for over four years and was beginning to show a few signs of looking tired. I've always wanted to upcycle it, and over the years have had various designs in mind, but renovating two houses and a house move took priority over less essential (but way more fun) projects like this one.If you've been following me for a while, you'll know we have given our real kitchen a temporary update, whilst we save for an extension. This project, therefore, gave me a chance to put my plywood and ribbed wood dreams into real life, albeit on a smaller scale!! It has also meant I had a chance to change two of the only things I found impractical about the play kitchen - the fact that all the toys fell down the back, and the plastic hooks which the kids constantly pulled off and scattered around the house.

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Why you need art in your home (and shouldn't be scared of choosing it)

AD - This blog post has been kindly paid for by King and McGaw but all opinions and words are, as always, my own.Art on the walls really does make a house a home. It's the finishing touch so to speak, and leaving all your walls empty can make your home feel stark and unfriendly.You don't need to install gallery walls on every inch of your home, but a few collections of art here and there will really bring your rooms to life and give them a beautiful and unique personality (which you can change up relatively easily as and when the mood takes you).Displaying art on the walls is also a fabulous way of bringing rented accommodation to life or for injecting colour into a neutral scheme. It can be a great conversation starter when you have friends round, it can make you chuckle, marvel, daydream, think, become pensive, nostalgic or even inspired. Art is a multi-faceted accessory in your home and shouldn't just be an after-thought.

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How to use tile stickers

Naff. That was the first thought in my mind when I came across tile stickers.But then we moved to this house with a lime green kitchen and my opinion began to change. I knew we needed to come up with a quick and cheap solution so we could transform it (or at the very least, make it 'liveable') before all the major building works began.You can find tile stickers on eBay and Amazon, but after heaps of searching, we personally struck gold with moonwallstickers.com. It's an unassuming website, with limited and rather uninspiring social media activity but, my oh my, some of the tile stickers on there are gorgeous! (This is NOT an ad by the way!) There are also multiple size options available for every design making it compatible with the tiles you already have.

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A quick budget kitchen makeover

After a long drawn out moving process, which had many setbacks along the way, we were absolutely itching to crack on with the renovation as soon as the keys were in our hands. We plan to extend the kitchen and utility room one day, so whilst we've invested in replastering and new electrics in the rest of the house, this temporary makeover was always going to be about being simple, quick and super cheap. We just needed to make it liveable for 3 years or so.The only proplem there is...There was lime green EVERYWHERE.

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