Warm & Cosy Home Sweet Home

To avoid unnecessary this, Aspire recommend having your boiler and heating system serviced by a Gas Safe Registered professional, cleaning out your gutters, inspecting your roof and chimney for missing/cracked tiles and sealing draughts in windows and doors (a much cheaper option if you can’t afford to replace windows and doors). Yours isn’t the only home that’ll feel the effects of winter; many homes across Britain will feel cold, especially the traditional, period and character properties that make our country so unique. As with anything, preparation for cold weather is key; pay attention to weather forecasts and gear up for cold spells now to avoid disaster come winter.

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It’s not just spring that’s a perfect time for cleaning, so give every room a good tidy up (put away summer coats, shoes and toys) and give every room an autumn clean, from ceiling to floor. If winter 2015/16 is a cold one, with the mercury regularly dropping below zero, now’s the time to cosy up your key rooms, such as bedrooms and living rooms. You can do this by adding sumptuous throws, cosy hot-water bottles and indoor games/activities to keep the whole family warm, cosy and entertained throughout the winter. Don’t forget to invest in new draught excluders, soft rugs (especially if you have hard wood floors) and even thicker curtains and blinds to keep the cold out and the warmth in.

Another essential pre-winter task is to get your fireplace ready. Again, it’s best to call in the professionals to cap the top of your chimney to keep out rodents and birds, sweep the chimney to rid it of soot and creosote and inspect the fireplace damper for proper opening and closing. The only thing you really need to do once you’ve called in the professionals is to buy or chop firewood, keeping it dry and away from the exterior of your home.

If you’re looking to update your home this winter or even next spring, it’s worth working out what you can afford to spend and stick to it. It’s amazing what a fresh lick of paint can do – if you want to make the accessories stand out, or make the scheme easy to change, opt for a neutral colour, but if you want to make a statement, choose a colour you love and complement it with natural/neutral furniture that can be used time and time again. Filling your home with personal mementoes ensures your house always feels like home.

In the last decade, buying vintage and pre-loved items, both to wear and to use within our home, has become fashionable and ‘cool’. We used to have spare cash to splash out on new furniture and accessories, but the recession and following economic instability has made us re-assess our spending habits. Many of us are now making do with what we have, or hunting out pre-loved quality items on eBay, at car boot sales, house clearances and at reclamation yards. Home to a wealth of unwanted yet pre-loved, quality items, reclamation yards are the perfect place to go if you want to update your whole house, or just one room, on a tight budget.

Every home takes years to grow, to become a personal space filled with memories, mementos and souvenirs of the people that live there, so don’t force the look of any room; let it develop and grow naturally.

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