Ideal Home

With bank holidays on the horizon, how are you planning to spend yours? Will you be going hard at the DIY, using those bonus hours to get a much-anticipated project completed? Or will you grab the chance to enjoy some down-time, relaxing in your favo

WATCH Didn’t manage to get your hands on tickets to visit the RHS Chelsea Flower Show this year? Enjoy the inspirational coverage at home instead. Tune in to the BBC as gardening gurus guide us through showstopping displays, from 24 to 28 May. LISTE

For a long time I have been obsessed with articles about celebrity homes, partly because I am a thoughtful person who loves to learn about how other people live, and mainly because I am extremely shallow and love celebrities and fancy houses. So joy

The intention is to elevate the everyday and bring joy-inducing products into the home. My work is very decorative, patterned and colourful, so the collaboration was all about enabling John Lewis to use that in products in a way they wouldn’t necessa

Hanna Puharinen and her husband Tuomo live here with their children, Noel, Alvar and Eliel. Hanna is co-founder of the carpet brand Sera Helsinki. A three-bedroom, newly built detached house by the forest in Tillinmäki, Espoo, in Finland. ■

Many big brands offer wipeable and scuff-resistant paints that will help keep your walls looking fresh for longer. Try Dulux Easycare Washable & Tough paint. Place a basket or two by the front door for the children to chuck their footwear into as soo

Reduce your bills with these simple changes Small room? No problem! With a little planning and some neat practical storage solutions, you can maximise your little space’s potential to create a super-stylish scheme Take a look at our favourite budg

String pocket shelving unit in White, £132, Skandium Caram Berber-style rug, £295 for 200x300cm, Made Wireworks Glance round wall mirror in Natural, £108, Nest.co.uk Kenley dining chair in walnut, £79, Cult Furniture

Angela Smith lives here with her husband Neil, owner of a retail business, their children Ellie, 22, and Luke, 19, plus three dogs and a cat. A detached Nineties double-fronted house in Essex. It has an open-plan kitchen-diner/ family room, plus a se

Despite two sets of French doors, the former living room at the back was dark due to the conservatory. The existing ornate fireplace and cornicing didn’t fit with the modern aesthetic Angela envisaged. The builders took two days to knock down the

The couple kept the existing chandelier. It was cleaned and put back up after the walls were re-plastered. In February 2020, underfloor heating was installed in the open-plan living space, and the floor was tiled. The conservatory was demolishe

‘Living here with the dirt and disruption was really hard and Neil’s 50th was right in the middle of it! If we had our time again, we’d definitely move out.’ ‘It sounds really silly but I love the downstairs cloakroom. Everyone who visits says it f

A Guardian columnist and features writer, Hadley has also penned four books. She’s just moved house – a new project! Nicky brings over 25 years’ experience to the table, and has been part of the Ideal Home family for 21 years. Charlie juggles his r

Leah Henricks, her husband Blake, children Grace, 10, and Harvey, eight, and dog Maggie. Leah is an interior designer (leahhenricksinteriors.com @leahhenricksinteriors) A Fifties bungalow reconfigured into a four-bed modern home in Sydney. ■

LEAH ASPINALL, HEAD OF CREATIVE AT BLINDS 2GO ‘Blinds and curtains are such a great way to express your personality in your home’ MARIE NICHOLS, INTERIOR STYLIST ‘Think beyond the classic pencil pleat heading – there are many options that give ve

• Roman blinds hung at each window provide great cover. Choose a bold pattern for impact (and you’ll need less fabric than curtains). • Layer café-style shutters or roller blinds with dress curtains – you won’t need to draw the curtains fully, overco

An outdated kitchen with an awkward, unworkable layout and with no access out to the garden ‘We built the house ourselves after buying a plot of land back in the Nineties. While the old kitchen had served us well, it was a little dated and, although

• Using mirrored surfaces as a splashback is a great way of making a small kitchen feel larger and brighter. They bounce light around and reflect the room back on itself to give the illusion of extra space. • A mirror’s neutral appearance will comple

The room was cramped, with poor-quality fittings and a dripping showerhead ‘The extended dormer window gave us the space to have a separate walk-in shower and freestanding bath, with room to comfortably fit us all in at the children’s bath time. We

• A rooflight can make an amazing difference in terms of lighting, ventilation and overall style of a room. • When it comes to its benefits, the physiological impact of increased levels of natural daylight can have immediate results. Sunlight helps o

Extensions have been made easier to plan because of permitted development rights – in many cases, you won’t need formal planning consent. But the rules are complex. In every instance, we’d advise that you contact the local council, a planning consult

Nathan and Sally Thompson live here with their children, Xavier, five, and John, two Four-bedroom terraced Edwardian home in north-west London Mitchell + Corti Architects (mitchellandcorti.com) ABR Contractors (abrcontractors.co.uk) £150,000 ■

‘The family had outgrown the existing layout and longed for an open-plan space suitable for modern day living’ ‘We needed to maximise the property’s internal headroom while incorporating the difference in level between gardens as the road is on an

The planning system is a complex beast with subtitles and vagaries that have taken me years to grasp. The decisions it spits out can appear strange, even nonsensical, but there is usually a clear logic and process hidden within it, that can be manage

You should always check beforehand but in many cases you don’t need planning permission to install a skylight provided: • Any windows installed must protrude no more than 150mm above the existing roof plane. • No alteration can be higher than the hig

1 IT’S AN ANCIENT JAPANESE TECHNIQUE Shou-sugi-ban is a traditional wood preserving art/ technique of charring timber that hails from Japan. 2 IT’S NATURALLY RESISTANT The charring process prevents rot, decay, infestations, and also improves levels

HEATHER YOUNG EDITOR THEA BABINGTON-STITT CONTENT EDITOR CHARLIE LUXTON ARCHITECTUAL DESIGNER MILLIE FENDER ECOMMERCE EDITOR Nordic Nature kitchen range, Magnet “W e loved the rich wooden texture, and Nordic Nature’s fluted finish feels so modern.

1 THEY OPEN AN AREA UP, providing you with additional head room and a greater sense of space. 2 LEAVING THE RAFTERS OPEN will turn your ceiling into an interesting design feature. 3 YOU CAN USE THE ANGLES TO YOUR BENEFIT, especially if glazed, as the

We believe that any product should be simple to use, stand the test of time, look good and work brilliantly to make your life easier. Our testing team put each product through its paces at home, over several weeks, pitting them against everyday situa

The rising cost of living has taken a grip recently, and many households are now feeling the pinch as energy prices, National Insurance, council tax and other everyday essential costs go up. One in three people* admit that they are struggling with e

• Use the Turn2Us benefits calculator (benefits-calculator.turn2us.org.uk) to make sure you’re not missing out on any. • If your circumstances have changed, find out if you can get a council tax reduction at gov.uk/apply-council-tax-reduction. • Get

The word ‘chore’ even sounds laborious: when you say it out loud it makes your shoulders slump. Most of us would agree that doing household jobs is less desirable than watching a movie and much less glamorous than going to a restaurant. But what’s th

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR RHODA PARRY EDITOR HEATHER YOUNG GROUP CREATIVE DIRECTOR GEORGIA HIBBERDINE DEPUTY EDITOR GINEVRA BENEDETTI STYLE EDITOR NICKY PHILLIPS HOUSES EDITOR ALI LOVETT CONTENT EDITOR HOLLY WALSH CONTENT EDITOR THEA BABINGTON-STITT GROUP C

Shoes – on or off? Off because I basically live in wellies or slippers! Eat at the table or on laps? Both. Lighting – bright or moody? Lamps rather than lots of overhead. Shower or long bath? Depends on the day. Room décor – colourful or neutral?