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Garden rooms: more living space for your home

Moving house is formidably expensive and building an extension is time-consuming and disruptive. Hence the march of the ready-made garden building to fill the gap, which is a far cry from the humble shed of yesteryear.

Royal Society of British Artists' exhibition

The exhibition is an artistic showcase and an inspiring resource, so if you're in central London at the end of this month it's well worth making time to pop in. Works in oil, pastel and watercolour are used by remarkably talented artists to render warmth, texture and light. Otherwise you can see and buy the works online.

 

Be bold, choose red!

Red probably isn't the best colour for bedrooms, but if you want some bright hues for your sitting room or kitchen, well, why not be bold and go for a spot of chilli red? Plenty of brands are going big on red for 2026, including Oliver Bonas, Procook and Peugeot. If you've got essentially white walls, a red cushion cover or two can make all the difference in a sitting room, as can a red throw and a red planter. And in the kitchen keep the theme going with red mugs, napkins and a table runner.

Eco friendly wall coverings

According to the British Coatings Federation wallpaper sales are continuing to grow, as they have been for the past few years. Well, lockdown did present many of us with time to get to grips with some of the more difficult DIY tasks ..such as learning to hang wallpaper. 

Heat pumps do bring down energy costs

Researchers at the Energy House 2.0 research facility at the University of Salford, working with housebuilders Bellway and Barratt Redrow and construction solutions manufacturer Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland, have spent the past year testing 14 different heating systems to see which ones will heat homes the best at the lowest cost.
 

Kitchen compost bins: get composting and grow your own

Save your peelings and food waste in a counter top bin for home composting or for local council composting. Even Greener

Cruelty free Eris silk

Affordable luxuries: eco-friendly candles and diffusers

scented candles are big business. Choose candles that contain no paraffin wax and if they have palm wax choose brands that guarantee sustainable palm

Keep warm and save energy this winter

Turning up the central heating is a very expensive and un-eco-friendly way to keep your house warm. With the focus on energy saving measures to cut bills and the nation's CO2 emissions, there are plenty of things we can do to allow us to turn down the thermostat a good degree or so, even in the depths of winter.
 
Wrap up and keep out the draughts
 

Heat pump maker Aira launches new Power range for homes

The company says it's completed the fully integrated Aira Home Energy System, designed to massively cut energy bills, decarbonise homes and accelerate Europe’s transition to affordable, secure and clean energy.

Building on the success of its heat pump, Swedish clean energy tech company Aira is launching two new products – the Aira Power Hub (inverter) and Aira Power Store (battery). Connected in one system, the products work seamlessly together with solar panels and the Aira Heat Pump to give monthly energy bill savings of around 90 per cent.

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