House Critic

Did you know you can buy Crown paint at amazon? I didn’t until just now! And there’s 20% off their range of matt and silk emulsions from Crown as an introductory offer!
You can browse the paint range here Crown Paint online at Amazon.

Cost? 2.5L of Emulsion is £13.59

Crown has been making paint for many years. All their Crown Matt and Silk Emulsions are Breatheasy 99% solvent free–virutally odour free, allowing you to paint your rooms and start using them sooner!

To help you get the most from decorating with Crown paint they’ve made some videos too. These are useful if you haven’t painted before or just want to improve your skills to get a really fantastic finish.

Crown Paints: Top Tips
Choosing the Right Paint for the Job
Introduction to Preparation
Painting a Radiator
Using Stainblock Primer to Cover Tough Marks
Using MDF Primer on a Radiator Cover
Using Metal Primer Undercoat
Refreshing a Sideboard
Painting a Door
Painting Kitchen Cupboards

Why use paint?
Paint is cheap and effective at changing how your room looks.
It’s easy to paint! You just need brushes, a roller makes it quicker, and a ladder so you can reach the top of the walls.

It’s sensible to start doing round the edges with a brush and then fill in the colour. Read the instructions on the paint tin before opening it. Some paints need stiring and some don’t!
Amazon also sell Disposable Shoe Covers which can help you from walking paint on carpet in other rooms! They also have a massive range of brushes and rollers to make the job of painting easier.

Don’t forget if you’re in rented accomodation to get permission in writing from your landlord before repainting!

The latest announcements from the Housing Minister Mr Shapps is to help house builders.

FTB will be able to buy new builds with a 5% deposit, meaning they can buy a house with just £10,000.

As with every scheme that deals with only new builds then this only helps builders. It won’t help anyone in a chain that needs a FTB coming in at the bottom.

There have been mutterings about building affordable homes but until they are actually built and I see the costs then I will assume they will actually be unaffordable!

So don’t believe the rhetoric – it’s helping builders not buyers

About 25 minutes in on Newsnight – housing minister

Affordable homes shortage: Government to reveal plans
The initiative, for England only, will begin in July and aims to build 16,000 new homes and create up to 32,000 jobs.

It is hoped that about 450,000 mainly affordable homes will be built by 2015, many of them on publicly-owned brownfield sites.

If this ends up building genuinely affordable housing (ie: people can afford to buy 100% of it with no borrowing deposits off family members etc) then it’ll be a good thing.
If it ends up building more unaffordable housing then it will almost be a waste.

There’s a great article in the Telegraph: Falling house prices, not rising Government intervention, are first time buyers’ best hope

This Gas Detector is an amazing gadget. It detects gas! Sounds simple – and it is! It’ll alert you to any escaping gas from unlit rings on your gas cooker! The detector is easy to install and has the advantage of being powered by 230V mains electric rather than bring battery operated.

Who is it suitable for? Anyone who worries they’ve left a gas ring on! If you’ve got a gas cooker then one of these seems an obvious gadget to get too! It’s only cheap under a tenner so not expensive. It could help with anyone who worries about leaving the gas on!

The Gas Detector
is available at Amazon for fast delivery. Could make a great gadget gift to anyone who is moving into their own home. Not to be confused with a carbon monoxide detector