4 Best Ways to Modernize Your Old House

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home, houseWhen purchasing an older home, there are various ways by which you can work to renovate it to your liking. Whether you plan on living there, or perhaps are trying to flip the house for more money, making a house look more modern and accessible doesn’t have to be that hard. In this article, we’ll cover some of the ways you can go about making your house modern for a great and comfortable living experience. 

Furniture

When purchasing new furniture, the new style is all about open space. Whenever you visit an old house, you may see a lot of clutter as well as big and bulky furniture. When designing your new interior for your house, you’ll want to find furniture that keeps your house spacious. Oftentimes, clutter can make a nice house otherwise look unattractive to others.

Painting

Having a nice color coat on your wall and ceiling can make a big difference. When purchasing a new paint color, try to take into consideration what you want to include in your room. Many times drape colors can clash with the color of the walls. Other times, dark colors can make a room feel like a basement. 

You’ll want to find light colors that can light up the room while sunny outside. Another idea would be to find a room theme of your liking and match it with an appropriate color. For example, a light green or blue may go well with a room filled with plants as well as certain types of furniture.

Interior Decor

Decorating your new home doesn’t have to be a hassle. Have fun with it. When adding decorations like pictures to the wall, plants, paintings, or even vases and other antiques, keep in mind your ideal room design. 

Sometimes over cluttering a room with too many decorations or trinkets can prove to be bad in the end. If you’re in the process of decorating your house, keep things spaced out and in safe locations where things are not easily broken. For example, rather than putting an antique in the middle of the coffee table, putting it on the side near a lampstand away from possible danger may be the best idea.

Remodeling

Sometimes old houses can be stuffy and cluttered as is. You may want to combine two rooms for more space. Another aspect most modern houses offer is large windows. Allowing natural light into your house is usually favored by most people. 

Summing it Up

If you’re like most people, you’ll want to learn more about the best way to remodel your house. You can learn more online at various websites. For those looking for some info on finding great houses for sale and rent and home insurance, click here now.

Sponsored Post.

Escape to a Chateau or Primrose Square

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spring reads for Frost magazine

As we all remove ourselves from our ‘normal’ and create a new way of living, for a while at least, it’s the perfect opportunity to order some new books and escape among the pages. I’ve always found reading the perfect distraction when times are tough and why not pry into other people’s problems for a while – even if they are fictitious. 

I’d normally add links to Amazon or Waterstones at the end of my posts but for a change – and to support our local independent bookshops I’ll be adding a link to the Booksellers Association where you can find your nearest indie bookshop. (Just tap in your postcode and the search engine will do the rest.) Many small bookshops – along with other businesses – will be struggling in the present circumstances and are offering to deliver if you are self isolating. Failing that why not try HIve.co.uk. There are many ways to support our local bookshops – when all this is over we want a high street to go back to.

 

So, to the books!

 a-year-in-the-chateau

A Year in the Chateau by Sarah Long

We might not all be able to escape to the chateau but would it be roses all the way?

When Nicola’s husband, Dominic, retires they decide not to spend their days finding hobbies to fill the time until Countdown is on. Instead, they fulfil their life-long fantasy of buying a country house and filling it with their dearest friends. Their children are grown and should be more than capable of looking after themselves and freedom beckons. But where to spend it? And who with?

A plan emerges, albeit coloured by rose-tinted glasses, and  with seven of their friends they pool resources and  invest in a château in Normandy. The dark days of winter and broken Britain are cast aside for new adventures in Northern France. But as the year progresses sunlight only makes the cracks in the dream visible. There are quarrels and secrets – can friendship survive as dreams give way to reality.?

A warm and witty read.

A Year in the Chateau is published by Zaffre RRP: £8.99
the-women-of-primrose-square

The Women of Primrose Square by Claudia Carroll

Claudia Carroll takes us back to Primrose Square with a new set of characters.

When Frank Woods at number seventy-nine Primrose Square comes home to a surprise birthday party thrown by his wife and adoring children, it is his guests who get the real surprise.

Finding himself alone, he befriends the cantankerous Miss Hardcastle, who hasn’t left her home for decades, and Emily Dunne – fresh out of rehab and desperate to make amends.

As gossip spreads through Primrose Square, every relationship is tested, and nothing in this close-knit community will ever be the same again.

Full of warmth, humour and compassion.

Published by Zaffre RRP £7.99

 

 

Covid-19 The strangest of times …

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A knock at the door but no-one there, instead a bottle of wine, and note from a neighbour. ‘Look after yourselves.’

The day before, a knock at the door. No-one there, instead homemade pate, and a note: ‘Thought you’d enjoy this.’

Texts offering shopping as we old ducks are self-isolating as instructed for those of our age. So, thank you, our wonderful neighbours. We have become an end Crescent full of phantoms who knock knock, leave something, and disappear.

Our local cafe now shut, has creatively diversified, and is delivering homemade ready meals. We had one today. Cottage pie, for two. Actually, it will do for four. Just ten pounds, arriving at the door. Knock knock, no-one there, but a lunch, and in a separate paper bag, chopped sausage for the dogs.

As well as foolish people out there, there are many more who are not. Let’s be thankful for them all.

Thank you, Jacqui and Izzie at Bliss Cafe 

Need Some Uplit? Books To Bring Joy

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I think it is fair to say we could all do with some cheering up at the moment. So here are some books to bring some joy. THE PATH TO THE SEA by Liz Fenwick (5th March) – A beautifully evocative tale of the secrets held by the Cornish coast for three sisters, full of mystery and feel-good romance, by ‘Queen of the contemporary Cornish novel’ Liz Fenwick.

FAMILY FOR BEGINNERS by Sarah Morgan (2nd April)- A compelling, escapist family drama about Flora and her attempt at fitting in with Jack’s family whilst living in the shadow of his perfect immortalised wife, from international bestseller and Sunday Times bestselling author, Sarah Morgan.

WHAT HAPPENS NOW by Sophia Money-Coutts (16th April) – the saucy laugh-out-loud poolside read by mistress of the romp-com Sophia Money-Coutts, about swiping right, weeing on a stick, and dating the aristocracy, not necessarily in that order.

WE JUST CLICKED by Anna Bell (16th April in eBook and Audio) – A fabulously funny, feel-good novel that will make you laugh until you cry, for anyone who’s ever presented a perfectly-filtered life online to hide the unglamorous reality, perfect for fans of Sophia Kinsella and Laura Jane Williams.

THE SUMMER VILLA by Melissa Hill (14th May) – An enthralling feel-good romance set in a rambling stone villa on the Amalfi Coast – a story of friendships rekindled and of secrets buried in the past re-surfacing under the Italian sun, by international best-selling author Melissa Hill.

THE EXTRAORDINARY HOPE OF DAWN BRIGHTSIDE by Jessica Ryn (28th May) – Based on debut novelist Jessica Ryn’s experience as a homelessness resettlement worker, The Extraordinary Hope of Dawn Brightside is a quirky, hopeful commercial piece of fiction with book club appeal, focusing on Dawn Elisabeth Brightside and her fight for saving St Jude’s Hostel for the Homeless, her own personal light in the darkness.

SISTER SCRIBES: KITTY WILSON ON HOW ROMANCE IS HOPE

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Back in November I wrote a post here about Why I Love Romance as a genre. I explained that I had inadvertently written an essay on this subject and that first post covered how I believe romance is universal and utterly relatable, especially romantic comedy, my own specific sub-genre.

Today I wanted to return to that theme and talk about romance novels giving us hope in an often bleak and daunting world. I truly believe this – that romance novels help us have hope in life, the absolute certainty of a happy ending is sometimes exactly what you need to escape real life, whether it be dreadful news or just the day to day monotony.

Whilst trawling the internet a while ago I came across a tweet from a writer, Angela James, asking people to share their romance positive moments. The response was overwhelming, hope was right up at the top of that list and I have picked a couple as illustrations as they say it so much better than I could.

‘I found Romance after my brother commited suicide. It was a very dark and hopeless time, but Romance taught me that hope can rise again even after the darkest of moments and love, in all its forms, can be found if you just open yourself up to it.’

‘I began reading romance novels after my first miscarriage. I believe they re-wired my brain and helped me remember what optimism felt like.’

‘I started reading romance novels while was undergoing cancer treatment. I needed positive, escapist stories that promised a HEA.’

Now I’m not saying that romance is a cure-all, of course it isn’t. But romance novels are often easy and quick to read thus providing escape for an hour or two. They can’t rid you of the burdens that life brings, but being lost in the pages of a novel can give you a brief pause from them. I fell in love with romance when I became poorly at the age of thirteen. My friends were ringing me and asking if I was dying (I wasn’t but they were a dramatic bunch) and all I knew was that my body wasn’t behaving as it should. If I hadn’t had romance novels to read, to lose myself in, I think I would have struggled to cope.

We all know that life is not a romance but these books do give us the thrill of living vicariously, of confronting challenges and winning, of reading about someone’s longing turning into reality. To be fair, that’s true of reading in general but with romance you get the added ahhh factor, the satisfaction of a romance played out, of willing the hero and heroine on without any of the risk or leaving the comfort of your own home. I can be sunbathing on a tropical island or dancing the cha-cha whilst in reality I’m wrapped in a blanket and drinking a cup of tea, ignoring the stuff that I don’t want to have to deal with at that minute.

Happy-Ever-Afters are a reminder that not everything in life is bleak, that there’s the possibility of dreams coming true, that life contains so much positivity. Building a future with someone you love – the pinnacle of Romance – is forward-facing, optimistic, both the essence of hope and an act of hope. Romance Novels are the reassuring and toasty comfort blanket of the fiction world and I love them.

Edit – I wrote this well before Covid-19 was dominating the globe and considered pulling it, but I stand by the fact that in an ever-turbulent world the predictability of a happy-ever-after is reassuring so I’m off to hibernate with my kindle. Keep safe everyone,

Much love, Kitty x

 

 

 

The prized girl By Amy K Green – Reviewed by Natalie Jayne Peeke

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Before

Jenny Kennedy- beautiful, brilliant but troubled- is the pageant queen of New England. From ages Five -Thirteen, she won more prizes than any of her competitors, inspiring admiration and envy in equal measure. Jenny has more than a few secrets of her own, but what thirteen-year-old girl doesn’t?

 

After

But now Jenny is dead, in a murder that has rocked a perfect town and a perfect family. Virginia Kennedy, whose relationship with her half-sister was far from close, finds herself thrust into Jenny’s spotlight as she becomes a suspect in the brutal killing.

 

In a small town where death is public property, it’s up to Virginia to uncover the truth behind her sister’s murder, and she soon realises that maybe Jenny’s life wasn’t so perfect after all…….

 

Within the first few chapters I was hooked, Green’s writing style is brilliant, it’s very easy to read as each chapter varies from Jenny to Virginia changing from Virginia’s life after her sisters brutal murder to Jenny’s life and what resulted in her untimely death.

The more I read the more secrets of the “picture perfect family” were unearthed. Green does a fine job in portraying realistic characters, in real life everyone has their own flaws or internal battles and this is also true for the characters from Linda’s(Jenny’s mother) mental state to Calvin’s(the father) deep dark secret that he has kept for 30 years .

I would recommend for fans of ‘Have you seen her’ by Lisa Hall and those who enjoy a good old Who done it.

Paperback £7.99

eBook & Audio available

 

Things I am Doing During The Coronavirus COVID-19 Pandemic

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coronavirus, COVID-19, staying sane, healthy, self isolation, social distancing, 2020 has brought the super scary coronavirus, official name COVID-19, to our lives. We live in uncertain times and I think we are all feeling anxious. Social distancing is essential at the moment but has an impact on our mental health. Ditto for self isolation. Well, as I saw on Facebook, our grandparents were asked to go to war. All we have to do it read and watch Netflix.

I have young children so hunkering down and binging on Netflix is sadly not an option for me. But I am doing the following things for myself.

Learning a language everyday. I do Duolingo which is amazing and free as well as Babble.

Reading. I am lucky to get sent a lot of books. I even got sent one from one of my favourite authors, Adele Parks, today. I read when my children let me or when they have gone to bed.

Staying active. We are lucky to have a garden but there is also a lot of stairs in our house. Cleaning and tidying are good but it is important to do actual exercise. The NHS recommends 150 minutes a week.

Keeping in touch with my friends and family via WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and FaceTime. I am lucky as a self-employed freelancer that I am used to not having a lot of people around me. I do miss it though!

Switching off. Sometimes I just put my phone away and turn the TV off. The constantly rising numbers and scare stories can be too much.

Eating as healthily as possible. Food is medicine. There are few greater truths in life.

I also watch TV or try to watch a film. It is good to keep my mind of things.

After my surgery last year and then getting a life-threatening illness (pneumonia and pleurisy. In both lungs because I like to go all out, clearly) I appreciate the small things in life. Sometimes I am in the garden or even just having a shower and I realise how much of a miracle life is. There is beauty everywhere.

For my children.

I am making sure I take them out into the garden. We play football usually but my daughter also loves bubbles. I read them a lot of books and they do a lot of writing too. I am trying to work on their development as much as possible with various toys and games. I have two under four so they are still at a crucial stage in their development.

My daughter is too young to know what is happening and my son is not worried. I am thankful for this. I shower them with kisses and cuddles every day.

Has your holiday been cancelled?

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If your plans for a holiday have fallen foul of the recent travel warnings or flight disruptions, it is a perfect opportunity to put into action all those projects you have been putting off.

You could write a book, compose a song or learn something new. So don’t despair there are plenty of enjoyable ways to occupy yourself without interacting with strangers or flying off to a different country.

Stay at home and learn

If you have always had a burning ambition to learn a different language, play the guitar, or write a book, now is your chance. With a broadband connection or a CD player, you can do all of these and more.

There is a multitude of online resources to help you fill your time in isolation, and some of them are free. With music available for lead, bass or even Ukulele, you can emulate Peggy Lee Radiohead or Oasis. All you need is patience and some equipment.

If you want to learn a language in preparation for when life returns to normal, then the world is your oyster, and it won’t cost a penny. From beginner, intermediate or conversational level, you can learn a little or a lot depending on your mood. It might not make you proficient, but it will give you an excellent start.

Duolingo is a free resource which is easy to use and good fun. OpenCulture can help you learn the most popular languages French, Spanish, Italian, and the harder ones like Mandarin and Russian. Even obscure ones like Icelandic and Gaelic.