Guest Blogger: Chris Balme

It is often the culmination of hard work, perseverance and dreams coming true; the holiday home represents an opportunity to relax and expand the family’s leisure time. The holiday seldom comes cheap, whether you are investing at overseas or closer to home, and can represent a significant chunk of savings. So the necessity to then furnish the home in a cost effective manner is often prevalent. Fortunately, style does not have to be compromised when costs are cut, here are a few steps to decorating the family home.

Understand your Surroundings

In terms of both aesthetics and practicality, it is important to fully understand the area in which your holiday home is situated, especially when positioned in a culture significantly different from your first home. A home that is decorated with Black Forest style adornments in a fishing village in Sicily may be considered something of an eyesore and immediately alienate you from neighbors. Finding a balance between representing your personality and your new surroundings is important. This can be achieved by aiming for a 75/25 split in favor of local style furnishings against your own personal tastes. Intersperse large local fixtures with small personal ornaments.

Furthermore, certain textures and materials are unsuitable for different climates. Certain plastics and polymers are ill-suited to warm weather and may morph when subjected to such climates over an extended period of time.

Consider your Activities

When on holiday, most people are less inclined to sit for hours in front of the television that they are at home due to the extra activities that are available to them. As such, a high quality sofa is of less importance than at home, meaning money can be saved here and spent elsewhere in the home. A the other end of the scale, if the holiday home is based in warmer climes then patio furniture may see a lot more action than at home so it may be prudent to invest more money into such fixtures.

Adapt to the Space

In many cases, the holiday home will be smaller than the original home, so storage may become an issue. Smaller box bedrooms may not be able to house its’ own wardrobes so alternatives need to be sought. An ottoman bed can work as an effective storage advice without using up excessive space. Fittings that double up in purpose at twice as effective and desirable in smaller properties.

Large cumbersome wooden wardrobes may look attractive but are often inefficient in terms of space saving, making a high gloss wardrobe more desirable for many holiday home owners. Furthermore, high gloss exteriors are incredibly easy to maintain and clean, which is ideal for fixtures that may be sat unused for hours on end.

The most important thing to remember is to not create a version of your home away from home, you’re on holiday after all!

Written by: Michael Field, Real Oak Floors

A good solid wooden floor can be the main feature to many people’s homes, whether it is a chic modern look or an old school solid wood feel. The one thing that remains constant is the care and love that is required to ensure that you’re not left ruing an expensive bill because you didn’t take care of them properly.

Wood Floor Maintenance

The overall maintenance to your wood floor would be the daily cleaning routine that you offer. Abrasive particles such as gravel and dirt can gather up quickly and can have a real effect on the appearance of your shiny surface. It is important to regularly brush and hoover up your floor to remove any particles that can cause scratches and scuffs otherwise you may find yourself looking at more expensive repair solutions.

To protect your flooring further you can take a look at using pads and mats under any furniture that sits on top of your floor, even by just including a door mat and using runners on the entrances to door you can eliminate a substantial amount from entering the room. Other ideas that can be used, especially when it comes to moving furniture around is to put socks on the ends of the legs to avoid damaging the floor when mobile.

It is advised that when it comes to giving your floor a polish that only highly recommended products are used. It is a common theory that acid like products such as Vinegar can help protect the floor, however this can only cause more issues and actually make the floor look dull. As a recommendation products such as those offered by Woca Maintenance Oil are a great option as they contain ingredients suitable for a range of different floor types.

Squeaky floorboards are also another common occurrence, or annoyance, to those who have wooden floors. When it comes to identifying and repairing the issue there are a number of solutions that can be taken. The problem may not actually be with your Floorboards at all, and more often or not it could be the sub floor beneath. To combat the issue, you can attach the floorboards to the subfloor using screws that breakaway when reaching a certain depth, these can be attached carefully so that they are not visible to the eye and significantly reduce the squeak.

Real Oak Floors are leading suppliers of Solid Wood Flooring and stock a whole range in different sizes, colours and styles. They offer expert advice when it comes to maintaining your floor with a great selection of products to choose from.