Transforming a bland lamp to a high-street replica

14/06/2010

Throughout the summer, some of S4C’s famous faces will offer advice and tips on cooking, interior design and money saving issues in Big Issue Cymru magazine.

Throughout the summer, some of S4C’s famous faces will offer advice and tips on cooking, interior design and money saving issues in Big Issue Cymru magazine.

Sarra Elgan and her team of experts have the latest tips on interior design, home improvements, money saving and financially planning for the future this week on Sioe’r Tŷ. But how do you make rooms in your home look bigger without having to loosen the purse strings? Don’t go anywhere as the answers are all here and by watching on Friday 9 July at 20:25.

“With small rooms in homes, people tend to look for ways of making a room look bigger. Can big objects or larger pieces of furniture make your room appear to be bigger than what it really is? Will painting the walls a lighter or darker shade deceive the eyes? And how does placing a curtain rail above the window add to the room’s height?

Darran Phillips is also back to discuss the best ways of saving money for less. This week’s hot topic is mortgages for first time buyers.

How good are you with DIY? Or do you have a partner who is unbelievably lazy at helping you out around the house? Don’t worry because our DIY expert, Iwan Llechid, is on hand to give the best advice around.”
                                       
Lamps are a useful way of creating atmosphere in any room so I’ve decided to transform a bland lamp into an attractive object that looks good in your home. With some patience, it’s easy to have a high street replica for a fraction of the cost!

Step 1 – I’m going to use felt for this lamp because it comes in a variety of colours, it’s strong and it’s bright, but it’s also two sided. The first step is to mark little circles out of felt.

Step 2 – Cut out the circles and glue them onto the lamp. It’s essential that you use a hot glue gun for this – these are not suitable for children at all so be careful! You cannot use anything other than the glue gun because when the lamp is turned on, the heat tends to melt normal glue.

Step 3 – This bit is easy. Fold the circles in half and put some glue along the back. I’m not following a pattern here, just gluing them on and see what comes of it.

Step 4 – I’ve also prepared slightly bigger circles in different colour felt. The idea behind this is for the colours to contrast, which should give it a strong effect.

Step 5 – With the scraps of material I have left, I’ve cut out little squares to put in the middle of the flowers to finish off my new lamp.

Sioe’r Tŷ
Friday, 9 July, 20:25
s4c.co.uk/entertainment

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Throughout the summer, some of S4C’s famous faces will offer advice and tips on cooking, interior design and money saving issues in Big Issue Cymru magazine.

After a feast from Dudley for the last few weeks, Sarra Elgan and her team of experts return with Sioe’r Tŷ this week, Friday 9 July 20:25, with the latest tips on interior design, home improvements, money saving and financially planning for the future. Here’s what we’ve got lined up for you this week…

“Have you ever considered swapping your life in Wales for a life abroad – or even buying property in a foreign country? How would you go about it? What are the dos and don’ts when you consider this? We’ll have specialist advice available to you by estate agent Susan Jones and Darran Phillips will be sharing tips on how to buy property sensibly overseas.

For weeks now, our our cleaning expert, Ann Jones, has shared her handy tips with us. This week, she has some more for you involving your fridge, bicarbonated soda and a lemon.

Another good way of saving some cash is to recycle and transform your old goods into something new and modern. You don’t have to go shopping and splashing your cash - we have things in the home gathering dust that we could put new life into. ”      


Want to make home improvements that won’t bust your budget? Instead of throwing out old items, why not turn them into something more useful and save money along the way…   

Transforming an old Antique Mirror To a notice board

Step 1  - Paint the frame and the mirror by using Universal Primer. The frame will need two coats of paint, whilst the mirror will need three.

Step 2 – Paint the frame with its first coat with the colour of your choice (I’ve gone for cream as it looks really nice against the dark colour of the black board).

Step 3 – The best thing about the black paint I’ve chosen is that it’s magnetic and ideal for a notice board. It will take about three hours for the first coat to dry. More likely than not, we’ll need up to three coats to make sure the magnet works.

Step 4 – After painting the notice board, you can have a lot of fun choosing magnets – follow a theme if you like. In my example, I’ve gone for a beach theme by using starfish, pebbles and other things found on the beach. Alternatively, you can use old broaches, pieces of pottery or other things lying around your house. You can buy these magnets on the high street or craft shops at a low price.

Step 5 – Then you can go on to decorate your notice board just the way you like it.

Sioe’r Tŷ
Friday, 9 July, 20:25
s4c.co.uk/entertainment

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We hope you enjoyed cooking Dudley’s crab cakes from last week’s issue. This week, as a new S4C series called Sioe’r Tŷ (The Home Show) starts on the Channel, its presenters Sarra Elgan and Darran Phillips offer advice on interior design, cleaning and lots of money saving tips.

“Can you use rhubarb to clean the brass items in your home? Is it possible to transform a boring wooden table into something retro and visually striking with a limited budget? What are the designs in fashion for the homes at the moment?

Sioe’r Tŷ has all these answers for you and more as we set about to help you improve your living spaces. Experts from the field will pop by to the studio with their handy tips on how to make homes more comfortable and practical, along with advice for those who wish to make a return from their property investment.

One of the items each week will look at the money issues causing concern to the general public. In particular, how do we get the best from the building companies that we employ to do work on our properties?

And how do we find out which builders are trustworthy and which ones are cowboys? Here are some of Darran’s tips…”

Sarra Elgan

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Did you know?
40% of people in Britain are thinking of improving their homes during the next year?

18% of people who have had work done on their homes were unhappy with the standard of the work. The cost of re-doing averages around £1600 each time.

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Here are a few handy tips on how to avoid this from happening to you.

Tip 1
Ask one of your friends for a personal reference and check out the work that they’ve done before to check the quality.

Tip 2
Always do some research and get some information on the building company you’re hiring.

Tip 3
Don’t opt for the cheapest price. If you get four or five quotes and one of them is substantially lower than the others, then you should question why it’s so cheap.

Tip 4
Don’t pay 100% of the money before hand.

Tip 5
Be careful of paying by the hour or by the day. Ideally, you should agree on a fee before hand for the work.

Tip 6
Agree on a written contract before agreeing to use the company. In that written contract, you should note the price and finishing date of the work.

Sioe’r Tŷ, Friday, 18 June, 20:25
www.s4c.co.uk/entertainment