An old Heritage Church, dating back to mid-nineteen century, was totally reinvented and transformed to a contemporary living space.

The project was completed in Brisbane, Australia by Willis Greenhalgh Architects and it’s one of a kind project.

“First a church then a theatre, a slice of Brisbane’s heritage has been saved from demolition and transformed into two striking luxury homes.

The existing buildings date back to 1867 and are heritage listed.

Extensive community and heritage consultation ensured the balance between conserving the integrity of the buildings, the subtle introduction of contemporary elements, and the relationship with the surrounding area.”

Honestly, i never thought a church could be transformed in such an astonishing way. The contemporary home which is the result of the designers’ work is a warm environment with all the facilities and even more, but nevertheless with a great design.

At a certain point, it comes a time when your house ’demands’ for more attention in the restoration area. That is the moment when you have to decide whether you get professional  help or you try a DIY project yourself.

Even though there is nothing wrong in hiring a contractor/professional to help you with fixing your home’s faults, there are  certain reasons for which you should be able to fix some of the faults yourself. But, before doing that you need to know the required information in order to start such a project, even more if it is not something minor you have to fix.

The first thing you have to take into consideration when starting such work is the complexity of the project, the more complex the project is the less chance to succeed you have. I am sure you will ask yourself WHY?! Here is why: complex projects such as electrical wiring and plumbing should be left to professionals.

There are various reasons for which you should start such a project and Do It Yourself instead of hiring a contractor. Here are a few of those reasons:

1. An opportunity to make your home the way you want

You have to admit most of the times you hire a contractor, you feel yourself obliged to stay around the home and make sure the contractor makes everything the way you want it done. Now you got the opportunity to do everything just the way you want it.

2. Saving money

In this economic climate there is nothing better than saving when redecorating or repairing your home. Most of the times the cost of the labour takes up most of the remodeling expenses, thus you by doing it yourself you can save a huge amount of money.

3. Being more creative with the material

A contractor is usually given straight directions what and how to do stuff but you might change your mind on the way or notice that some things would look better another way. If you are not allways by the contractor’s side you won’t be able to tell him that you want things different than you thought but, if you do it yourself you can adjust stuff on the way.

4. Quality tools

First of the practical points you should pay attention to is investing in quality tools such as power drills, good screwdrivers, hammer and wenches and other related items of premium quality so that you can do your work with minimum effort and maximum efficiency.

5. Inspecting

Before starting the repair work you should carry out a thorough inspection in order to be able to prioritize the faults that need immediate attention.

6. Plan out

You have to be aware of the fact that repairing the faults of your home will take time so in order to finish withouth any problems you should plan out the faults and take care of them each day you have some spare time.

7. Documentation.

In order to finish fast and easy with the work you should consult  some DIY books, magazines or even websites. There you can find many pieces of really useful advice, which will guide you through the whole redecorating/repairing process.

8. Protecting against DIY disasters!

Latest surveys have shown that there are alot of people which start a DIY project withouth the appropriate information and tools which can lead into disasters. This is why before starting a DIY project you should have an insurance that covers such disasters. Your building contents insurance policy should cover those disasters otherwise you will have to pay a huge amount of money to fix the damage you can make withouth the required knowledge in that area.

9. Pride

Last but not least, it’s the pride and satisfaction that you managed to realize a good job and you can show everyone what you were able to achieve with some internet help, your own hands and some material.

All in all, you can start a DIY project once you did your documentation, bought the proper tools/materials, checked your insurance policy to see if you are covered for any mistakes you might make.

First of all as we all are in a financial crisis, i think this post is suitable not only for student’s rooms decorations.

There is no lower budget than the one used for this room and still it looks priceless. The designer is a friend of mine, her name is Andra and she is a studying architecture at the moment but between her hobbies you can find interior decorations. She’s pretty good at it as you can see, she has an eye for fashion aswell and i hope we get to see more of her work every week.

Now let’s talk about the pieces of the room. The pictures you can see on the walls were collages of different photos (with friends and/or family) – a good idea, replacing somehow the photo frames, and giving the room a more cozy feeling –  printed on hard paper (A3) in a price-range of 0,50- 0,65 euro/piece.

The pattern in the corner between the two walls – green and blue – was made out of colored paper in a price-rang of  0,50-0,55 euro/piece. It’s catchy and adds a nice touch to the room.

For the boxes you can see, she used carton(3mm) at a price-range of 1euro/piece and bamboo serviettes at a price-range of 0,80 euro/piece in which she dressed up the boxes. And let’s not forget about the fresh flowers, which are allways a nice touch in a room.

All in all this is a nice way to add a new touch of freshness to your room quickly and on the budget.

Stay tooned for more projects like this. If you liked it leave a comment and we’ll insist to get more and more innovative projects on or of the budget!

At the other end of the spectrum are jobs that should never be attempted by someone without the right qualifications.  If carried out without the proper knowledge, the work may at best look unprofessional and at worst could endanger your family and home.

Before embarking on any new project, it’s important to know when a qualified tradesperson should be hired, and if so, who to hire. Finding a skilled and reputable tradesman can be a daunting prospect at the best of times. This process is further complicated if you’re uncertain about the type of tradesman you need.

For a nation of home improvement enthusiasts, most Brits are largely ignorant about who does what in the building trades. In the absence of specialist knowledge, rather than appear like a novice, we often seek a “handyman” for all manner of jobs – from a leaky tap to a new roof.

So, what is a handyman, what type of jobs can a handyman do and when should we employ a specialist tradesman?

Handymen are usually multi-skilled tradesmen who focus on small, everyday jobs around the home. Simple repairs and maintenance jobs fall within the remit of a handyman. These projects should normally be completed within half a day to a day and are often a good candidate for the eager DIYer. Works taking longer than this could indicate that a specialist tradesman is needed.

It’s important to note that some jobs, no matter how small, must be carried out by a suitably qualified tradesman. For instance, any gas work must be carried out by a Gas Safe registered engineer. Similarly, many electrical jobs must be approved by your Local Authority Building Control unless they’ve been carried out by a experienced electrician who is registered with a Competent Person scheme. Many homeowners confidently attempt DIY projects expecting to achieve high quality results, but not thinking about the fact that experts such as skilled tilers and painters have had years of practice to perfect their trade. If you don’t have time to invest and learn all the tricks of the trade, and you want a perfect finish, sourcing a specialist is almost always the best decision.

When DIY is not an option, there are several routes to finding the right tradesperson. For small jobs, specialist handyman companies offer flexible appointment times and tiered pricing, but coverage is often limited to major cities and charges can quickly mount up if the job takes longer than expected. For all trades, the most difficult part is knowing how to evaluate one company from the next.  There are a few third party resources helping to solve that problem, like the reputable online marketplace MyBuilder.com.  The website helps homeowners connect with tradesmen across the UK, providing verified reviews left by their previous customers. Fees are often negotiable, and using the site makes it easy to get multiple competitive quotes.

Whoever you employ, always ask for a quote upfront and make sure you’re completely happy with the work before you part with your money.

Rock gardens are features that are rising in popularity as well. These landscape features can provide a great deal of attractiveness, but make use of fewer plants. Landscapes that include rock gardens need less water and less attention. Additionally, the plants that often go with rock gardens are usually hardier and need a little less care. These are easy to care for, and can save money. Additionally, it is possible to build your own rock garden in the landscape, saving you even more money.

English cottage gardens are known for their lack of formality. There is no rigidity in their designs, and because they are more or less allowed to “just grow” require less maintenance than some other types of gardens. These are common gardens because they evoke a sense of charm. They are most common in backyard landscaping, for those who want to enjoy the garden and show an informal sense of elegance while entertaining. In the United States, of course, the lawn remains the most dominant landscape feature, especially in the front. But an English cottage garden can be very fine due its riot of flowering plants. Most landscape features of this sort include rose bushes, perennials and vines. Sometimes they are even allowed to go across pathways. Because perennials are so used, they grow back every year, without much effort.

An increasing trend in landscape design is incorporating elements of the Japanese garden. Of course, in Western circles, many of the times this is interpreted to mean showy flowers. These showy flowers grab attention, and many times landscapes will center around these plants. They can be difficult to take care of, as they are often non-native. They can also be expensive. However, some people are turning their backyard landscapes into gardens that are more in keeping with traditional Japanese garden principles of simplicity including more foliage and design structures. These types of gardens are less expensive and can be equally attractive.

And, of course, the most common landscape feature is the lawn. This is because the lawn allows a platform for family activities. Additionally, overall, it is also fairly easy to care for. It need only be mowed by machines that are relatively easy use, and it can be fertilized and watered fairly inexpensively, if one does so properly and with common sense. Different people do a variety of things with their lawns, and it has become increasing popular to add a small flowerbed in the middle of the lawn for decoration. Having trees on the lawn is also another popular way to adorn the lawn and make it more inviting and attractive.

Creating a beautiful landscape is a matter of enjoyment for many people. However, many of them find it difficult to know where to begin, and know what is possible. But it you are hesitant about where to begin or what to do, trying a tried and true landscape feature can help you succeed in your endeavors to beautify the home environment.

Chapter One sought to create a unique product using serial production: “Instead of leaving randomness managing the differences, it uses the repetitive actions existing within the production process as a tool for differentiation.” Each Chapter One piece produced relies on the piece that came before it, forming a constructional echo chain wherein every piece exists “because of the others and could not have been designed without the others.”

How does this work exactly? Carretero explains, “Each layer is casted on top of the one casted before following the exact outline of it. Because of the imperfection of the cast, the object slowly mutates.” Using the same philosophy, Julien Carretero designed the To Be Continued Bench, whose name is more indicative of the construction behind it than the previous Chapter One. Made of layers of polyurethane composite, To Be Continued looks like a bench slowly folding in on itself. What begins as standard seating (right angles intact) ends as otherworldly seating—something bright and hallucinatory, a bench trapped in between the two realms of Tim Burton’s Coraline. Like Chapter One, To Be Continued aims for singularity within the manufacturing process: “Instead of leaving randomness manage the differences, it uses the repetitive actions existing within the production process as a tool for differentiation.”

The stripes are reminiscent of lollipops, the great big round ones that look as if they’ll topple over on their sticks. The transfiguration from one side to another is like a vortical experiment performed by Pink Floyd. The To be Continued Bench is the funhouse mirror of furniture, aptly designed by someone who hails from The Netherlands, home of all things great and goofy, wondrous and witty, experimental and exceptional.

The current design scene is represented by products that are repetitive, chasing after one another, and all very much alike. The themes they deal with are too often similar, research and innovation are frequently neglected. Hence the intuition of Ak47: to develop designs that shun the obvious, venturing into questions that are still unexplored. The aim is to qualify simple objects; to enhance them and characterise them with the quest for a particular process, the innovative use of materials, the care for details. This is the only way to escape the bonds of fleeting fashion and achieve lasting elegance. The choice of firewood holders, the first theme in the project, was not made at random. We wished to extend our range as much as possible, offering an infinite series of possibilities. Our proposals aim to amaze with unexpected details, almost hidden at first glance.

Round was originally designed for the University Library, a part of the Danish Royal Library, Copenhagen. Round was created to cater for easy socializing in the lounge areas. By composing the various basic elements it is easy to create a relaxed landscape of seating and socializing possibilities. The new humanities faculty library offers the students a well designed, functional library building designed with singular focus on creating the optimum facility based on users’ needs. The architects from Dissing+Weitling’s project group have liaised closely throughout the entire process with a user group of Royal Library employees.

Jason Dembski says :
“Ryan Horsman and I developed the Chopstick/Steamer Stool as part of a summer abroad program at B.A.S.E. Beijing with support from founders Robert Mangurian and Mary-Ann Ray. The goal of this particular project—taking cues from Chinese culture and its ability to make excess/waste useful—was to (re)use everyday Chinese items in new ways. The Chopstick/Steamer Stool takes traditional bamboo steamers, thousands of disposable chopsticks and simple cushioning material, and combines them into a piece furniture.

The stool uses six bamboo steamers stacked vertically and bound. Peaking out of the top steamer is thousands of disposable chopstick—accumulated in less than a year by a ‘one child policy’ family—packed together and standing on end. Serving as a middleman between the steamers and the chopsticks is a basic cushion. Although foam is ideal, the cushion could be made of anything from an old rickshaw seat to a pile of rags. The cushion allows the chopsticks to move independently under pressure and prevents them from falling through the steamer racks. When combined in this way, these fundamental Chinese items form a deceptively comfortable stool which can reasonably be made without spending a single yuan.”

The Dancing Chair does retain some of the mystique of those balsa projects, as it holds weight while seeming itself weightless. This is the crux of Dancing Chair’s appeal: its lightness. Traditional rocking chairs have been heavy, almost loaded down with their function. But the Dancing Chair looks as if it will fly away instead. The removable upholstered seat is soft and tufted, another aspect of the piece that divorces it from its conventional associations. And the addition of the footstool is brilliant, making for many positions available to the user.

Guisset’s Dancing Chair certainly evinced the talent and ingenuity that the grant seeks to foster, changing a functional piece of furniture into a sculptural form that works against its type. Dancing Chair turns rocking into an airy activity—the perfect pirouetting perch from which to read fairy tales and doze off into dreamland.