Your Home > Reviews (6)

Okay, I do work full time and admit to being a ‘have a go hero’ when it comes to DIY, and yes, I’ve messed up big time on DIY occasions, but, I have discovered ‘Your Home’ magazine, well, it does take me a bit of time to get round to things. What a brilliant find! It is a monthly magazine, now priced £1.60. The magazine has lots of ideas and tips on decorating /revamping and accessorising your home / garden and it covers most budgets.

What’s It Like?

Well, for a start, it very rarely comes in one of those plastic bag thingies, with lots of useless junk paper. The cover is bright and usually eye catching. It does the ‘peak your interest’ bit quite well, for instance, on the June issue (which came out at the beginning of May!) – “I transformed my dingy garden in 24 hrs for £100” or “37 clever storage solutions for small homes”. Plus the usual revamp on a budget, House Doctor advice on which ever room in somebody’s house needs a face lift and an 8 page pull out of decorating and tips, plus tips, advice etc.
Not bad for £1.60, anyway here we go, find the contents page.

Gives you the web address: yourhomemagazine.co.uk

There’s a letters page and if you write in you could win a star prize worth £150 – the winner won a Rowenta Brunch Set in slate! (That's a kettle, toaster and coffee maker, looks quite nice, although I wouldn't pay £150 for them!!)
There is also a great range of ideas that make sense and also ideas that may seem a little ‘oh yea’ to some (even me)– examples include how to ‘make an instant canopy’ (for the garden - when do I have time for this), getting kids into gardening, to a fabulous recipe for Raspberries with Ricotta (mmmm, very naughty).
There are various sections, like Tricks of the Trade, Bargain Buys, Decorating Made Easy (this issue it’s bedrooms), also how to mix old and new furniture across the whole house!

Linda Baker has a section in the magazine and she writes on ‘how to’ do things around your home. This is usually a main decorating feature; this time it’s how to make room feel light and bright, plus a few tips on flooring and using patterns on walls and fabrics.

Major competition - £20,000 (top prize) spending spree at Debenhams, plus various other monetary rewards. Downside – it costs 75p a minute to find out if the number on the front cover has won anything!

Back to the magazine – quite good tips on how to brighten up a small, dull kitchen without spending a fortune (going to use some of these tips!). Then there is an 8 page pull out on DIY – some REALLY useful hints in here – how to make a cube footstool, build a wooden utensil rack, paint like a professional and putting up a curtain track etc. Really useful section this one. - Especially useful for passing onto hubby etc..

We then find ourselves in readers’ homes – 4 of them –totally - in full glossy colour, with how they did this, that and the other, why they chose the colour schemes they used blah, blah, blah. This is a monthly thing, so there are usually four different houses each month, from different areas of the country – this can get ‘in your face’, but, each home is somebody’s castle, and they’re braver than me, having their homes photographed for all to see!

We are into the ’37 brilliant ideas for small home’ section, good idea for me is the ‘Install a plinth drawer’ in the kitchen, tells you where to get the kit, etc (Ikea Rationell drawer fitting measures W60cm by D44cm by H8cm and costs £16) - I'm getting the distinct feeling my kitchen is in for a make over.
Good tips – use a bottle rack to organise detergents, bleach bottles etc neatly (this one from an MFI Design Manager).

The House Doctor has a monthly spot, and this month she tackles a bathroom that’s cold and uninviting. She goes into all sorts in this bathroom. Not bad, gives prices, where to get and how to do tips etc.

The magazine is really full of good ideas – some of which are easy. Very good with advice on when to call the professionals in, and certainly provides some inspiration for DIY.

There is plenty of information on where to get materials, furniture, bargains etc, with measurements, prices, and addresses, phone numbers AND Internet addresses. This bit is quite interesting, the magazine costs £1.60 to buy from newsagents, supermarkets etc, however, if you subscribe by Direct Debit, you get it for £1 per month. You can either phone the hotline(not on a Sunday) or buy the magazine and fill in the coupon – this finishes on 2 June 2003. I’m going to check out the website as well –so I’ll update this opinion a bit later on.

DO I USE ANY TIPS

Honestly, I do. I’ve fixed a dripping tap, (a saving on the plumbing bill), redone the hallway (with hubby’s help), and about to decorate the bathroom, using some tips from the magazines. Okay, sometimes it can get a bit OTT, but overall it’s an affordable magazine, with plenty to read about and some excellent tips.

After all, my home is my castle…..