'Making was more fun than designing': a modern villa with a Victorian feel

The Makers House, squeezed on to a tricky urban plot, is up for the 2018 RIBA House of the Year award

It’s called the Makers House with good reason. The architects made it. I mean, obviously they designed it – but they also got down dirty and helped to build it. “Anything we could do ourselves, we did,” says Sophie Goldhill, partner, along with her husband David Liddicoat, in the young firm Liddicoat & Goldhill. “Sweeping up, running out to the building suppliers, carrying the bricks – you name it.”

She and Liddicoat more or less moved their office and staff to the building site in east London to manage the project. I’ve watched enough episodes of Grand Designs to know this can be a disaster, resulting in rows, divorce, bankruptcy and a lot of eye-rolling from the bricklayers. “No, no,” Liddicoat corrects. “If anything, the making was more fun than the designing.”

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2DioWPx
via IFTTT

How to grow erythroniums | Alys Fowler

I have plenty of time for daffodils and tulips, but in this corner of my garden, I want a bit of magic

I always dreamed of creating a garden library, a small room to sit and read in, nestled at the bottom of the garden. I’ve never realised this dream, because it would require cutting down a magnolia and despite my ambivalent feelings for it, I can’t justify taking it down for a building. Every year it rejoices at this and spreads its shade a little further.

So instead, this autumn I am going to embrace the bottom of the garden for what it is – a tiny slice of a woodland – and plant all sorts of lovely woodland things; by the time I have finished it will be a place to sit and read, though not in the rain.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2zqRUIr
via IFTTT

Gardening tips: plant bareroot roses

Plus rake up leaves for a rich supply of leaf mould or visit a Humphry Repton exhibition

Plant this Bareroot rose planting season starts this month: single blooms are so much better for pollinators, so consider planting ‘Tottering By Gently’ a buttery yellow single shrub rose, or the blood red climber ‘Altissimo’. Both will flower in bursts throughout the summer.

Leaf this There is little point removing fallen leaves from borders unless they are diseased: they’ll provide a warm duvet for wildlife. Rake leaves from lawns and paths into an old compost sack with holes cut in it and set aside for a rich supply of leaf mould in a year or two. Mowing up leaves works a treat, too.

Continue reading...

from Home And Garden | The Guardian https://ift.tt/2SItumw
via IFTTT

The best overseas homes listed for sale https://t.co/Zpo9gUqIon #estate agents Nottingham

The best overseas homes listed for sale https://t.co/Zpo9gUqIon #estate agents Nottingham (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1058679120811474949)

How to grow erythroniums | Alys Fowler https://t.co/08vL1jVBsI Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM

How to grow erythroniums | Alys Fowler https://t.co/08vL1jVBsI Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1058678301731028992)

Gardening tips: plant bareroot roses https://t.co/yg1WzbukQG Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM

Gardening tips: plant bareroot roses https://t.co/yg1WzbukQG Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1058678300208447488)

'Making was more fun than designing': a modern villa with a Victorian feel https://t.co/maBnGws7bz Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM

'Making was more fun than designing': a modern villa with a Victorian feel https://t.co/maBnGws7bz Solicitors & Estate Agents In One Just £899 + vat .. https://t.co/GmjoJxU3bM (via Twitter http://twitter.com/conveyandmove/status/1058678298522411009)