It’s definitely getting hotter and it’s becoming harder to spend your time indoors. However, we can’t ignore the nightmare that is the muggy, musty house forever. What we can do, however, is beat it. Here’s how you prepare your home for the worst that summer has to bring and make it into that cool retreat from the heat that we all need. Just a few habits and additions can make the home a much more pleasant place to survive the heat.

[Photo courtesy of StockSnap/pixabay.com]

We spring clean for a reason

If there’s anything that’s worse than a home that’s too hot, it’s a home that’s hot, humid, and dusty. Dust isn’t just unpleasant and an allergen. It also makes it a lot harder to control the airflow of the home. It builds in vents and air conditioning units, make them less effective and efficient, driving up the costs. Go for a thorough spring clean of the home and try to stay on top of dust as much as possible. It’s a lot easier to both control dust and to circulate air by decluttering the home, as well. If there’s any furniture you can spare for the moment, move it into storage so you have more spacious, airy rooms that are easy to clean and cool.

Keep the outdoors to the outdoors

Your first thought when summer rolls around might be to let the sunlight in and throw the windows open. However, if you’re cooling the interior, that’s only going to invite hot air in. Solar heating also plays a massive role in increasing the temperature of the room. Use fans as a more energy efficient method of circulation in the room you’re using and close that window, using sun blockers to keep the heat out without completely darkening the room. Don’t neglect the heat that builds in the attic that can get upwards of 150 degrees in the evening. Seal it up by using isotherm insulation and making sure that you don’t have any leaks by way of cracked or missing roof tiles. In the evening, if it’s cooler outside, then you crack open the window and use a window fan to cool the house down.

Remember, energy equals heat

If there’s any reason to get more energy efficient, it’s to make the home a lot more comfortable. Every appliance you keep on when you’re not using it is just adding more unnecessary heat. This effect is in full force in the kitchen most of all. Extractors are well and good, but there are other ways to use less energy when cooking and thus create less heat. For one, you can cook outside. But you can also use a microwave or toaster oven instead of a full-sized oven or use the refrigerator to defrost frozen goods instead of the microwave.

Remember, working to make the home easier to cool isn’t just going to make summer a lot more bearable. It’s going to help you drive down the costs of controlling the environment of your home. Save your money alongside your sanity by following the tips above.

The bathroom is one of the most heavily used rooms in any home and it needs to hold up to use 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Because most bathrooms present a moist and humid environment, safety can be an issue and care should be taken to make the room easy to use. Keep clothing and wet towels off the floor by having enough towel bars, robe hooks and rack along with clothes and laundry hampers.

Store bath toys in a plastic laundry basket which can be kept in the bath tub when not in use or invest in suction-cup wall mount bath toy hammocks which can help to corral bath toy clutter which may pose a slip and fall hazard. Bath mats and rugs should always feature anti-skid backing to help prevent the possibility of slippage.

[Photo courtesy of La-Belle-Galerie/pixabay.com]

The installation of a handheld shower head can vastly improve bathroom functionality – most can be installed by the average homeowner and do not require the services of a plumber. It is easy to shampoo hair, bathe children, wash pets and water plants with a handheld shower head and they are helpful when you need to clean the tub or shower enclosure.

Another practical update for any bathroom is a heated towel rack – there are freestanding and wall mounted models along with counter top towel warmers. Not only will you enjoy wrapping yourself in a warm towel after bathing, you will find that a towel warmer is useful for drying swimwear and fine washables, warming blankets and bathing clothes and drying towels quickly, which may also help to prevent mold and mildew.

Now that the summer is pretty much here, we all want to be able to enjoy more time outside. With warmer weather and lighter nights, it always just seems a shame to stay indoors. But, sometimes, you can feel as if your yard just isn’t cutting it. Whether you live out in the country and have a lot of space to play with, or you’ve got just a small backyard, it’s time to start making the most out of the garden you’ve got. And if you’re not exactly sure where to start, here are a few ideas to think over.

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

Create A Dining Space

The first thing you should think about doing will not only be a benefit to you but the whole family. Everyone loves to be able to enjoy their breakfast, lunch, or dinner outdoors when the weather is nice. But to do that, you need a suitable dining space. So make sure you look for the right outdoor dining set and even a grill. Backyard barbecue spaces can be super fun to create, and in the summer, you will always get a lot of use out of them.

Enjoy Gorgeous Flowers

When you have a garden, it can be a shame not to see it flourish. You don’t have to be the most green fingered person to make it happen either. Whether you pick out some pretty flowers at the garden center and plant a few in pots by your door, or fill your entire garden with beautiful blooms, having flowers in your yard can give it a new lease of life. As well as creating a relaxing atmosphere and attracting nature, you can also clip them to bring indoors and put in vases.

[Photo courtesy of skitterphoto/pexels.com]

Keep Animals

If you have a lot of space, particularly if you live in the countryside, you might want to think about keeping animals. A coat can be great to keep your grass short, and then there’s always the option to keep chickens and enjoy fresh eggs in the morning. Even if it seems like a lot of work, you can do your research online so that things like chicken incubators are explained to you to make it easier. It will also take your love of growing vegetables to the next level.

Build A Sanctuary

Then, as a little treat for yourself, you might want to think about creating a little sanctuary. Whether that’s a garden house where you can escape for an hour or two of peace, a lovely seating area in the sun, or even a hot tub to soak your evenings away in, your yard can often give you a lot of potential to work with.

Make It Fun

With the adults covered, you might want to think about adding in something for your kids too. There are lots of outdoor play areas that you could consider building or putting in yourself. You just need to work of what space you have first. Then, your kids can also be kept entertained when everyone is enjoying some time outside.

We all strive to keep our homes as clean as possible. Normally, this means giving it a good little clean as often as we can. However, our ‘good little clean’ might not be making our homes as clean as we think. Most of the time, we just clean the parts of our house that are most visible to other people and us. You know what I’m talking about, the surfaces that are visibly dusty and the floors that are clearly dirty. Rarely will we go that extra mile and clean parts of our home that aren’t as easily visible.

As a result, we end up with a much dirtier home than we think. Now, you may be thinking, why does this matter? If we can’t see the dirt that obviously, surely we can just keep on ignoring it, right? Well, the problem is, sooner or later all the lack of cleaning will add up. You can only ignore something for so long before it starts forcing itself upon you and making you take notice.

All those areas of your home that you neglect will become dirtier and messier to the point where they become a huge problem. Then, you have to deal with the stress of cleaning up the problem, which will be a lot harder that it would if you just dealt with it in the first place.

Today, we’re going to look at some of these forgotten areas in your home that are crying out to be cleaned. Read some of the advice, and you’ll know how to deal with the problems before they get out of control.

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

Shower/Bathroom

The first area of your home is the shower/bathroom. I’ve grouped two things together here because not everyone has a shower, but they still neglect the same sort of area in their home. You see, people with a shower will not clean it as properly as needed. In fact, most people rarely clean their shower and the area around their shower at all. I’m mainly talking about the walls near your shower or anywhere that gets splashed by water. If you don’t have a shower, then I’m just talking about areas in your bathroom that get splashed, and you neglect to clean.

Why do we neglect to clean wet areas? Mainly because they’re wet, so they don’t look dirty at all. There’s no visible dirt, what’s the worst that can happen? Unfortunately, this is one of the biggest mistakes you can make in your home. Fail to clean wet areas, and it will lead to mould forming. Then, you no longer have clean walls, but horrible black mould appears that can be harmful to your health as well as looking ugly. To make matters worse, the mould is really hard to clean completely. It’s an almost impossible task for a regular person like you or I, you’d need to get a professional in.

Mould is particularly problematic for people with tiled walls in their bathroom. This is because it gets in the grout between each tile, making it even harder to clean. If you keep forgetting about this area of your home, then you’re just asking for problems. So, what you need to do is prevent mould from occurring. It’s so so so so incredibly easy to do this, honestly. Getting rid of mould is so difficult, but preventing it couldn’t be simpler. All you have to do is dry any areas of your bathroom/shower that have been sprayed with water. Get a cloth and clean the wetness so no water is left and the surface is dry. You can even get some bathroom sprays that help kill germs which may be useful too. When the surfaces are dry, this means there are no conditions for mould spores to grow. I won’t get too scientific here, but mould grows when there are damp conditions, hence excessive growth in shower/bathroom areas. Anyway, science lesson over, add this to your cleaning checklist and prevent the spread of mould in your home.

[Photo courtesy of felixulllli/pixabay.com]

Gutters

Our gutters are often one of the most forgotten areas of our home. The simple fact is, we don’t pay them much attention at all. They sit up on our roof, and we rarely glance up there to take a look at the situation. Not only that, but they can be difficult to look at and check too. You need to get on a ladder, and it’s all pretty stressful.

So, we choose to ignore them and never clean them. Why is this a problem? Well, gutters can get clogged up full of so much debris and junk it’s not even funny. Birds can try and make nests in your gutters and bring up leaves and sticks which stay there and cause blockages. Plus, moss and weeds can grow in the gutters too, which again can cause blockages. Then, when these blockages get worse and worse, they end up causing major problems for your home drainage system. As a result, you may need to get a plumber in to sort things out, which can cost a lot of money.

All of this can be avoided if you just paid your gutters more attention. You don’t need to head out on your ladder every day, or even every week! This is something that can be done once a month or once every two months. Plus, if you’re not keen on cleaning the gutters as you’re scared of heights or just worried you’ll do things wrong and hurt yourself, there are services you can pay for. There’s no excuse, you need to stop neglecting your gutters before they become a massive problem. Also, if you keep them nice and clean, it will make the outside of your house look a lot better too. It’s a massive win-win situation for you.

[Photo courtesy of M.Minderhoud/wikipedia.org]

Skirting Boards

If you didn’t know, a skirting board is that little piece of wood at the bottom of your walls that runs all the way along it. A lot of people don’t even know this has a name, or what the purpose of it is. For many, it’s purely a decorative thing, but it’s also mainly used to protect the wall. Unfortunately, it’s an area of our home we forget about a lot when cleaning. This is because we don’t tend to really think about it at all. Like I said, most people don’t even know this area has a name!

The issue is, this is also an area of your home that’s prone to a lot of dirt and muck. If you fail to clean your skirting board, it can almost become unrecognizable. It will be absolutely filthy, which makes the rooms in your home look less clean than they are. Due to their location right at the base of a wall, skirting boards are magnets for dust, grime, and general debris. When left uncleaned, this dirt can properly set it and become so hard to clean. A cleaning job that should take a few minutes will take a few hours if you’re not careful.

So, you need to get on your hands and knees and start cleaning your skirting boards more often. My tip is to do this whenever you’re hoovering. You can even use a hoover attachment to clean up some dust from the skirting boards too. This way, you keep them clean and don’t let them get out of hand. The dirtier they get, the harder they are to clean, and the more they deteriorate too.

[Photo courtesy of slightly_different/pixabay.com]

Door Handles

The fourth, and final, area of your home crying out for a clean is the door handles. Think about how many dirty hands will touch your door handles every single day. Now, think about how many times you actually clean them. Scary, right?

I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure there are more germs on our hands than anywhere else on our body. So, if everyone is manhandling the door handles and they never get cleaned, it means our houses are just infested with germs. For the sake of personal hygiene, you should clean your door handles as much as possible. It really doesn’t take a lot of effort at all. You just need some antibacterial spray and a cloth to wipe them with. That’s all you need to do, and you’ll have a much cleaner and more hygienic home.

In fact, while we’re at it, you may as well throw light switches into the mix too. Again, they’re always touched and turned grubby by fingerprints, yet they’re rarely cleaned. The same rules apply here, get some spray and wipe them clean.

On that not, we’re at the end of this post. You can now see some of the forgotten areas of your home that are crying out to be cleaned. It’s not enough to simple clean everywhere that people can see. You’ll just create the illusion of a clean house when the reality is that your home is still quite filthy. Clean these forgotten areas too, and you’ll finally have a properly clean home.

To me, summer means one thing, barbecue season! If you feel the same way, you might be thinking about setting your garden up to be the perfect place for delicious grilled meals, juicy meats, and good company. Well, there are a few changes to your garden that will go down a treat here.

Outdoor Kitchen

[Photo Courtesy Of Texas Custom Patios/flickr.com]

If you want to be truly adventurous, you could think about creating an outdoor kitchen in your backyard. This idea has proved to be very popular in places like California. Everything from the grill to the oven is outdoors, providing you the perfect, cool place to cook up some food. To get started, you’ll need to lay the foundations of your outdoor kitchen. This is particularly important if your yard is completely grass. You will need a solid surface for all the accessories and perhaps even a dining area.

Next, you should think about adding some furniture around the garden. These days, people won’t settle for the typical plastic garden furniture. Instead, they want something a little more bold and stylish. Believe it or not, you can get furniture for your garden that is just as comfortable and gorgeous as the sofas in your living room. Have a look online at some of the possibilities on offer here.

Build The Barby

[Photo Courtesy Of John Liu/flickr.com]

Alternatively, you can just settle for building a beautiful stone barbecue, perhaps in the center of your garden. Modern designs are often built like great towers to ensure that the fumes don’t hang around in the air and instead drift over the house. You can find some great guides on how to build your own stone barbecue and how big it is will depend on how adventurous you feel. You might want it to be the centerpiece of your garden. Or, you might love the idea of being able to grill a pizza in it. For that, you’re going to need one massive surface.

One thing you will certainly need if you build your own stone barbecue is a source of heat and energy. You can get a propane tank to suit this purpose. If you’re wondering where to buy propane from, again, you can find sellers online, offering tanks at reasonable prices. Just make sure that your source is safe and reliable.

A Little Lighting

[Photo Courtesy Of Jovas/pixabay.com]

Of course, it’s not just about making sure that you can make the food. You also need to set the right mood. That’s particularly important if you want to invite guest round to enjoy the fruits of your labor. You can set up some stunning lights around the edge of your garden, and this will make it look absolutely tremendous as the sun begins to set.

If you have a pool, you can even add lights under water that will make it look absolutely tremendous. If you are creative enough, you can make your garden a truly stunning place to dine.

I hope you have fun with these ideas and make the most of the barbecue season in your backyard.

Your home is a place where you come in after a tiring day and wish to relax. This is one place which has to be stylish, clean and well decorated. When it comes to designing a home, most people give importance to designing their bedroom or living room but they forget to think of their bathroom. But it should be noted that your washroom or bathroom is also one of the important places that needs to be designed in the best way. It is a place, where you take a shower at the start of the day or when you come home after a tiring day. Unless this place is clean, hygienic, well designed and full of light, you will never be able to enjoy your shower.

One of the easiest ways to add style and glamour to your bathroom is to install quartz bathroom counter-tops. This will provide your bathroom with an altogether new look. Of late, quartz bathroom counter-tops have grown quite popular in the market. So, you do not have to search much! You can simply install them in your washroom. Also, you should note that these counter-tops are now easily available online. Thus, it makes things easier for most of the homeowners. You can simply sit at home, take a look at the options online and place order!

You must be wondering as to why one will choose quartz counter-tops for their bathroom. Well, reasons abound for the same. Considering the durability factor, these bathroom counter-tops are too good. When comparing it to other materials like granite, you will have to agree that quartz will stand out. The quartz bathroom counter-tops are extremely hard and non-porous as well as immensely resistant to the ravages of mold and mildew. This makes all the difference. Moreover, you should also note here that these counter-tops are exceptionally resistant to various types of cracks, chips, stains when compared to other materials.

The best part of bathroom counter-tops is that they are available in various sizes and designs which can fit into any kind of bathroom – big or small. Using these counter-tops will help you to play with your imagination and design your bathroom in whichever way you feel like. Thus, it will be unique and envy for others! Quartz offers extreme versatility and this makes all the difference.

With the quartz bathroom counter-tops, you will be able to maintain the cool feeling of your bathroom. Moreover, if the counter-tops have tiers, then you will be able to arrange all your bathroom utilities easily giving your bathroom a clean and tidy look. You can keep some indoor plants in your bathroom in order to make sure that it has a fresh feeling. Apart from this, make sure that your bathroom has the right amount of ventilation so that fresh air and sunlight can get into your bathroom and keep it bacteria free.

As you install bathroom counter tops, you will not have to worry much about cleaning it as they are non-porous! So, what are you waiting for? Install quartz counter-tops and make your bathroom look grand.

Storage is one of the most valuable things in our homes. This is because we all have lots of things to display or simply keep safe. Be it old books, memorabilia, souvenirs or electronics. As a result, our homes can quickly run out of storage space and before you know, we’ll be piling up boxes in the living room and other empty spaces in our home, creating a lot of useless clutter that can be difficult to get rid of.

Whether you think you’re outgrowing your one bedroom apartment or your kids are hoarding too many toys and video games, here are a couple of tips to stop the panic and get you some more valuable storage space.

[Photo courtesy of Unsplash/pexels.com]

Clear the garage

Our garages are probably one of the most underutilised rooms that we own. In fact, you might not even use it for your car because it’s usually more convenient just to keep your car in the driveway. As a result, the garage is an often forgotten part of the house that we just dump stuff in. Although it might be full now, giving it a quick cleanup and organising it can give you plenty of extra storage space for practically anything you could think of. With so much extra space that should usually be for your car, you won’t run out of storage space anytime soon after a garage cleanup.

Use your garden

If you have a decently sized garden, it means you have a lot of extra land to use as storage space. Consider some backyard sheds to store your items in, but unless it’s a high-quality shed you probably don’t want to store anything valuable in it because it could be stolen, lost or covered in cobwebs before you know it. Sheds are typically used for archival purposes or garden equipment such as spades, shovels and lawnmowers. It can be a great way to add some extra storage space, but don’t rely on it as a safe haven for all your family belongings!

[Photo courtesy of Pixabay/pexels.com]

Your loft has a lot of extra storage space so don’t be afraid to use it. It might be dark and small, but some simple improvements such as adding a light could make it a lot more useable. If your loft is large enough for you to stand in, then it might be worth adding some boards to make it easier to store items or even renovating it as an extra room. This can be fairly expensive, but it’s worth the effort for the amount of extra space you get!

Declutter

Lastly, think about decluttering your home. You don’t want to leave useless junk around if it can be recycled or even sold on an auction website. Old pieces of furniture that you don’t use anymore could be worth a lot and there are times when old electronics could fetch a decent price from collectors. If you want to make a lot more space in your home, then the fastest way is going to be decluttering it and throwing out anything you really don’t need.

The entrance to our homes should, in many ways, be a priority. After all, it’s the first thing you see when you get back from a long day. And, it’s the first impression visitors, or passers-by get of your house. Yet, many of us let our entrances do what they will. At the end of the day, it’s an aspect a lot of us forget about. We already have enough work to be doing inside the house! But, you may find that all your other efforts go to waste if you don’t get this simple thing right. That’s why we’re going to look at the ways you can ensure the leadup to your home is red carpet worthy.

The Walkway

If you’re now thinking about incorporating a red carpet into your walkway, you can forget it. It would get grubby in no time! But, that doesn’t mean you can’t make the most of your walkway. Some of you may already have a paving stone walkway. Others may have nothing more than a worn trail in their grass. But, now is the time to incorporate the walkway of your dreams. It may be that you love your paving stones but would like to do more with them. Plain slabs aren’t very inspiring. So, take a look at the patterned options you could replace them with. Or, perhaps you want to stay away from paving stones and opt for gravel instead. This would look amazing, though it’s worth bearing in mind that you’d need to top it up occasionally! The right option for you depends on the work you’re willing to put it. Take your time deciding down what route you would like to return home each day.

Going for a Gate?

Think, too, about whether you would like to incorporate a gate and fence around your front lawn and entrance area. This can be a fantastic way to gain a little more privacy, and it often looks amazing, too. You could opt for a metal gate or a wooden option. Bear in mind that both need special measures to ensure they stay in good condition. A metal gate will need rust prevention to ensure it stays in the best condition and looks as good as possible. A wooden option, however, will need varnish to protect it from all weathers. If you’re planning to paint it, you’ll also need to invest in a specialist paint.

Bursting with Color

We all want to make a colorful entrance, don’t we? Make sure you get one every day by incorporating flowers into your entrance. You may want to border your walkway with flowerbeds. This would look amazing, though bear in mind that it could easily get out of control if you don’t take care. An easier option may be to incorporate plant pots along the way. These will be easy to keep neat, while still injecting that splash of color you’re after. Whatever you choose, make sure it’s an option you’re willing to keep neat!

Feeling bored of your home’s interior design? Make your living space a reflection of your taste and imagination. Your deepest and wildest shades of your personality should come leaping out from the walls. The lighting arrangement should be the maze that leads to the window into your soul. The decor should be your physical statement on the earth, it should bellow out with power and vigor to those who enter the room. Your home’s rooms’ style and decorating theme waltzes around your heart and without any words, encompasses all that is you.

[Photo courtesy of Ulciscor/pixabay.com]

Green as grass

A botanical dining room is something you don’t see very often; in fact it’s a little too outlandish for most. However, If you replaced the floor, with complex patterns of Aztec, or a sprouting spiral cement tile art, the room would come alive with vegetation. As green is a light color, often associated with nature, wildlife, earth and stillness, any food or any cuisine eaten in the room, won’t look out of place. Green is a neutral color; not too bright, not too dark. The chairs and table can be made out of wicker and a dried and stiffened bamboo. Sushi roll-up mats would make for great plate board at the table. The same material should be used for coasters, just to keep the table uncluttered. For when your family is dining later than they should be, you could have candlelight holders made out of a clear see-through plastic or glass. The light shade style would captivate the bliss of untamed nature if it were like a ball of twisted hay or a tumble weed. The light would peer through the many gaps as if it were free-floating, it could have the ability to spin independently from the bulb attachment. Simple, humble, and yet artistically clever.

[Photo courtesy of Mnmal/miserv.net]

Passion, flare and furiosity

If you want your creativity, and precision of taste, flavors and combinations in the kitchen to punch out with unmistakable snap, stamp your heels no further than a Mexican theme. Set the mood vividly with a rose colored wall paper or paint scheme. When sunlight peers through, the red shall transform the yellow rays into a blood red or a shimmering yellow like the sunset of the Mediterranean. For the table, nothing, but nothing, will do besides a rustic, strong and large wooden table. Preferably you should look for something that’s a little lighter, for example, like a honey color. The sauce pans, pots and frying pans should all be in a deep, thick and heavy black. Something like a cast iron material for all three would be very bold. For the utensils, you should aim for something that’s a real dark brown. Authenticity is crucial to get the proper feel of Mexico, so make sure they’re also made out of wood. On top of the shelves or somewhere where there’s free space, you could stand earthen clay pots as these are used for storage for pickled sweet red peppers. Placing flowers in the room, is simply up to you, they won’t take anything away, nor will the look out of place.

Homes are like hairstyles- something that once worked perfectly can become outdated no longer suit you later down the line. For example many young couples and professionals start out in small, one bedroom apartments. They’re cheaper to live in which is useful when you’re first starting out- especially if you work in the city and don’t want too much of a commute. When you’re young and out a lot, you don’t need masses of space at home. If you’re simply after somewhere to shower, sleep and eat then, it will do the job perfectly. However things can change as we go through life, and eventually, you might find yourself wishing for somewhere you can put down roots. Somewhere with a bit more space perhaps? If you want to do any of the following, chances are it’s time to start thinking about a bigger home!

[Photo courtesy of George Becker/pexels.com]

You Want To Start a Family

One of the biggest reasons people move to a more spacious home is because they want their family to grow. If you moved into an apartment before having children, the multiple flights of stairs in the building and lack of outside space probably didn’t bother you. It’s unlikely you looked into things like parks and schools. Having kids changes everything, you will become concerned over things that you never gave a second thought to before. How busy the road you live on is, what facilities are nearby for children. You probably looked into the crime rate before, but it’s even more of a deciding factor now. If your current home is unsuitable, it’s time to start looking for a new property for when you have children. If you don’t plan on moving right away, you could always rent a self storage unit and put things like a crib, baby furniture, pram and other large purchases in there. That way you could spread the cost, and you have everything ready for when you move, but without cluttering up your tiny apartment in the process.

You Love Entertaining Friends

In your younger years, socializing is all about bars, nightclubs, and parties. But as you get older, things change a little. Wine and cheese nights, dinner parties and afternoon tea at home become far more appealing than the sticky floors of your local haunt. However, entertaining in a tiny apartment can be difficult. Chances are you don’t have much of a kitchen or a dining space- perhaps just a breakfast bar or bistro set for two people. If you want to start hosting regular events at your place, it could be a sign that your home needs to be upgraded.

[Photo courtesy of Karolina Grabowska/pexels.com]

You Want To Start Gardening

Gardening is a wonderful hobby to have. Growing something from essentially nothing and watching your garden bloom is always satisfying. By growing a mixture of fruit, vegetables, and herbs you can cut down on your weekly grocery bill, plus you’ll keep fit and it’s generally a fun and productive way to spend your time. If you dream of tending your garden, or sitting outside relaxing on a summer’s day, surrounded by flowers with a drink in your hand- a one bedroom apartment simply won’t do. Have a look at houses in your local area that have a good garden!