Alan Parkin Kitchens & Interior Designs

You know when the time has come to spend on the home – the kitchen starts to look just a little shabby and as does mine now, the worktops have seen better days and that stainless steel sink . . . .   Knowing how to go about getting a new kitchen is one of those…

My pals and I were discussing the forthcoming village allottment and produce show that is taking place in the village shortly.  There will be the usual competitions to find the largest veg and whitest parsnips etc.  The same winners will step forward – as they have done year in, year out.  The local community groups…

Knowing what we want in a kitchen is very much a personal matter.  I know many women who argue about this with their partner for weeks at a time and it’s so energy sapping.  Everyone in a family sharing a home probably has a viewpoint on the subject of kitchen layout – but really it…

Watching people carry out refurbishments and repairs to houses can be quite an eye opener.  Not only is it instructional in how to carry out various elements of home furnishing and redecorating, but very much also, how not to carry out some tasks!  The mess that some folk get themselves in to is not only…

I just love looking at programmes dedicated to the art of interior decor and house design.  There is something really exciting about looking at a room set and knowing that in an hour’s time, the hosts on the show are going to have turned the tiny hovel like mess into a gleaming palace of glittering…

Wow it’s suddenly gotten so cold and damp around here lately – my usual stroll around the garden has become just a very soggy and miserable hour.  I started looking out the old garden furniture set somewhere at the back of the shed . . . . .  halfway through my search, having stacked all…

I was on my travels recently – in the States, visiting relatives.  They live in a swanky new house – built in old colonial style but their kitchen however was something else entirely.  Lots of gleaming granite counter tops, island unit with glass and stainless steel fitted ovens.  They also had a remarkable gas range…

It’s beginning to come into jam and preserves bottling time now.  It used to be autumn.  Particularly if late tomatoes and strawberries are concerned, but some friends of the family continually join meetings with cries of “anyone want any gooseberries / starwberries / raspberries” etc.   They grow a great deal on their very productive allotment…

There are many programmes on daytime tv that handle property matters. Country cottages ripe for upgrading with wonderful new kitchens or sharp enteriors!  A favourite follows the sale of a property at auction, usually a seriously delapidated dump.  The auctioneer talks to camera before the sale, suggesting the best course of action if it’s bought. …

How time whizzes past . . . . I was chatting to a pal this time last year about having my kitchen and utility area spruced up.  I’ve been in my house for almost twenty years now and have done very little in the way decorating – and absolutely no remodelling.  My work tops and…