5 WAYS TO IMPROVE YOUR HOME THIS EASTER WEEKEND

For most of us, the Easter bank holiday is a welcome four days off work and sees the perfect opportunity for us to put some well needed care and attention into our homes. After a long winter and period of bad weather (which we haven’t seen the last of), our homes and gardens could use a little TLC. So here’s the top 5 ways you can use your time off productively:

 

  1. Spring Clean

A bank holiday weekend is the ideal time to get that list of jobs done that you have been putting off. It’s amazing how much better your home can look after giving it a clean from top to bottom. From cleaning out the fridge to hoovering behind the sofa, now is the perfect time to tackle the chores.

 

  1. Add some Spring colour

Easter is the perfect time to add some colour to your home. Now that Spring is here and the days are longer, you have more time to paint those walls before it gets dark. So whether it’s your children’s bedroom or the dull living room – now is the time to splash a bit of colour onto the walls.

  1. Add an Orangery

With the weather getting better it’s time to start planning for the summer. Adding an Orangery to your home can create the perfect space to connect you to your garden and bring some extra light into the home. Why not give us a call and arrange someone to come and give you a free quote?

  1. Clean the gutters and windows

After all the snow and stormy weather your gutters and windows are bound to have taken a hit. But with a four day weekend you have no excuses not to tackle them. You will be surprised at how much difference it makes to the outside of your property.

  1. Get out into the garden

Why not spend your weekend in the outdoors bringing a new lease of life to your garden? Planting flowers or weeding your garden now can make things a lot easier for you later on in the year and will mean you’ll have a much prettier place for all those summer BBQs!

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: 5 FEMALES WHO MADE THE HOME IMPROVEMENTS INDUSTRY WHAT IT IS TODAY.

In honour of International Women’s Day, here at Select Windows we have taken the opportunity to celebrate the women that have shaped and are continuing to shape the industry today.

From our factory floor, to the accounts office we have our own team of strong, inspirational women who help us run our company smoothly. To celebrate, we’ve compiled a list of the top five women who have paved the way for the industry today:

  1. ELIZABETH WILBRAHAH (1632-1705)

Believed by scholars to be the first female architect, Elizabeth Wilbrahah was behind the design of hundreds of buildings, including Weston Park in Staffordshire. Having married at 19 she used her extended honeymoon to study architecture in the Netherlands and Italy. Some of her surviving drawings show the first sash windows in England, a design which is still popular today.

Photo credit; Wikimedia Commons
Photo credit; Pixabay

4. ZAHA HADID (1950-2016)

As the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize, Zaha Hadid went on to design a variety of projects all over the world. Known for her bold, unconventional and theatrical designs her projects have shaped the industry. Among  those projects, is the Aquatics Centre in London. The 2012 Olympic Venue was designed by Zaha Hadid to be reused.

3. SADIE MORGAN

Sadie Morgan is currently one of the most powerful architects in the UK. Her firm, dRMM have an impressive portfolio of designs from educational buildings to residential homes. Her first project, with partners Alex de Rijke and Philip Marsh won seven awards. Over 20 years in her career she has won a variety of esteemed awards including being shortlisted for Architects’ Journal’s Woman Architect of the Year in 2014.

Photo credit; dRMM

Want add more light to your home? Why not look at our range of Orangery’s and Conservatories and give your home a new lease of life for the Spring.

Flickr: Australian National Maritime Museum

2. ELSIE MACKAY (1893-1928)

Elsie Mackay was a British interior decorator who was behind many of the interior designs of P&0 ‘R’ Class Ships of 1925. She created some stunning designs for ships throughout the company, which belonged to her father. Mackay then gained her pilots licence, as she hoped to be the first female pilot to fly the Atlantic. Sadly, she died aged 35, attempting to do so.

  1. EILEEN GRAY (1878 – 1976)

 As one of the first women to attend the Slade School of Art, Irish born, Eileen Gray was a pioneer of the Modern Movement in Architecture. She was one of the first architects to utilise steel tubular structures. One of her most famous projects was her creation of the E-1027 Villa. The Villa is L-Shaped with a flat roof and features floor to ceiling windows, creating an open and light building.

Photo credit; Villa E-1027, Cap Moderne, photograph Manuel Bougot www.manuelbougot.com. 2016