mooncake

Oh god no... That's awful and completely inappropriate! Why would they assume everyone has watched it?! I was shocked enough that a) our ex-nursery sang let it go as one of their christmas songs in their annual nativity and b) that the current nursery have been playing the soundtrack. We indulged for the birthday party but otherwise watching the film is held back for occasional viewing (though I do let her listen to the songs - especially if she'll listen to the japanese versions!). Also one of the best things I liked about our new nursery is that they don't actually have computers at all and definitely no TV!!

Also try boots kitchen appliances!! you can get quidco cashback as well as boots points - and their installation charges are reasonable if you need them to fit. we also got free tickets to ideal home show and grand designs where you cab get some great deals and see demos of things actually being cooked. usually the kitchen supplier will take model numbers of your appliances to get the right measurements.

I believe Howdens and Wickes do free home visits and measure up for you... but you might then need to be a little sneaky to grab their measurements for use at other stores!! Otherwise there's a paid for service at John Lewis where I think you can keep the plans whether or not you go ahead (online it says it costs ?50). The kitchen designer we ended up with must have spent at least 14 hours in total actually with us present, carefully designing all of the details - and that was even though we already had a strong idea of the layout and appliances we wanted. That meant that by the end of it, we were essentially already committed as couldn't bear to go through the whole process again with anyone else!! In hindsight that made it difficult to negotiate on prices - particularly as we had to get the kitchen ordered in time for moving house / tied in with the building work.

We were at mother goose greendale and very happy there. Bit of a trek, but it's ok if you're close to the bus routes up there and can use Denmark hill for your commute.

Thanks! I'll try giving her a call. Congratulations tomo - lovely news. :) good luck with it all! Are you trying for a home birth?

Yep - I am a big fan of Sing & Sign and would even think about teaching myself! My daughter started using signs before she was a year old - it was lovely seeing her being able to 'read' a simple book by signing the animals on each page. She could also ask for milk, tell us when she was hungry or wanted more of anything (food or otherwise). We went to classes run by the lovely Sabine. Highly recommend it!

Hello, Could you (tentatively) count me in too please? My 2nd is due on April 9th, first has just turned 3. I am ex-ED, having recently defected to Forest Hill. Thanks!

Returning back to this post as we finally moved into our house at the end of the year and have (almost) finished fitting our very own awesome kitchen. I posted for opinions previously on whether or not to install a utility room and Amy kindly let me come over to see hers (and yes her kitchen IS awesome!!). I am pleased to update that we went for it (though a v small one), and I love love LOVE it! It's fantastic to be able to shut off the noise of the washing machine, plus we packed it with storage and lots of plug points for the appliances I don't want cluttering the main kitchen surfaces. We actually also ended up redesigning our family bathroom upstairs in order to accommodate a laundry chute straight down to the utility room... after someone put the idea into my head on that thread...

Hi, Does anyone have any recommendations for a hypnobirthing practitioner for the second time around? I did a course before my first, but the lady who ran the course has since moved away from London. I had a bad experience the first time around - labour was going beautifully up until the point where I entered an actual labour room and had a rubbish midwife, and from there it all then went wrong. So really all I'm after is a bit of reassurance that it'll be better this time around, and to get a refresher on techniques, rather than doing the course all over again. Many thanks in advance!

Is anyone able to recommend a good supplier for Velux blinds? We need to buy quite a few... Is it worth buying the genuine ones or are compatible ones just as good?? Thanks!

Very happy to recommend Colin too. He has done several jobs for us over the years too - most notably repairing a broken fence which turned into a bit of a nightmare job. But he plugged away at it and refused to charge any extra. Very honest and hardworking, definitely give him a call!

We're about to buy from UKBifold as seems to be a good balance between price and quality. They're the only approved manufacturers of Reynaers aluminium doors in the UK and offer a 10 year annual service as standard to keep the doors tip top. Found the advice on their website invaluable!

Thanks! Helpful to know. Is it easy to maintain - or did you do anything to soften the water in your house?

We're on the verge of ordering our new kitchen now. Having second thoughts about whether to go with the boiling water tap though. Those of you that have one, what brand did you go for and have you had any issues with splashing?? Also - how long does the filter last and is it difficult to replace? We're thinking about the Quooker 3-in-1 tap that does everything... Thanks!!

Thanks. That's good to know! Where did you get your doors from and did they do the fitting? The door is going to be completely exposed though as there's not really any roof above and no trees close by. I think we'll definitely need something to shut out the light - just that the integrated blinds look a bit odd to me!

I'm wondering whether to go for the flush fitting (with a French drain) or just opt for standard - which with a cill would be no more than 5cm above the brickwork. The net difference in price is just under a grand. Standard is weather rated, flush is not (but then there is the trip hazard!) If you have flush doors, did you have any problems with the rain last year?? I'm worried because we want to have wood floors and I don't want them to get ruined. There's no shelter over the door. On a separate note - are integrated blinds any good? We've got an exposed west facing garden and I imagine we'll need to be able to shade... Especially in weather like this! Any advice much appreciated. Thanks!

Amazed by all the replies! What a puzzler it's turning out to be. And also how much of a luxury a utility room really is! I vaguely considered having it upstairs, but I do put the machine on at night sometimes. I also like to think I would hang laundry outside if possible, though it's true that that's only for a few months of the year! I'm actually starting to wonder whether we could put in a laundry chute from the bathroom to solve the problem of lugging laundry down the stairs... Anyone got one of them?!! It's a bog standard vic terraced house but has 5 beds now because we managed to get 2 extra from the loft conversion. There isn't really a sensible space to put it on the first floor. The layout is a little awkward for fitting a decent sized utility room downstairs, so if we can fit in an oversized cupboard with a butler sink in, then that would probably do us and we'll have to work around most of the other things it seems a laundry room would be used for otherwise. I can definitely can see the advantage of having a 'messy' sink other than the kitchen one. Part of our problem is that one of my biggest priorities is to get in a large dining area that doesn't feel like its right in the middle of the kitchen (mess), and I think that's possibly a little unusual in London!

OK - so I'm pretty sold that a utility room would be a useful addition... The choice is whether to a) go for broke and build a proper sized room that does fit everything in (with some jiggery pokery elsewhere and the extra costs involved) - or b) make do with an oversized cupboard along the wall under the stairs - where you would go in and the washing machine and dryer would be stacked to your left and the sink would be on the right - i.e. sink facing the machines. The current plan has the machines facing out into the corridor with a bit of space to the side for ironing board etc. Room would only be about 70cm wide though! The latter would mean hanging laundry and building in some storage elsewhere, but we could prob manage that.. Not sure we would use as a boot room - maybe get a low level shed out the front for all those sorts of bits as otherwise you'll be traipsing 9 metres or so through the house to get to the utility room from either the back or the front! The embarassing thing of course was that there did use to be a massive utility room right there which we already knocked down because I thought it was too big, made the kitchen too far from the rest of the house, and was overall a wasted space.. We never lived there though as started renovating soon after we bought. (This crisis has all been brought on by latest attempt at potty training and a somewhat traumatic washing event for me after my toddler had been at nursery!)

Ahh.. So much to think about!! Thank you for the responses so far. I suppose the thing is I have never lived in a house with a utility room. I have sorting baskets upstairs (dark, white, colours - and another place for delicates!), though admittedly do find having clothes drying in our living room or spare room quite infuriating. All the utility rooms I've ever seen elsewhere seem to be such horribly unloved stuffy places that I'm not sure whether I would want to hang clean clothes in them! Usually quite good about putting clean clothes away as we'd run out too quick go otherwise - and erm.. We don't actually do any ironing! Guess that will change when mini mooncake goes to school though...

Hello, We?re about to have our kitchen done with both a side-return and 3m rear extension, so it?s going to be a VERY long room (but still only c. 5m wide). Our old dining room is going to be used as a snug and I wanted to keep the throughway from there into the kitchen ? as well as keeping a source of natural light in that room. I?d ruled out having a utility room but I?m starting to have second thoughts! Do / did you have one with your extension? Would you be looking for one in a new house? How do you use yours? It?s a large 5 bed Vic terraced house and there is technically space to have one. But in the most obvious place to put it, it would mean longer hallways on either side of the kitchen, which seems wasteful of the space. Alternatively we could create an extra room in a slightly random position somewhere within the big open plan room. If we don?t have a ?proper sized? utility room, we were still planning to put the washer / dryer in its own soundproofed cupboard under the stairs anyway. Is doing laundry in the corridor weird?! The boiler is in the bathroom but megaflow cylinder will also be on ground floor in a cupboard. Thanks!

Hello, Does anyone have one? What do you think of it? We're fitting a new kitchen and I was going to just go for a double oven, but every single kitchen person we've spoken to has raved about the benefits of a steam oven. I just don't know whether it is really worth it...? We have a rice cooker in pretty much daily use already and generally stir fry veg rather than boil or steam. One thing swaying me slightly is that if we got the single + combi steam we would have more capacity overall and be able to get a pyrolytic one - it seems harder to get this feature in double ovens for whatever reason. We don't have the right space / layout to put the ovens side by side anyway and will definitely have to stack. Opinions anyone??

We are also looking for someone to repaint the exterior walls of our house (the actual frontage - not the windows). Scaffolding is already up for the loft so thought we could get this done before the scaffolding comes down (maybe it's a bad idea with all the dust?!) The house is approx 5m wide, and I'm guessing the walls are around 6m high. Standard Vic mid-terrace. Please get in touch with quotes! Thanks!

Another vote for Colin! He has done a number of jobs for us, including most recently installing a new fence. Excellent service with competitive prices.

Hi all, We're starting major renovations on our house and I'm trying to arrange insurance. For those of you who've done this, what precautions did you take around the security for your property, preventing break-ins, squatters etc? We aren't going to be able to live there for a period. Thanks!

They have a right to charge you for use of the wall according to the info available on party walls - although I think most neighbours would waive this if they previously asked you to endure the noise and disturbance of their works! Bit more understandable if ownership of properties has since changed hands. https://www.gov.uk/party-wall-etc-act-1996-guidance Hope that helps.