I helped my Dad build a fire pit in his garden, he made wooden seats to sit around the metal fire pit with old stone columns for extra seating (unfortunately you can't see the actual fire-pit as behind the stone bench). Lots of stories and fun are had around it until deep into the night. If you have the space it is a great addition to put in! Shannon

Hi Andrea Brooks We can totally understand your dilemma - ‘Magnolia’ is certainly not for everyone! Different colours can evoke different moods and feelings, so don’t limit yourself to one colour throughout your whole house. Dark moody tones work brilliantly in bedrooms, and have been proven to help induce better sleep. Our favourite at the moment is Dulux’s Denim Drift. Bright, fresh colours are great for kitchens, and for creating a lively happy atmosphere. I love Dulux Coral Canyon which is really uplifting. Finally, dusted blues and greens have amazing calming qualities, and are fantastic for any rooms you want to relax and unwind in. Dulux Dusted Moss is a beautiful, versatile colour that will suit most styles of property, either traditional or modern. If you are cautious about using colour, why not introduce it slowly through your accessories, or as a feature wall, as these can be easily updated and replaced. Good luck and we would love to see the results. Hannah Dulux Amazing Space www.designer.duluxamazingspace.co.uk

Having worked in the stone business for few years, I realised how much need people nowadays have during their dealings with natural stone. Modern technology, with the advent of internet and social media, made everything easily accessible to everyone, so as the days go by, natural stone is being treated more and more like a perfect picture to be sold to someone, but not everyone is appreciating the beauty of the stone itself. Think about natural stone as something that has undergone an immense process just for you to admire it once in your home. Something that has been buried underground for millions of years, often going through different metamorphic stages, just to then be excavated in block form by expert people, transported from the quarries to the factories by skilled drivers, going through narrow and steep lanes to reach the place where it gets cut into slab form by advanced machines, just before it gets shipped to another country for experienced people to cut it down to your desired shape. Isn’t that marvellous? How much easier is it for someone to gather few minerals, mix them together with some resin and print a perfect picture of your liking on top of it? Yes, it is easy and convenient, but where is the history of that? Natural stone is something lively, something that makes you feel like Mother Nature gifted you a piece of its own art, something unique that cannot be replicated by anyone, nothing that an engineered stone produced in series can offer! Don’t get me wrong, if you are after something that is virtually non-porous, readily available off the shelf and easy to replicate at any point in time, then engineered quartz is probably the perfect option for you, but please remember the difference between the two, and don’t expect one to look or perform like the other!

Claybrook does something similar I don't know if you have already come across it in your search. Claybrook Zeze Orchid