You are right again, Pheobe! We sort of tricked them: we only put single glazing on the ground floor windows, the rest of the house (and back) are double glazed and all our windows have shutters (way better than secondary glaze!! :)) Our argument was that whoever is looking at the area would not notice that we have double glazed windows at first and second floor. Don't get me wrong - I love living in a conservation area and do my best to follow the rules - it all comes to respecting and enjoying the place you live in and I, as most of my neighbours, recognise this. However, I am aware that not everybody thinks the same and some would carelessly ignore its importance if rules weren't in place. What I find irritating is the lack of flexibility and the contrary, even hypocritical rules imposed by some county councils. There's always a happy medium, it's just that they seem to have missed that class. PS: Let's not forget the safety issue; it's harder to break the glass in a double glazed window than a single one.

I'm looking to renovate the ensuite of my 2 bed flat and came across photos of open plan bathrooms. Some of the photos look great and I'm considering it as I don't have much room to work with in the bathroom and my bedroom has room I can use. I'm looking at moving the basin into the bedroom area, which would free up space for a bath and shower. I was thinking of making the basin look less bathroom-y and more like a makeup desk using wood and soft furnishing and a full length mirror. The rest of the bathroom would be behind a wall (no door). Main problem is that the door to the bedroom will open to the the basin (the rest of the bedroom is on the left), which I guess would put people off. I quite like the idea but I'm concerned it would put off potential buyers (more so after reading the comments). Should I stick with a traditional ensuite? I can put a bath and shower in there but I think it would be too cramped or I can loose the bath and have more room with just a shower. What do you think?

I suspect one trend will be customisation. And that'll happen on the entire scale between "basic habitation" and "luxury home", as well as between "small piece of furniture" and "complex building structure". It'll be used to drive developers' and builders' costs down but also to enable more design features for specifiers at no extra cost. On-demand fabrication (CNC cutting, 3D printing, offsite prefabrication) is already a common thing for higher-end builds where site access constraints or specification details restrict what's possible to make on site. "Prefab lofts" that are just craned up and put into place are only one such example; 3D printed concrete or bricklaying robots are going to enable on-site fast custom construction as well. The price point for these projects is coming down though, so we'll see more projects like the "wiki house" on entry level as well. And not just for self-builders. The potential impact of this on large-scale housebuilding is tremendous; right now, in the U.K., to meet their price point, Developers build 50 identical shoebox houses, while with cheaper customisation they may built 50 foundation slabs with utility connections preinstalled and let customers choose the "actual house" off plan from modular catalogue design. This will create an interesting challenge for planners ... approve a development where it's not entirely predetermined how the houses will look when built... That - customised one-off manufacturing becoming cheaper - will also move applicability towards smaller items. Ultimately, the "next IKEA" might be a (work)shop where your flatpack furniture is made-while-you-wait; browse the display select the style give them a picture of the room taking your new kitchen for the dimensions, the software will give you a 3D VR experience how it'll look&feel. When you know what you want the CNC machine will make the cabinetry to size, right there. The demand for the interior finishes/furniture side of customised manufacturing is in part also going to be driven by housing policy and the need for affordable accommodation; the London Mayor's "naked homes" initiative is a start here, and if it takes off we will see companies addressing the demand for finishing/furnishing such "built but not finished" apartments.

If you are not completely sold on it I think it’s because the traditional table and chairs is slightly off with the crisp white walls and the modern floor and curtains. Personally I think a confident wall colour such as Drawing room blue from Farrow and Ball could be spot on. I would probably paint the window and coving a soft white such as All White and then the ceiling in a mid tone neutral such as blackened or skylight. I also think a rug would help as would dressing the curtains up a little with embellishments or even just tie backs. And I like your light- I think you need an extra one. And your gilt framed picture is lost in its current position, try to find a better spot where you can see it better