Alas there are several- one early on in married life, my first meal for mother in law and sister in law and husband, I put 2 oz of salt in fruit flan for dessert, instead of 2 oz of sugar! Everyone was very polite and said nothing until I did, then they all agreed it was awful and we had cheese and biscuits and chocolates instead. When cooking for other relatives of my husbands, a bit of metal evidently fell off the hand whisk into the dessert and, (fortunately) I got the biggest piece in a mouth fall, breaking a tooth off completely! We once appeared at a new neighbors for a meal a week early, dressed to the nines with a bottle of wine, a week early (they looked utterly confused but invited us in and we had a takeaway instead amid much laughter). Likewise, we went to a work colleague of my husbands, and his wife with the usual bottle of wine etc. Unfortunately they turned out to be deeply religious, totally against alcohol of any sort and spent the entire evening trying to convert us from our heathen life and preaching hell fire at us.

Hello donned2004, Well you could remove all the things from the hearth.. So it has more space.. Hang the mirror and paint the chimney breast a nice colour to bring the fireplace into full focus.. If you wanted to have an even bigger recess.. you could open the fire out up to the sides of the wooden surround.. So taking out the 30's tiles.. Make sure the lintel is in place or doesn't need replacing and keep the surround it's rather nice.. Remove the current tiled hearth if you chose to open it out more.. and install a flat piece of slate.. So then you would have an open brick recess and a lovely iron basket could sit nicely inside for logs! Another idea to continue into the room.. might be to look at painting the woodwork a colour to compliment any wall colours you have.... Some lovely painted floorboards, or parquet or a natural Jute or Coir flooring if you have not already decided upon something.. : ))

The shortest time we lived in a house was 18 months - the neighbour turned out to have serious psychological problems, he took against me within weeks, pushing notes through letterbox saying I was a female she devil and deserved to burn in hell etc, etc. and quoting bible stuff. I had not even seen or spoken to him at that point, just held perfectly normal conversations with his partner. Then it was pounding on our adjoining walls at night, digging up the plumbing pipes behind our houses (he didn't want polluted excrement through the pipes?!) going out to his work leaving the Magic flute playing at full blast (echoes an episode of Morse?) until we had to call the police. The culmination was a throwing bricks at our french windows standing in our garden, apparently attempting to stone me (something biblical again?). We couldn't sell the house to anyone but a landlord who "took it off our hands" at a price below what we paid for it. I felt guilty as he continued to harass various renters afterwards, but eventually they moved out, not before breaking the legs of the last occupant next door. The police were very politically correct throughout and of course I felt immensely sorry for his condition, but have to wonder about care in the community as opposed to the days when people with serious psychiatric problems were locked up for their own good and the good of others. What do people think on that score??

I reckon Houzz should have a monthly post/ article on what to do in the garden for each month... with names of plants/ flowers, techniques, tips on seeding, propagation... Would be so useful for people like me who are not very ‘green fingered’ , but are willing to learn and enjoy their garden more!