1 BOILER = 1 TREE

Trees for Cities will plant a tree for every boiler you install with us.

Ever since we started this company 15 years ago, our driving motto has been to take care of our customers. To deliver the best possible service, add value and do our bit to make our customers lives better. We’ve always known that we work in an industry that is by its very nature, carbon negative. 

Now, much has been done by the UK government and most boiler manufacturers to increase the energy efficiency of gas boilers. Most new boilers are up to 70% more efficient than they were 50 years ago. But the negative impact of heating appliances are still the second largest contributor to a household’s carbon footprint.

We’ve decided to do something about it.

We will plant a tree for every boiler you install with us.

It’s important to us to become a sustainable business. So we’re doing as much as we can. We don’t want our existence to be fundamentally harmful to our environment. That’s why we’ve decided to partner with Trees for Cities. With every boiler we install, we will plant a tree. That’s our commitment. We will do something, even if the problem of climate change is too big for us to tackle, we believe everyone should take small steps and do something. 

Our Partnership with Trees for Cities

Trees for cities are the only UK charity working both nationally and internationally to create greener cities. So far, they’ve planted 801, 351 trees. 

As well as working to make cities greener, they also do significant work to educate children about their environment and healthy eating. They’ve worked to educate more than 11,200 school children about trees and ways they could contribute to a healthy environment.

Over to you

Now it’s your turn. Installing a boiler with us means that you’re planting a tree to offset your carbon footprint. Get a quote now to see what your boiler will cost and you can leave the tree planting to us. 

GET A QUOTE

If you want to match our pledge to save the planet one tree at a time, visit Trees for cities and click the donate button to contribute to planting more trees. Hey, it’s a great idea for a birthday gift. 

Bathroom Renovation [Pics]

Bathroom Renovation in Knightsbridge

WPJ consulted with our clients in Knightsbridge to strip down and reinstall the master bathroom. WPJ’s bathroom installers removed the en suite bathroom and fitted a new toilet, taps and shower shower screens and mirrors. As well as new radiators and towel rails.

Bathroom Renovation in Clapham

As well as renovating the bathroom finishings, we also undertake all the building work. Laying new tiles and rendering the walls where necessary and laying marble tiles on the walls and floors.

Bathroom Renovation in Pimlico

Of course, all the underfloor heating and plumbing work is done by us, the heating experts! Pipework is properly concealed in under the floors and in the walls, to keep the design seamless.

We take on all sorts of bathroom projects, with most of our clients based in South West London, we get to work on and design bathrooms that our clients can love living in.

Spring cleaning! Summer is approaching and the season of barbecues and garden parties is upon us. It’s time to declutter and and air out your home.

Throw old things away and start fresh. Let’s get started:

Spring Cleaning: Your Closet

Firstly, clothes are the hardest to give away. Somewhere in the back of your mind you’re thinking, “I’ll soon fit into that again” or “I’ve only worn that once”. So you refuse to throw away that spandex looking skirt you wore that one time you went to the U2 concert.  Truth is, you’re never going to wear that skirt again, and when you do lose that excess 9lbs, you’ll be updating your style anyway and still won’t be wearing that dress. So chuck it. Just do it, you will have so much more headspace and an excellent excuse to go shopping. There is something absolutely cathartic about an organised home.  Here are some experts’ tips:

Lay out all your clothes on the bed

Sort them into piles – work, weekend, going out

Once again into piles you’ve won in the last month, 6 months and year

Sort them one more time – keeping, not sure, donate/sell

If you haven’t worn it in two years, donate or sell it. Don’t be emotionally attached. Unless there are genuine sentimental reasons. Obviously.

Spring Cleaning: Electronics

First of all, throw away the packaging. Some people keep the packaging for items they’ve bought just in case they need to return it. Go through the loft with all those empty boxes. Recycle the boxes of any appliances with expired warranty.

Source: Ali Express

Next, recycle electronics that don’t work and can’t be fixed. And use cable clips to organise your wires.

Spring Cleaning: Everything else

The principle is the same. Go through your drawers, shelves and cupboards to find recyclable items. Over the years, we tend to gather clutter that we won’t use, but somehow are attached to. Organising your home is one of the first steps to organising your life.

Source: Kmart

Dusty pink or else called “millennial pink” or “rose quartz” was the colour of the year for 2017, 2016 or as far back as 2014 depending on who you ask. No doubt this colour has been about for a while. Even though it’s reached its peak in 2018, what happens to all of us who went out and bought dusty pink furniture, painted our walls pink, or changed all our bed linen to some variation of dusty freakin’ pink? We’ve collected pics from all over the web showing different ways to update your use of pink throughout your home.

Dusty Pink and Grey Bedroom

Source: Doctor Kish

This bedroom uses pink to contrast the main white and grey colours. Pink doesn’t necessarily have to be overwhelming. Just a touch of it can go a long way. Here, a blanket is enough.

Dusty Pink and Grey Living Room

Source: Styleroom.se

This living room is another great example of a style that uses touches of pink, rather than making it the main colour. There are also hints of metallic rose gold, which achieves the same effect, with a different spin.

Pink and Grey Art

Source: Living Room Ideas

Sometimes art is all you need to introduce this colour into your living room’s style.

Pink Bathrooms

Source: House Beautiful

This all pink room does the business. It’s a great idea for a guest bathroom, where the loud but not overwhelming colours can be a nice surprise, an escape even. Using different shades of the same colour achieves this effect.

Source: The Spruce

Here a delicate balance is achieved using grey, pink and teal.

Dusty Pink Furniture and Walls

Source: Brissi

Source: Circal Lighting

Finally, this simple, modern design uses varying shades of pink to bring the room together

If it’s disruptive to you, imagine what it’s like for your neighbours.

You chose to get your house renovated, and at the end of it you get a nice new bathroom. Or a nice new kitchen, or a nice new kitchen, or a toasty new boiler. Your neighbours get nothing but noise, loud builders and ugly scaffolding for the length of your project.

We’ve collected tips from everywhere on how you can avoid being an annoying neighbour when renovating carrying out building work on any part of your home.

Inform your neighbours first.

Depending on how disruptive the work is, this informative process could be anything from a polite note through the door to a knock on the door, to an invite to tea.

Take pictures of everything before and after.

Especially if you and the work may affect your neighbours. Consider this particularly if you have adjoining walls. There’s nothing like before and after pictures to establish responsibility over things that could go wrong.

Give regular updates.

If anything changes, make sure to let your neighbour know. If some work was meant to take 2 weeks and you find it will overrun, let your neighbours know.

Not just the one next door.

Yeah, it’s easy to forget, but the people who live behind and across the street from you are your neighbours too. So include them when you think about your neighbours.

If you’re the new guy/gal, be diplomatic.

Remember that your neighbour doesn’t know you and you don’t know them. They have no reason to give you the benefit of the doubt and they don’t care that your house will look better when this is all over. In these instance, remember that the diplomacy and just being thoughtful can go a long way.

The basic summary of this article is this – if you want to avoid drama with your neighbours, being thoughtful is key. A simple invite for tea and keeping everyone informed can go a long way to helping you avoid added agro you don’t need while running your renovation.

Tips for luxury Living

Luxury is less about what you spend than how you feel. You can make you living room feel more like a luxury hotel with these 9 simple tips.

Make Luxury Statements

Centre Pieces 

Choose a statement coffee table that looks expensive. It may look expensive, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s amazing what you can find if you wander through thrift shops and Saturday markets. You can find re – purposed or vintage furniture that

Source: Pottery Barn

Statement Wall

A statement wall will also do the job of making your living room look insanely expensive. Statement walls are designed to draw the eye, and they’ll make you feel like your home was styled by an artist! Make statements using art, mirrors or even plants.

Standing lamps and study or reading corners make a statement about how you live. A corner to relax in can actually in itself be relaxing and luixrious.

Use Metallics

Metallics are in style right now. Adding copper or gold touches to your living room can give a feeling of luxury chic.

Go Retro

Key retro pieces can also make a serious luxury statement. They say that you’re clued up and confident in your own style.

Mix Textures

Luxury is all about comfort. But too often when it comes to cushions, we focus on picking different colours. Use a mix of patterns, colours and textures to change things up. It will go a long way towards that warm, comfortable home that’s worth living in.

Add Plants

We’ve talked extensively about plants and how they make a difference to the feel of your home.

Add Culture

Travelled recently? Picked up a sculpture or two from a market in Casablanca or an art fair in Accra?  Don’t leave them in your loft or storage cupboard, add them to your living room strategically to help you go down luxury lane  from time to time.

In winter, the condensation you notice on your windows could also be collecting on your walls, you may have excess humidity in your home. Damp can be created through simple everyday tasks – doing dishes, cooking, taking a shower, drying clothes. All that moisture created ends up hanging in the air, or as damps in your walls or clothes and linen. Damp in the walls can cause structural damage and lead to rotting and ruined insulation. Which ultimately affects your heating, making it difficult to keep your house warm.

A balanced level of humidity is also important for you and your family’s safety. Breathing mould spores is very dangerous, plus breathing dam air can be the reason you’re waking up each morning with blocked sinuses.

Signs you might need a dehumidifier.

If you spot mould on your walls, you notice your wall paper is peeling, or the paint is cracking, these might be signs of high humidity. In summer, if you notice that its difficult to cool down, or you get excessively hot and clammy while inside your home, it might also be a sign of unusually high humidity.

Do this before getting a dehumidifier

Before deciding to purchase a dehumidifier you may not need, try simpler ways to get rid of humidity. Make sure the exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathroom are clean and working. Use your extractor when cooking and open the windows in your bathroom when you take a shower. All these things go a long way to increasing air circulation in you home and can have significant effects on the humidity levels.

Types of Dehumidifier

They come in different sizes and brands and can cost you anything from tens to hundreds of pounds, depending on what you need. Before you delve into the world of gadgets and extra gizmos, we thought this guide might be helpful.

Refrigerant

These are more common in Britain, because it is believed that they work better at higher temperatures and higher humidities. A fan works to draw the air in the room through the dehumidifier and cool it over metal plates, causing the moisture to condense and drip into the water tank over time. This eventually reduces the relative humidity in the room and the refrigerant humidifier will switch itself off.

Desiccant

This type of dehumidifier works better in colder environments – like your garage, shed or conservatory. They use an absorbent material to extract water from the air. The material is then heated, and the moisture drops into the water condenser.

What size dehumidifier?

Portable dehumidifiers are the ones you simply plug in. They’re a good choice if you’ve got occasional humidity issues. They’re easy to use, affordable and effective.

Humidifiers come in different sizes, from 0.5 to 20 litres. The size you need will depend on the level of humidity in your home as well as the size of your home, or the space you want to use it in.

Small spaces look big when you do these 7 things:

Storage space galore!

You can use storage boxes, baskets and containers to increase the amount of space in your cupboards. If you have open shelving, colour coordinate your boxes to create a cohesive, unified look. Also, don’t ignore the awkward space above your cabinet. Put items you don’t use often in baskets and boxes and stash them up there.

Only keep things you need

Now this should be intuitive, but its amazing how much stuff we collect over time. Obviously, clutter equas less space. You’d think we bare that in mind while collecting mounts of stuff we don’t need. Make a habit of regularly clearing out your stuff.

Rent a storage space

It’s increasingly popular to store some of your things in rented storage boxes or spaces . Particularly in cities like London, where having extra space is a luxury to say the least. This strategy is useful for seasonal items – for example, store your winter coats in summer and store your hot pants in winter. Now there’s an idea.

Keep your kitchen and work surfaces clutter free as much as possible, it’ll make the small spaces look big. Store some of your appliances in cupboards and only keep out the ones you use regularly.

Having said that, take advantage of the space you do have. Try hanging up pots and pans in your kitchen, or taking advantage of the space above your cupboards.

Harmonise your furniture and accessories by decorating with white. light bounces of white walls, creating the illusion of space. Using white to decorate will always make your space look  and feel big and airy, a trick similar to using mirrors.

Source: The Design Chaser

Finally, organise, organise, organise! We can’t say it enough. Most people think that organising your cupboards or closet spaces is a one time affair, but the reality is you have to do it regularly.

Source: House Beautiful

Because you’re alive, you will collect stuff. That means a constant pruning of the things you gather into your house simply because you’re alive. You have to be brutal. Prioritise having space if it’s really that important to you.

Toolbox Essentials

A tool box may be a small investment, but it can save you an incredible amount of money by allowing you to address and troubleshoot basic problems yourself, before needing to call in the professionals.

Toolbox essentials: the basics

Screwdrivers

You can fix almost anything with a set of proper screwdrivers. Use them to tighten loose screws, set up flat pack furniture and for any basic installation project. You can get flat head screwdriver heads for slot headed nails and phillips head (cross head) screwdriver sets too.

Tape measure

Keep it on hand to measure anything from the wall area for a paint project to the thickness of lumber at the home center—where you’ll learn that a 2×4 is not exactly 2 by 4 inches.

Toolbox

Keeping your tools – drivers, screws, and bolts in an easy-to-carry toolbox keeps you organised and tidy. The big box (or bag) has a single metal latch that closes tightly. A removable tray is great for assorted fasteners.

Hammer

Of course, a hammer is essential. A 16-ounce smooth-faced claw hammer has a nice mix of heft and versatility for driving nails into walls to hang pictures, knocking together ready-to-assemble furniture, and building birdhouses. The curved claw is useful for pulling out the nails that inevitably get bent.

Pliers

You can use them to straighten bent plugs, replace old shower heads, cut wires and grip nails so you can pull them out.

Utility Knife

You’ll be using this to open delivery boxes, sharpen pencils, mark mortises, and shave wood. Spend a little more upfront for one with a comfortable rubber-covered handle and built-in blade storage. Then you’re more likely to pop in a fresh blade rather than forcing a dull one, which isn’t safe.

Adjustable Wrench

You need one, trust us. It’s jaws can be used to tighten nuts and bolts when assembling things like a backyard swing or when installing a new tap.

We hope this helps, at the very least its a start to getting you DIY ready for all kinds of odd jobs, plumbing emergencies and flat pack assembly situations.