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Buy of the week: Streatham Hill
On leafy Downton Avenue in SW2, plenty of family space can be yours for £550,000 at this Edwardian home. There are four bedrooms and a convertible loft space, and the open-plan kitchen/breakfast room has French windows to a good-size garden.
Swap of the week: Dalwood, Devon
Cosy up by woodburning stoves or cook a feast in the vaulted kitchen/breakfast room of this 18th-century thatch for £525,000. Three bedrooms overlook cottage gardens and a timber studio makes a perfect home office.
Life-changer: St Erth Praze, Cornwall
Tregenhorne Farm (£550,000) has four acres of paddocks, stables and valley views, minutes from Cornwall's north coast. You can run your own equestrian business from the garden office and the four-bedroom home has a country kitchen with an Aga.
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Add pattern to your furniture
The swing back to pattern has embraced furniture - from top Dutch brand Moooi to a set of simple shelves at Ikea. But it is easy and far cheaper to create your own totally original feature for any room, says Barbara Chandler
We used a flat-pack chest of drawers, but these steps can easily be adapted to any item of furniture, new or old
You will need: a roll of wallpaper, scissors, wallpaper paste and brush or roller, a clean cloth or sponge, craft knife, clear gloss varnish, and a paint brush.
1. Cut wallpaper to size before assembling furniture. Match pattern carefully. Allow extra to wrap under top. Treat front of chest as one piece.
2. Cover the legs of your flat-pack chest, pasting the paper, and then wrapping it around each leg.
3. Paste one side of the chest, and carefully apply wallpaper, smoothing it down with a clean, dry sponge or cloth. Repeat for the other side and then the back.
Cover the legs of your flat-pack chest
Paste top, and apply paper carefully
Cut along each drawer opening with a craft knife
Wait until the wallpaper is dry, then apply thin gloss varnish
5. Assemble chest, then paste the front, and apply one piece of wallpaper over all drawers. Allow to dry completely, then cut along each drawer opening with a craft knife, and carefully smooth down the edges.
6. Wait until the wallpaper is completely dry, then apply three coats of thin gloss varnish, letting it dry thoroughly between coats.
7. Add knobs to the chest - either the ones that came with the flat-pack (perhaps painted) or something more striking.
* Line the inside of drawers with the same paper to complete the look.
This project uses wallpaper and tools from B&Q (www.diy.com).
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