If you are up to your eyes in paint, tiles and taps – or even better, just looking through the brochures as you prepare the domestic make-over you can’t put off any longer – you could do worse than listen to this week’s podcast.
We’ve Zoomed in on interior designer Stephanie Bungard to discover the easiest and most effective way to make your apartment look fresh and inviting.
For instance, do you know what colours are popular these days because they are calming?
And if you’re looking to freshen up the place for rent or sale – or just to make it a nicer space to live in – how you can supplement the paint job with new tapware in the kitchen and bathroom.
Design questions
In an enlightening and entertaining chat, Steff answers such questions as:
- What are the latest trends in apartment interior design?
- What’s the easiest way to make a small space look bigger?
- In a renovation, where should you spend more – kitchen or bathroom?
- Feature walls – in or out?
- Sliding doors on wardrobes are great space savers – but what if you don’t want giant mirrors in your bedroom?
- What are the biggest and/or most common mistakes apartment owners make regarding interiors?
- What are the trendy new colours for apartments?
- What are good alternatives to tiles in bathrooms (all that grout!)?
- Timber, tile or carpet on floors?
- Any tips for investors who will be renting out or selling their flats?
Todd waltzes in
Before that, Sue and Jimmy talk about the case that came to light when Todd McKenney contacted us to say he wanted to help a pensioner who’s in danger of losing his dog.
As this story explains, 81-year-old Colin Marshall firmly believed he was entitled to take his pet greyhound into his new home in an apartment block, only for the owners corporation to change its by-laws after he had moved in.
Is that a rule made retrospectively? And if it is, does it hold water? Is there any difference between that and, say, a new rule banning barbecues on balconies when someone has bought one under the old by-laws?
Obviously, the answer to the latter is “yes” as a pet is a member of the family as Bu is, in this case. As Todd is the Ambassador of the Greyhoud Adoption program, he’s “waltzed in” to offer support and advice.
Rents up and down
Then we get into the ups and downs of the rental market which has some revealing twists and turns in terms of where rents have actually gone up while most others have gone down
And Sue’s “Hey Martha” looks at the new book by Donald Trump’s niece. With a Ph.D. in psychology, Mary Trump is far from your average disgruntled family member.
The book’s subtitle, “How my family created the world’s most dangerous man,” gives you a hint of its general thrust. You can read more about it in this Politico feature.
Listen here
If you haven’t already done so you can subscribe to this podcast, completely free, on Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher or your favourite podcatcher.
If the link doesn’t take you straight there, just search for Flat Chat Wrap, click on subscribe, and you’ll get this podcast every week without even trying. And please give us a rating or review … it all helps to keep us going.
[powerpress]
This is now being discussed in the Flat Chat Forum