Mimi83

Thank you. I could ask the local church then.

Hi everyone, My daughter has never had a proper birthday party before (we don't have family here). In October when she turns 6, I really want to have a birthday party for her. I would've loved to do an outdoor party like renting some paddle boats at Millhouses Park or just some playground fun ... but the weather is likely to be cold/wet/miserable at the time. I was wondering, has anyone ever hired a bouncy castle and used it indoors in a church hall before? Do halls allow that? Is it a good/bad idea? We have been to so many parties at the same church hall, often with the same entertainer ... I was thinking perhaps a bouncy castle might be a change ... but I'm really confused. Any ideas/suggestions would be welcome. Thanks!

I would like to add an electrician to the list. I had posted an ad here for a broken socket and got stood up by a popular tradesman. But Matt from MJF Electrical services came within an hour of calling and sorted it out at a very reasonable price. Call 07935 818266. Hope this helps someone.

Hi The mould is sadly not just a stain in the sealant or caulk etc that can be treated with bleach. Rather, there is a rubber seal all around the edge of the glass pane. Well about 1-2 inches of this seal is missing at the corners and inside that hole/gap i can see black mould. I'm assuming it's running all the way under that seal. The seal I think had to be removed, the underneath must be cleaned and then seal replaced. I could perhaps remove the seal myself but I would not be able to replace it precisely as before. Also the missing bits have to be filled appropriately. I'm afraid if I touch it, I'll make it worse, so looking for a professional advice.

Thank you! That's an encouraging case in point... i am now thinking about following this rough order of things as well. Can you recommend any window fixing people who can remove mold from the surrounds and reseal the window? Thanks.

Thank you everyone; your words have been eye opening indeed. It seems that i must start with an external house maintenance guy to check the roof first? Will he also check an old patch of ceiling mould in the upstairs bedroom? Re Dan: the wardrobe presently is on the common wall between two houses. I want to put it on the opposite internal wall ...(i hope I'm making sense; it's definitely not an external wall). But I therefore will have to also replace a fixed window pane with a movable/open-shut window on the other side. It is part of a ginormous wall-to-wall front window that only opens at one end. It's beginning to sound difficult even as I write this Sigh.

I'd thoroughly recommend Sam Lovatt too. We had a kitchen ceiling dripping right before we went on holiday; although it was the weekend, I was desperate so called Sam and he answered. Arrived promptly and sorted it out at a very reasonable price. Have now assigned him to do our bathroom before summer. Highly recommended.

Hi I am looking for some advice/insights into revamping our old '60s 3-bed semi. Basically the entire house is old and tired-looking, albeit neutral. We had the bathroom made new when we moved in and the living and bedrooms, we just installed a new budget carpet that has been well used by our toddlers. I feel like now it is time to start doing up our home bit by bit ... but where do I start? There is a bit of all sorts of work needed including decoration, wood work, windows/patio door frames, kitchen work. Please can you give some insights from experience? We are first-time homeowners so don't really know where to start or whom to contact. Thanks! P.S. Just for some idea, I have included the kind of work that needs to be done below... I know it sounds ugly but really we live in a clean and mostly tidy house However the house does need work for sure ... The walls are covered in old textured wallpaper that has been painted magnolia. We would like smooth plastered walls. The built-in wardrobes, while sound in form, are on the wrong side of the room ... this gives us very little space for the bed. We would like to have them on the opposite wall of the room. The boiler cupboard is rather ugly inside and out and has no shelves/etc inside to help in storage. The windows, while double-glazed, have black mold growing under the seal. (This is one of the things i'm most concerned about). The staircase/rail is very dated in design and the carpet is old and ugly. Downstairs, the flooring is laminated but sort of a botch job with holes for radiator pipes that are gaping open. The kick-boards are again rather in poor shape. It is the same story through the kitchen, though I did in my own way try to give it a 'theme' with some colourful blinds/rugs to make it look a bit harmonious. But it is a cheap kitchen and the splash-back tile grout is coming off or blackish In the living room, the back opens up into the garden; this is an old-fashioned sliding door which works perfectly but is dated and the external wooden frame is badly weathered. ---------- Post added 10-12-2016 at 14:12 ---------- Ooh I forgot to mention; in the living room, there is a chimney breast alongside stone/concrete side 'wings' for placing the TV etc ... this takes up a huge amount of unused space. Ideally I would like to get rid of this but it would mean proper construction-related messy work ...

Hi everyone Never seen this one before: our kitchen window is being inundated by a swarm of tiny flying insects in a rather ... ahem... Hitchcock-ish manner ? They look like mosquitoes but might be midges. Got all windows closed... Dont want the little buggers coming in. Is this common this time of the year? On the plus side, Bitsy the spider who has permanent tenancy outside the kitchen window is having a blast ?

Hi there! I already joined the group after talking to you here ...it's amazing. Immediately received lots of support ... including .. (would you believe it?) one Etsy seller warned me about someone duplicating my and other sellers' listings and selling them as their own! Thankfully the matter was promptly resolved by Etsy ... but I would've never known had I not joined the group. So thank you again for your recommendation. My shop is oonicrafts by the way ... still a little fledgling with awkward feathers ... xxx!

Hi there, Thanks for the link! No i have not joined the Sheffield Sellers group .. but I certainly will now I made one sale so far ... and was over the moon with it. But I have loads of homework to do to improve matters. (A bit overwhelming with two toddlers and uni ...) Your shop is lovely by the way ... and the photography is superb! I wish I could take photos like that ... Thanks again! xxx

Thank you for your insights. What you say makes a lot of sense. Perhaps I need to tweak my business plan : start small with local gift/craft shops to get some market experience ... and then take it up from there. P.S. This is harder/ more complicated than I thought ...

Thanks for your insight, Chez2. My mistakes are precisely why I started this post in the first place because this is all new to me. Do you reckon I should work harder on the Etsy shop then? As for price competition, just to give you an idea, an excellent product which I would personally foresee being priced at more than £500 for its quality and workmanship is only around £140 from Ukraine. How do I beat that? I am working alone and despite referring to all sorts of 'time saving' crafting techniques could never speed up production to reduce my price to that level. If I did, I would probably be paying myself less than £2 per hour.

Thank you once again for your kind responses. I will never place my final product on Etsy: I think the market is not appropriate. There is a certain going rate for this kind of products on Etsy and I think already my products are hugely devalued there. Basically there is huge price competition from sellers in Malaysia, Europe, Russia. I am just posting products there which are relatively quicker to create but good quality still. No sales yet I guess it's a learning curve. If Etsy doesn't work out in, say 3 months, I might leave. I have already started drafting the high end product but I am having trouble with determining my market entry mode: how will i approach those party planners once the work is done? Should i make smaller samples of my work to post out to them? Should i pre-book an appointment and physically visit them to show the product? Do they entertain B2B clients like this? Any insights on the final marketing will be very helpful. Thank you once again for your wonderful insights, you're all stars!

Thanks once again for your insightful comments. You have hit the nail on the head when it comes to my ideal business plan. I think I should start work on developing an über high quality product for the high end market and explore marketing options like you say. Meanwhile though, should i go live with my cheaper Etsy shop anyway just to get word/a few sales out? Also if you don't mind, would it be ok if i PM'ed you for advice ?? Thanks!