Having family and friends over for Christmas this year and you’ve just noticed that the ‘outside room’ furniture is looking old and faded? Rather than spending your annual bonus on new canvas awnings and chair covers, consider painting them. Spray…
Many might accuse town planners of lacking in artistic creativity, but not in the Netherlands city of Rotterdam. Needing to develop two small pieces of land on opposite sides of a 4-lane road, the council consulted architect Piet Blom, whose…
Australian borrowers received a happy early-Christmas gift this week, with the Reserve Bank deciding to leave the official cash rate unchanged at 4.35%. Following last month’s Melbourne Cup Day decision, this will be extra welcome, as there will now be…
Home values presented a patchwork of highs and lows around the country in November, new figures show. Overall, CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index (HVI) rose 0.6% in November, the smallest monthly gain since the growth cycle commenced in February. Despite…
If you’re looking for a home with history, a castle in Austria known as ‘Mozart’s Last Castle’, has been listed for €12 million (AUD$19.8m). Since the 12th Century, Schloss Stuppach has hosted many illustrious guests, including Napoleon, Franz Schubert, Pope…
Building approvals continue to fluctuate from month to month, according to data released this week by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). The latest figures show that the total number of dwellings approved rose 7.5% in October, in seasonally adjusted…
Australian shoppers intend to enjoy a smaller Christmas this year, new research shows. Bargain hunting and shopping early online are also on the agenda, with three in four respondents to a survey conducted by Westpac saying they will be cutting…
Quite a few homes in New Orleans’ Tremé neighbourhood boast a beautiful, patchwork wooden front door, thanks to the ingenuity of a local artist who has turned scraps from his Katrina-damaged home into ‘wooden quilts’. A 12th-generation Afro-Creole, Jean-Marcel St…
Renewable energy supplies exceeded household electricity use in 2021-22, according to data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Continued growth in solar and wind production means that, for the first time, the output of electricity from these sectors…
A scheme to help more Australians into their own homes by allowing them to purchase a property with as little as a 2% deposit has this week taken a step closer to fulfilment. The ‘Help to Buy’ legislation introduced in…
