Let The Sunshine In!

We decided to build our


home from scratch a few years ago and my father informed us at the time that we were actually building it


along the wrong lines . He Works as a gardener and


greenkeeper so he is a bit of an expert at telling the direction in which the


sun rises and falls, as well as the path it takes at any given point during the


day. Stupidly, I did not


take his advice. I was adamant that one of the features I wanted in the new


house was a kitchen which faced to the front of the property. Now that we have been in the property for


some time I have to grudgingly accept that my Dad was right and I was wrong.


Because we had built the property effectively back to front,


the kitchen and living room tend to be cold and dark during the day, while the


bedrooms at the rear of the property get bathed in sunlight during the day when


they are never being used.  Now we are as big fans of scented candles and home fragrances in general as the next person but we began to grudge having to use what should have been a bit of treat just to lighten up the dark recesses of out home. People naturally seem


to gravítate to  the kitchen and, even even if we put he heating up full blast in the living room, we all just


sat around talking on hard


kitchen chairs.It was cold dark and uncomfortable, the exact opposite of what we had visualised our kitchen would be. In our minds eye the kitchen would be the heart of the home. It is a bit of a cliche, I know,  but we had really hoped that it would become a warm comfortable gathering place where friends and family could enjoy a cup of tea and a piece of cake, or maybe even a full scale meal. Instead it was miserable and gloomy.In fact there were times it was so bad that we needed to light up some perfumed candles by our favourite makes such as Heyland and Whittle or Yankee candles not just for their fragrance, but to give the room a bit of light.


Finally we took the plunge and resolved to erect an extensión to create a new


living room and sitting room area with an integrated kitchen and dining area perfect for family get togethers. The one essential was that the extensión


was situated to the rear of the house to benefit from the sunlight and also to


give direct access to the garden, for those summer days when we could dime al


fresco. We made use of our solid alder wood kitchen and all the


appliances, with the addition of new granite worktops, my husband is


good at DIY and we had the help of his two carpenter brothers so


we did not have to spend too much on


labour or personnel. We laid decking outside the new patio doors


and wrapped it around the property so that it joined up with the existing deck


at the front of the bungalow. Now we we have a great place to sit and enjoy the sun and we enjoy the views of the


back garden, no longer needing to burn scented candles all day long.


























The author is owner of The Scented Candle Store which supplies a wide range of  candles including  Voluspa candles