The Northern Echo
The lifestyle magazine for the North-East MARCH 2005
ME AND MY WARDROBE Kate Atkinson
SHOOT! Fashion for the footie foursome
TRAVEL Rome from home
SHOPPING FASHION GADGETS MOTORING GARDENING 2 March 2005 Online: www.nemagazine.co.uk
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SHARON GRIFFITHS LIFE COACH 3 The agony and 17 Put a spring ecstasy of homemaking in your step magazine INTERIORS GADGET MAN is produced by 4 Beautiful 18 Surround yourself The bathrooms with sound Northern INTERIORS WINE OFFER Echo/ Newsquest 6 Small and 19 12 bottles for the Ltd., beautiful price of 11 a Gannett GARDENING MOTORING Company, Priestgate, 10 The meadow 20 A brush with Darlington in a bag the new Picasso DL1 1NF FASHION NE CONNECTIONS (01325) 381313 12 A shoot for 21 Rome direct the footballers from home ADVERTISING ME AND MY Neil Simpson (01325) 505 173 14 WARDROBE neil.simpson The fashion student NEXT MONTH @nne.co.uk Chris Kay OUT ON THE TOWN ECO- (0191) 374 0298 15 with McCourt CLOTHES chris.kay @nne.co.uk and McKay FOR SHOPPING
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l l lley EDITORIAL e Tulip Hill a Gates m V head w Hotel ea The green t T Town Cent l re a 16 Jenny Needham Bensh S ONES am Bank (01325) 505082 baby scene EMBER S Peugeo t Machine Mart South jenny.needham WE ARE HERE rth No Consett @nne.co.uk Whickham IN ASSOCIATION WITH March 2005 Online: www.nemagazine.co.uk 3
FOR BABIES WHO LUNCH sharon griffiths HIGHCHAIRS are great. Except when you don’t have one. That’s where Totseat comes in. It’s washable. It’s squashable. It’s highly portable. Suitable for children between the ages of eight months and two years, Totseat anchors the child in safety and comfort in an adult chair. It’s easy to use, fits most adult chairs and is highly portable – fitting into a pocket or handbag. It adjusts, using two buttons, to suit chairs of varying back heights and a fully aBy the time adjustable cummerbund even provides a back support on chairs with big gaps. The Totseat costs £29.99 and comes with a compact, it got to matching pocket bag to carry it around in. Contact Beverley Kirk for further information: 0131 225-4646 choosing [email protected] bathroom BAGS OF STYLE IF you want to be truly individual, these beautiful bags from The Damson Tree on Barnard Castle’s high tiles, I was street might be worth picking up. They are limited edition bags, worried for her all handmade in suede and fabric. The European company that makes them, Mety sanity... window shopping Dornali, comes up with completely new de- signs each season. They cost from £120. TAPS!” sobbed my friend Mary down all of bi-fold doors, enclosures and cubicles. the phone. “Now he wants me to We’ll pass over the time she was choosing achoose taps!” Which led me to my the- radiators. You wouldn’t think that something ory that doing up a house is a bit like as simple as warming a room and drying a having a baby… towel could cause so much angst. Last year Mary, single and childless, inher- It did. ited a house in Durham. The timing was per- By the time it got to choosing bathroom fect – just when she was thinking of moving tiles, I was worried for her sanity. Kitchen out of her flat for something with a garden. tiles had been no problem, but it took at least Of course the house – 1930s and formerly a month and countless expeditions before she the home of an elderly aunt who’d done very chose the bathroom tiles. She took samples little to it for the last 20 years – needed a lit- home, took them back again, took more, took tle attention. Well, quite a lot actually. But the same ones again, brought them back… Mary was lucky. She could carry on living in Kindly men in tile showrooms began to hide her flat while the work was done. She em- when she came in. barked on the project with relish and delight. But finally she had regained her equilibri- There were basics like rewiring, new win- um. The end was in sight. The rest of the dows, central heating, a wall down here, a house was coming together beautifully – doorway knocked through there. But all of it wooden floors, light fittings. Swatches and – with the help of a wonderful supervising paint samples lay scattered on window sills, architect and amazingly nice builders – went the choices easy, the decorators booked. through fairly easily. Then the plumber asked her about taps… There were a few agonies over the kitchen. It was unfortunate, perhaps, that I’d rung Hi tech? Farmhouse? Shaker? But then she just a few minutes after the plumber. I was saw exactly the kitchen she wanted in a show- right in line. I made soothing noises, sug- room – limed oak, very simple, classic, she gested she asked the plumber to choose. She even liked the handles, perfect – and being a calmed down – but only slightly. decisive person bought it. Just like that. She’s Not long after that, she moved in. I sent good at making decisions. flowers and presumed that she had solved the Until it came to the bathrooms… tap problem. Not to mention the tiles, radia- The original bathroom was bleak, basic and tors, shower, bath, loo and basin… tiny. Next to it was a boxroom, which would, Then finally, there was a housewarming the architect agreed make an ideal shower lunch party for a few select friends. At least room. So far, so good. we would see this house which had taken so And then maybe because she’d had months much work, so much effort, so many deci- of making decisions, her confidence sudden- sions, ly crumbled. It was, is, wonderfully done. We had the First of all it was the bath. A bath is a bath, guided tour, oohed over the kitchen, aahed you’d think. But no, there were coloured over the sitting room, envied the study. We baths, thin baths, thick baths, long baths, trooped upstairs, adored the bedrooms. Then short baths, slopey baths, baths with handles, it came to the bathroom and shower. roll-top baths with panels… They were perfection. The bathroom was Basins. Victorian? Edwardian? Ultramod- small, stylish and classy, very minimalist – ern? Japanese style? On a stand, in a unit, on even the taps; the shower room fun and exu- a bench? Big, small? She wandered, bemused berant with jolly mermaids and fishes. The round showrooms. Even loos are more varied rest of us – all no doubt thinking of our chaot- then you’d ever believe possible. ic family bathrooms – were very envious. The decisions began to wear her down. “All that time and agony was worth it,” I HOLIWAYS GARAGE WHINBANK Doing up the house, once a source of delight, said admiringly. ROAD DURHAM WAY SOUTH KITCHEN CREATION started to get to her. “Agony?” said Mary, puzzled, “what agony? AYCLIFFE VILLAGE
TO P. W. S . Then for a while, showers and shower cu- It’s been really fun.” HEIGHINGTON 3M
FACTORY A
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6 bicles took over her life. The woman who As I said, doing a house is just like having TETLEYS 7
INCINERATOR JUNCTION could not bear to walk past a shoe shop had a baby. Hellish to go through, but once it’s all 59 A167 suddenly abandoned the High Street for out over, you instantly forget the pain – and just Mc DONALDS DARLINGTON FILTRONIC SOUTH NORTH of town DIY stores and her talk was love the result. A1 A1 4 March 2005 Online: www.nemagazine.co.uk
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DECORATIVE INTERIOR CLADDING The family bathroom used to be just that – the family bathroom. I I S S H H & & I I N A L L T T E E R R N N A T But home buyers today expect an ensuite and a shower too. Y Y L L E X P E A T I V JENNY NEEDHAM reports on the rise and rise of clean living S S T T P E V V E E A A E E N N S S I I S the pressures of children, rela- SELECTING THE RIGHT SHOWER tionships and work combine to CHOOSING the right look for your bath- make us all busier than ever, the room is all important as any of your living one place we can escape to is the areas. An up-to-date, clean and modern bathroom. bathroom will add thousands on to the AWhether it is lathering up in the shower value of your home and, more importantly, or soaking in the bath, the bathroom is the will make your daily ablutions all the more place to have uninterrupted personal think- enjoyable. ing time. Find out which type of hot water system Discount Personal hygiene is an important part of you have, as this will guide your choice of on March everyone’s agenda today and, on average, shower – combi boiler, gravity-fed or high Orders with around 18 per cent of domestic water con- this Advert! pressure system. Some showers cannot op- sumption in the UK is devoted to bathing erate with certain water systems. and showering. Decide where you would like to put the Showers have increased in popularity shower. Showers can be squeezed into all A HUGE RANGE @ GREAT PRICES throughout the ages and now showering is sorts of places and many properties now as popular as bathing. There is already evi- have more than one. Do you want it to go A new range with a variety of BATHROOM BEDROOM dence that people in the UK are showering above a bath or do you need an enclosure colours that match all more than ever before and that they are KITCHEN LOUNGE HALL (cubicle)? What have you got space for? An types of rooms and ceilings. using more ever more powerful showers. electric shower is perfect for places where It looks great, quick to install, FOR WALLS & CEILINGS Wet rooms are also being designed into the running hot water pipes might be difficult reduces condensation, modern home. or when you have limited hot water and O PENING H OURS Only a few decades ago, a bath a week was want a guaranteed supply. insulates your room and considered to be enough to maintain per- best of all it’s M ON -F RI 8 AM - 5 PM Choose what sort of performance level S AT 8 AM - 1 PM sonal hygiene. Today, our attitudes towards you would like. Do you need a power show- MAINTENANCE FREE! personal hygiene have changed. Showers er or if you have a shower with a large head tend to be preferred over baths for conve- you may need a pump to increase your nience, but also as a more hygienic way to water pressure. T.A. Plastic Ltd wash. If in doubt consult a professional. In- Tudhoe Industrial Estate, Spennymoor A Mira survey revealed that, on average, stallers will advise you on the most suitable more than half of us, some 56 per cent, take models for your bathroom. PPHONEHONE NOW a shower each day. The Scottish come top in the cleanliness stakes with 85 per cent WET ROOMS TA taking a shower each day, while top shower AT the opposite end of the scale from the 25 years 01388 814858 shirkers are people from East Anglia, of Service traditionally luxurious bathrooms yet which only 48 per cent take a shower each www.taplastics.co.uk equally popular today is the minimalistic, PLASTICS day. March 2005 Online: www.nemagazine.co.uk 5
From top: Distinction Fina bathroom suite; egg bath and cubic bathtub in Cadaquez, both by Limestone Gallery (020 7735 8555) www.limestonegallery.com; Roto basin and fluorescent wet light illuminated bathtub from Alternative Plans (020 7243 9747) www.alternativeplans.com ...and for the bath brigade
uber-trendy wet room. Inspired by conti- nental interiors, these rooms are totally wa- terproof with their own floor drain. Recently wet rooms have become very popular with many top designers using them in bathroom makeovers. The concept of the wet room is that the entire room is dedicated to your showering pleasure... you can get as wet as you want in the shower without being restricted to a shower tray or door. Take advice from an expert if you are thinking of doing this as the tiles on the floor and walls and the drainage will need to be taken into consideration to avoid puddles.
What do you think about in the shower? HEN asked for the Mira survey Wwhat they think about in the shower, many people said their partners, emotional issues or the practicalities of what they need to achieve in the day ahead. A smaller number of people admitted to thinking about famous people and perhaps worryingly, a few even claimed to think about work colleagues. Unsurprisingly, Kylie Minogue was the most popular showertime babe, whereas the top men were rugby world cup hero Jonny Wilkinson and the character Dennis Rickman from EastEnders. 6 March 2005 Online: www.nemagazine.co.uk
In a time of outsize sofas, dressers and sideboards the owners of a small but perfectly formed Dales cottage have used all their ingenuity to find furniture that fits. SARAH FRENCH reports BRIDE & GROOM AT PRINCIPIA ITS YOUR WEDDING Small is
Why Hire? beautiful ITS YOUR WEDDING ITS YOUR When You Can Buy!
ITS YOUR WEDDING FTER braving many winter So to find him holed up in the cottage weekends searching remote kitchen reading the paper and ready to parts of the Yorkshire Dales make cappuccinos for guests is something Bridesmaid Dresses from £85 for their dream cottage, Pat of a rarity. “I’ve never been like this be- Rocket and her husband fore,” he says, “but when I come here I to- Wedding Dresses from £145 Phil were on the verge of giv- tally relax.” Aing up. “We were always that little bit too It’s a relief for Pat too, who was keen to late, or we got gazumped on price, or the see him put his feet up at least for a little property wasn’t quite right. It just wasn’t while. Let one of our working out,” says Pat. Not that it’s been all rest. With his build- Then on virtually their final day of look- ing skills, Phil has done most of the work experienced bridal ing, while they explored a little further in on the house, from lifting the stone flags in Upper Wensleydale, a man came out of a the kitchen to lay a water repellent mem- advisors tiny terraced cottage to speak to them. brane – the 220-year-old cottage has no “He asked if we were looking for a house, foundations – to reinstating a tongue and
ITS YOUR WEDDING ITS YOUR help you choose your we said we were and he said his was about groove wall between the kitchen and living ITS YOUR WEDDING dress for your Big Day to go on the market. We had a look inside, room. thought it was great, went to the pub to “It was a building site for a while. We’d talk about it, made him an offer and that come at weekends to work on it and sleep was it. The house found us,” says Pat. first on the floor, then we progressed to 20 Dundas That was last May and from then until mattresses on the floor,” says Pat. before Christmas they worked on the cot- They moved a window, installed electric Street, tage, turning it into a cosy hideaway that central heating, had the place rewired and they use at weekends and holidays. replastered and gave stone shelving from Middlesbrough Phil has run his own landscape garden- the old pantry new life in the living room. ing business, Rocket Landscaping, in Dar- “We love the old features like the beams, lington for the last 23 years and is equally the floors and the stone stairs so we’ve tried Tel: well known as the gardening expert on to make more of them,” she adds. Alpha Radio. The only thing Phil hasn’t done yet is the 01642 224554 “I’m up at six every morning to do two garden, though it’s on the list for the sum- hours in the office at home before going out mer, which will involve building a wall and ITS YOUR WEDDING ITS YOUR