HOW WE DU IT : OUR BLOG

If are unfortunate enough to have suffered damage to your property, whether by a leak, fire, frost or weather damage, it is likely that your buildings insurance will cover the damage (less any excess).

For leaks, the insurer will normally pay for trace and access, but not fixing the actual source of the leak. However, damage caused by the leak is normally covered.

Whilst the insurer may try to push their preferred supplier on you, you do not have to use them.

From personal experience, I have found the insurers' contractors can be very useful for the initial boarding up trace and access etc, especially out of hours. However, because they believe they are guaranteed to get the work, what follows is often not great service.

Trying to get an appointment that suits you is difficult. Then, because they want to keep the insurer happy they often under specify the work.

For example, following a break in, my front door was kicked down. This broke the door and the door frame, which also ripped away from the stud walling and caused a large crack in the plaster and moved the stud work.

The insurer's contractor sent an estimator who could only deal with fixing the frame and fitting a new door. Next we received calls trying to book that work in. Even though they had not drawn up the correct specification and their work would all be undone when the walls are repaired.

Luckily you don't have to use the insurer's preferred contractor.

Get two quotes yourself from contractors you trust. The insurance company might want an assessor to check that the work needs doing, but that is it.

You get work done by people you trust and time that suit you.

Avoid the snakes and find the ladders in the serious game of maximising your home's value.

1. One of the biggest myths in this game is that bathroom improvements will send the value of your home soaring like a Eurofighter Typhoon on full afterburners. Most experts agree three per cent is the maximum likely increase in value from this improvement, so do this to improve quality of life, not your asset value.

2. An easy way to boost your home's value is by sorting out any little gremlins, a bit like giving your car a full service. Simply redecorating could boost the value more than totally redoing your bathroom and at a fraction of the price. Likewise a cold and damp house isn't appealing, so have that heating system sorted.  Just make sure any improvements you make are of a professional standard, otherwise you'll be throwing good money after bad.

3. Money pit or money maker? Tips abound on kitchen makeovers that boost value. Find out the kind of kitchens local houses that sold quickly have; small kitchens in large houses benefit from being enlarged by extension; maximise light and space by fitting bigger windows etc. etc. - the list is long and potentially very expensive. Experts reckon five per cent is a good return on an improved kitchen which is fine. Just ask yourself:  "At what cost?"

4. First impressions count. Does your house's exterior make a good one? A simple lick of paint (windows, front door, and garage door -whatever is appropriate) may be all yours needs, or it might be just the start. Ensure what you do matches the rest of the house; cladding might need to be removed if it's 'unsympathetic' to the period, or put on in the form of timber or render if an extension has caused a clash of styles. Potentially expensive, potentially cheap, done to a high standard returns can often break double figures in percentage terms.

5. Big, bigger… best. The number one best way to improve your home's value is to give it more useable space. This means i) a conservatory (generally the least expensive); ii) a loft conversion, which can vary enormously in cost depending on your loft's construction; and finally iii) an extension. Just remember the golden rule: done well, make money. Done badly and you would be wealthier if you'd done nothing at all.

Our literary chums in the home improvement magazine world have literally gone colour crazy in their June editions, picking their favourite hues of paint and room accessories for the summer season. So which ones would cheer any chamber and which aren't even pretty enough to be sensibly disposed of at the council dump? You decide!

Ideal Home have gone straight for pastels but its selection of 'bubblegum pink' and 'sherbet yellow' have us suspecting its scribes have spent too much time in the sweet shop. Sorry Ideal Home but too much candy leave us feeling slightly ill. Fruit Pastel anybody? No, we thought not.

Living etc's choices will have conspiracy theorists wagging their tongues that some journoes have been moonlighting for the other side, as it's plumped for pastel shades as well. 'Delicious ice-cream hues are back with a new flavour' says its contents page trendily. Pastels are an 80s shade and that decade is trendy now, but somehow one can't imagine DCI Gene Hunt saying: "Fire up the Quattro I'm going shopping for some pastel throws."

Your Home have even got in on the act advising one to 'combine pale shades', although it gets some points for putting fabrics and other accessories in the pastel frame, leaving messy paint for others.

Home & Gardens is not a name you would associate with coming in from left field, but when it names its colour of the summer for your room's accessories it comes up with (wait for it) 'zesty orange'!

So well done Home & Gardens! Now take your complimentary fruit basket and leave me to lie down in a quiet room - preferably magnolia coloured.