Decorating Your House

One of the things many people do when they buy a new house is spending their free time in furniture and decoration stores. If you just bought a new house you know what I'm talking about, don't you?

But maybe you are at a different stage now , perhaps trying to sell your house to move to a new one. Then, why don't we start by watching a TV programme where they give us tips about how to add value to our house to sell it better?




Now, once we know how to sell our house, let's see if we know where we can go to buy furniture. Why don't we play a little game... could you name at least three very famous shops in your city?.... Let's see... IKEA, of course, and then.... maybe...Zara Home, Casa... By the way, do you know why IKEA has become so popular if at the end of the day you have to set everything by yourself? I imagine it's because it's probably the cheapest way of redecorating your house.

In case you are currently decorating your own house, here you can find some ideas from some of the most common shops you could go or you could order furniture from, this could be also a good way to improve your vocabulary as you will see everyday objects next to their English translation. why don't have a go?:

IKEA online
CASA shops
Zara Home online
Furniture.com
Overstock.com

Some people can find decorating a new house very hard, well maybe it's just a matter our knowledge of which is our own style first. Come on try the quiz and watch the video "Color your house":

What's your decorating style? - Quiz


But, why do some of us worry about these matters?I don't know... maybe because most people stay at home a lot of time during a year and we like it looks nice and comfortable. What about holidays, do you like staying at home or do you like travelling? If you like travelling, where do you usually stay? in a hotel? at a campsite? in a rented appartment? There are more possibilities of course, for example, an increasing phenomenon is Swapping Houses, free accommodation for you and someone to water your plants while you're away!Have you ever tried it?

You can learn more about it by doing the following listening activity:

House Swap LISTENING - 6 Minutes English (bbc.com/learningenglish)

Finally, if you want to learn some more vocabulary have a look to the links below:

Rooms in a house

House Idioms

Let's go shopping!

Sales period after Xmas is finished and I have some questions for you... did you buy lots of things just because they were cheaper than usual ? or did you just buy things you are sure you are going to wear? I think if I did a survey, probaby 95% would choose the first option, isn't it true?

Well, I love starting my day wearing something new, but I hate going shopping on a Saturday afternoon! Why? Because you end up spending your free time in a place full of people where the only thing you are sure of is that you are going to waste a lot of time queuing for everything: for a parking space, for you turn in the changing rooms, or to pay for what you bought...!

Nowadays, a lot of people choose another option, i.e. going shopping online by visiting different webpages where you can buy many different items that later on are deliveried at your door and what is best without waiting or queues! Have you ever tried it? You can even shop online in the same places you usually go shopping. Have a look to the following links:

Topshop

Mango Outlet

Harrod's online

Want to shop safe?

How do you choose the things you normally buy? Do you just go to a shop and get something you like? or do you buy something you have already seen somewhere else, for example, a fashion magazine? If so, do you usually buy fashion magazines? or do you sometimes have a look to them when given the opportunity? As you know, you can visit them online, so have a look:

Top 10 fashion magazines (Vogue, Elle, In-style, Glamour...)

Fashion Victims Magazine

What's your favourite magazine? Maybe Vogue? Well, I don't know, anyway, watch the following videos from a CNN's programme called Revealed where the editor of Vogue Paris takes you behind the scenes of one of the world's most glamorous magazines (March 09).

Part 1



Part 2



Part 3



If you liked the documentary, read more about her and her work in the following links:

French Vogue to tighten its belt. (cnn.com)

Roitfeld: American Vogue job 'not for me' (cnn.com)