A charming retirement home built in oak using traditional methods.

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Windows and doors play a significant role in how your house will look - and how much it will cost.

Design advice

Design Ideas for Home Offices

If you are one of the 3.9 million now working from home in the UK, you will need to consider your home office design carefully – from lighting to where in the house to position it – to make it a success, says Natasha Brinsmead.

All About: Kitchen Units

Your kitchen units are not only a practical essential, they also form the basis of your whole design, says Natasha Brinsmead.

Oak Frame: Design Masterclass

A rare material that excites traditionalists and modernists alike for its superb quality and character, it’s not surprising self-builders love it so much. Michael Holmes reveals how to master oak frame design.

Oak Frame: Design Solutions

A rare material that excites traditionalists and modernists alike for its superb quality and character, it’s not surprising self-builders love it so much. Here are some design ideas and solutions for oak framed homes, inclduing advice on jetties, vaulted and beamed ceilings, windows, studding, plinths and pargeting.

Oak Frame: Experts' Views

A rare material that excites traditionalists and modernists alike for its superb quality and character, it’s not surprising self-builders love it so much. Here, a selection of industry experts give their views on the best ways to build with oak frame.

Buyers Guide to Baths

There is much more to baths than good looks — there are baths available in a huge choice of sizes, shapes and materials, and to suit any budget, says Natasha Brinsmead

How to Make Open Spaces Work

So many of us aspire to the benefits that open plan layouts bring – light, flow, informality – but don’t understand the practicalities. Natasha Brinsmead reveals how to make it work.

Inside Outside Spaces - Design Solutions

Create the perfect space for summer entertaining and make your home feel lighter and more spacious all year round by blurring the boundaries between inside and out. By Michael Holmes.

Getting a Coastal Look

Continuing her series on how to achieve interiors that do your new home justice, Natasha Brinsmead discovers why a coastal look is the ultimate in fresh, wholesome living.

Design Masterclass: Inside Outside Spaces

The idea of integrating indoor and outdoor space is far from new – it was an ideal of the Modernist movement in the 1920s – but recent developments in glazing technology have resulted in some spectacular new ways to expand the boundaries of the home, creating spacious feeling interiors and an almost seamless relationship with nature and the outdoors.

Sash Windows: Design Advice

Sash windows really are the only choice for many period and traditional-style homes, but getting the details right can be tricky. Natasha Brinsmead explains the options, including advice on designs styles and materials.

How to Create a Stylish, Green Kitchen

Despite the surge in popularity of eco homes and all manner of green, energy-saving products for the home, there remains a wariness of eco interiors, but kitchens can be stylish and green — and are widely available too, says Natasha Brinsmead

How to Build a Sustainable Home: Designer's View

Renewables may grab the headlines but, in reality, the key fundamentals of a successful green house remain what they have always been — low-energy design principles and investment in the building fabric. By Michael Holmes.

How to Build a Sustainable Home

How to Build a Sustainable Home: Design Solutions

Know Your Lighting

A good lighting scheme can really define a house and its interior design. Getting it right is all about planning at the early stages of a project — not leaving it as an afterthought, says Natasha Brinsmead.

All About: Lighting Design

The UK's Best Green Homes: Part One

As part of H&R's green special we bring you six of the best green homes in the country, proving that clever design, not 'eco-bling' is the key to creating a great green home. In part one we show you a well insulated earth-sheltered home, a future-proofed home and a pioneering eco self-build.

The UK's Best Green Homes: Part Two

As part of H&R's green special we bring you six of the best green homes in the country, proving that clever design, not 'eco-bling' is the key to creating a great green home. In part two we show you a pre-war renovation, a low-carbon remodel and a sustainable urban self-build.

How to Evolve a Home Through Time

As part of Homebuilding's 'Creating a Lifetime Home' design masterclass, here's an example of how a home can be designed to evolve with its users rather than have them outgrow it.

Creating a Lifetime Home: Design Solutions Part Two

The idea of lifetime home design has already entered the Building Regulations and by 2013 the standards will change to ensure all new homes are ‘inclusive’. But as a self-builder you can go further by considering these design ideas. Part two looks at materials, walk-in showers, sustainable design and much more.

Creating a Lifetime Home: Design Solutions Part One

The idea of lifetime home design has already entered the Building Regulations and by 2013 the standards will change to ensure all new homes are ‘inclusive’. But as a self-builder you can go further by considering these design ideas. Part one looks at orientation, planning, access, storage space and much more.