Home Archives - A Simple Life of Luxury https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/tag/home/ Tales from a down-shifted family - Making the most of modest means in West Wales Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:34:14 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cropped-favicon-160x160.jpg Home Archives - A Simple Life of Luxury https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/tag/home/ 32 32 2696646 Electricity Trickery https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2026/04/electricity-trickery/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2026/04/electricity-trickery/#respond Wed, 01 Apr 2026 12:34:06 +0000 https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=48090 Well, our decision to install solar panels, battery storage, and an EV has just taken a very welcome turn for the better. Overnight electricity prices have effectively been slashed in half — dropping from 7p per kWh to just 3.49p per kWh. Because we charge the batteries overnight, we can now shift almost all of...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2026/04/electricity-trickery/feed/ 0 48090 Nanoleaf Lights https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2023/06/nanoleaf-lights/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2023/06/nanoleaf-lights/#comments Fri, 23 Jun 2023 09:32:07 +0000 https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=39670 The Memories section of Facebook is awash with big events for me in June. There are happy memories of becoming European Triathlon Champion and not such happy memories of a massive heart attack. Anna decided to celebrate the fact that I’d survived the latter, and that I was still here by buying me a present....

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2023/06/nanoleaf-lights/feed/ 1 39670 Finishing the Lean-to Build – Hot Work https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2016/07/finishing-lean-build-hot-work/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2016/07/finishing-lean-build-hot-work/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2016 10:42:03 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=22537 Tuesday was an absolute scorcher here. It started off hot and just got hotter with the temperatures eventually maxing out at 32.8ºC. The hottest day so far in 2016 and not far off our ‘all-time’ record of 33.7ºC set on 19th July 2016.  Typically, I had lots of hot work planned for the day, finishing...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2016/07/finishing-lean-build-hot-work/feed/ 2 22537 Garden Building – Time for a new Shed https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2015/06/garden-building-time-for-a-new-shed/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2015/06/garden-building-time-for-a-new-shed/#comments Wed, 10 Jun 2015 11:28:35 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=19413 Sorry for the lack of blog posts here over the past few days but we’ve been mega-busy working in the garden building a new shed – well, it is the perfect time of year for DIY Projects. Not just that of course as we’ve also had a fund-raising night at Morrison’s with the Scouts, fund-raising...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2015/06/garden-building-time-for-a-new-shed/feed/ 4 19413 Creating a Blank Canvas https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2015/02/creating-blank-canvas/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2015/02/creating-blank-canvas/#comments Mon, 02 Feb 2015 10:24:35 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=18304 Another busy weekend – I think I need a rest after that one. It was dominated this week by the office makeover. As mentioned elsewhere, a leak in our fishtank prompted a complete re-decoration of my home office. The biggest task was moving everything out of the office and finding somewhere to store it whilst the...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2015/02/creating-blank-canvas/feed/ 3 18304 A Fresh Lick of Paint https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2014/11/fresh-lick-paint/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2014/11/fresh-lick-paint/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2014 10:07:22 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=17999 Doesn’t time fly! It’s been over 10 years since we built our house, so about time that we finished off some of the interior decorating! For some reason we’ve just never quite got around to sanding down and varnishing the interior woodwork throughout various parts of the house. To be fair there are various reasons for...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2014/11/fresh-lick-paint/feed/ 3 17999 Christmas Cake Decorating https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2013/12/christmas-cake-decorating/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2013/12/christmas-cake-decorating/#comments Sat, 21 Dec 2013 14:24:53 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=15250 The time had come or some Christmas cake decorating. I made the cakes a few weeks ago and then fed them with alcohol for a couple of weeks before coating them with marzipan last weekend. This weekend it was time to cover them with icing and then decorate them. A Chocolate Christmas Cake I started...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2013/12/christmas-cake-decorating/feed/ 1 15250 Making Xmas Decorations at Nant yr Arian https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/12/making-xmas-decorations-at-nant-yr-arian/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/12/making-xmas-decorations-at-nant-yr-arian/#respond Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:58:14 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=3190 After riding in the Forest of Dean on Saturday, I had an easy ride around the Summit Trail at Nant yr Arian on Sunday morning and then met Anna, Morgan, Jo, Danny and Kai at the visitor centre to make some Christmas decorations aout of things found in the forest. I obviously needed a shower...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/12/making-xmas-decorations-at-nant-yr-arian/feed/ 0 3190 The Height of Luxury https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/10/the-height-of-luxury/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/10/the-height-of-luxury/#comments Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:34:46 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/?p=2795 As the title of this website states, we are supposed to be living a Simple Life of Luxury here in West Wales. I think we are achieving that. To add to the luxury we are currently fitting a new en-suite shower room to the house. We’ve been planning to do this since building the house...

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]]> https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2009/10/the-height-of-luxury/feed/ 6 2795 Bedroom Progress https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2007/11/bedroom-progress/ https://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2007/11/bedroom-progress/#comments Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:48:48 +0000 http://www.alananna.co.uk/blog/2007/bedroom-progress/ So that Anna doesn’t tell me off again for not blogging about the new bedroom furniture I thought Id better post some photos of the progress so far to accompany her previous post. More stuff should be arriving on Thursday so no doubt I shall be ‘hard at it in the bedroom’ again on Thursday...

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