HANG A CEILING LADDER

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Make sure your ladder is structurally sound and able to hold the weight of your chosen decorations or accessories. Make four pilot holes in each corner of the ladder with a bradawl and insert screw-in hooks. Mark where your ceiling joists are, using a stud finder – this is an important step to make sure you don’t bring your ceiling down. Line up the hooks in the ladder with the joists and drill four pilot holes in the ceiling. Insert some heavy-duty ceiling hooks that can hold the weight of your ladder.

Choose some chain the length that you want your ladder to hang down from, and attach to all eight hooks to complete the look.

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Tiled splashbacks are a great way to bring new colour and pattern to your kitchen or bathroom. An element of tiling in any room is a fun way to uplift a decorating scheme.

Do the prep

Clean the walls with sugar soap and cover worktops with plastic sheeting. Be sure to wait until the walls are completely dry before starting. Mark the centre point on the wall – draw another centre point at the top of the area to be tiled, and draw a vertical line between the two. Work out the width of the splashback in whole tiles, plus spacers and edging strips. Lay out the tiles and spacers flat to work out the full width.

Apply the wall adhesive

Start at the bottom and spread the adhesive in horizontal strokes, using a notched trowel. Apply a generous layer and create grooves or notches in the same direction, which will help the tiles stick.

Position the tiles

Place the tiles onto the prepared wall. Working from the centre, press your first tile firmly against the wall. Add a tile above it and one next to it, spacing them evenly. Continue until you’ve tiled the whole area, wiping off any stray adhesive as you go. Put spacers into the corners between the tiles, adjusting tile positions as needed. Push them in firmly, flush against the wall so you can grout over them.

Get grouting

Leave the tiles to set overnight. Start grouting from bottom left, pressing a small amount of grout onto the face of the tiles using a trowel. Using a grout spreader, work it into the joints, in long, upward diagonal strokes. Once all the joints are grouted, wipe the tiles with a damp sponge to remove excess.

Seal the tiles

Run a bead of sealant along the tiled area. Smooth and leave to dry.