Our Bookshelf

Every household has a shelf of well-thumbed books: the cookery book with the stained pages, the repair manual that falls open at the right chapter. This page is our version of that shelf. It gathers the articles from the archive that we reread, recommend to friends and use ourselves, sorted the way you might sort books at home.

Shelf one: keeping the home in order

Start with How to Declutter Your Home Without Burning Out, because every other job gets easier once the surfaces are clear. Then move to the kitchen: How to Clean an Oven With Kitchen Staples and How to Clean a Coffee Maker use the same few cupboard ingredients. For the moments when water ends up where it should not be, The Emergency Playbook is worth reading before you need it.

Shelf two: rooms, walls and floors

This is Saoirse's shelf. How to Hang a Gallery Wall walks through templates, fixings and spacing, while How to Choose the Right Rug Size explains why the floor plan matters more than the pattern. For a bedroom that feels like a short holiday, try How to Make a Bed Like a Hotel. Light finishes the set: Illuminating Style looks at ceiling fittings, and Illuminate Your Home's Exterior steps outside.

Shelf three: screens at home

Corran's corner of the bookcase is the most crowded, because internet television has been one of our longest-running subjects. For the fundamentals, Understanding Internet Protocol Television explains the technology without jargon. Enhancing IPTV with EPG is about making the programme guide work for you, and IPTV and Parental Controls in NL Households covers a question many families ask. When the whole house wants to watch at once, read Multiscreen Viewing.

Shelf four: going somewhere

Ellery's picks lean towards the far away. Top 5 Luxury Safari Lodges in Tanzania is pure daydream material, while Inside a Sushi Restaurant shows what happens behind the counter before you sit down. Anyone thinking about a move or a property abroad will find the piece on local legal help in Spain a useful starting point.

Shelf five: free afternoons

Hobbies round off the collection. Gamers can dive into the Manaforge Omega player's guide or Crafting Clans, football fans into the story of RCD Espanyol, and the adventurous into Essential Skydiving Gear.

How the shelf changes

These picks are personal, not a ranking. When a newer article becomes the one we keep sending to friends, it earns a place here and something else moves down a shelf. If there is an article you think belongs on this page, tell us through Drop Us a Line. For the full archive arranged by desk, see Your First Visit.