Author Archive for Jon Wilks

Home staging (when all the home’s a stage)

It would seem that the process of getting your house looking nice for sale now has a catchy buzz phrase. Yes indeed, ‘home staging’ is big business now – we’ve spoken about it many times on The Box Room before, most notably with Sarah Beeny – but we’re always up for learning new vocabulary, and we’ve always go room for more declutter chatter.

The history of the man cave

by Jon Wilks on 28/10/2015 in Creative Spaces • 2 Comments

The humble man cave may seem like a particularly modern dwelling, but in one form or another, it has been around for some time. Ahead of our search for London’s ultimate man cave (watch this space!), we’ve been rummaging through the library books and digging out the true history of the man cave. We’ll be skipping cave dwellers, as they’re a little difficult to pinpoint (and a bit too obvious), so let us begin by taking an enlightened jump straight back to the dark ages.

Living bigger in small flats: 5 space savers for London living

by Jon Wilks on 30/09/2015 in A life without clutter • 0 Comments

It’s all there in our tagline: ‘better living in small spaces’. The Box Room exists to help life feel a bit bigger, even when your apartment seems a bit, shall we say, constrained. We’re interested in the wise ideas, the wonderful and the downright quirky – whether we’re talking about helpful ways to get your London flat ready for sale (thanks, Sarah Beeny!), tips on moving in with your partner for the first time, finding London’s ultimate man cave, or even ways to satisfy your need to live in storage (yes, that’s a real thing!)

The ultimate man cave: 10 of the internet’s very best

by Jon Wilks on 03/09/2015 in Creative Spaces • 3 Comments

We’re on the look out for London’s best man cave, but while we’re looking, here are the best that the internet already has to offer

In defence of ‘stuff’

by Jon Wilks on 28/08/2015 in A life without clutter, The Box Club, What would you do? • 1 Comment

We love a clear out as much as the next person, but recently we’ve started wondering… what, exactly, is so bad about ‘stuff’?

Moving abroad: what would you do differently?

by Jon Wilks on 31/07/2015 in Changing situations • 3 Comments

Moving abroad affects different people in different ways. As someone who has lived in five different countries, this writer can honestly say that upping sticks and heading overseas feels very natural indeed – something that everybody should try at least once in their life, if they have the opportunity. But it’s not the same for everyone, and the first time is rarely easy, no matter what your disposition may be.

14 problems that London renters will recognise

by Jon Wilks on 27/07/2015 in Creative Spaces • 7 Comments

People that love London and love space rarely find themselves fully satisfied. While miserly apartment sizes are a problem the world over, there’s something suitably eccentric about the way that London’s property is divided up and marketed. Here then are 14 space problems that London renters are bound to recognise.

How to buy art you fall in love with

by Jon Wilks on 13/07/2015 in Creative Spaces • 0 Comments

Regular readers of this blog will know that, here at Boxman, we’re all about better living in small spaces. We’re also very into other websites that help people make what they’ve got go a bit further. One of our favourites is Artfinder – another London startup that helps people decorate their walls with original art, direct from independent artists.

Cumberbatch, Sugg and McGuigan hit big at #Boxathon for Teenage Cancer Trust

by Jon Wilks on 27/06/2015 in The Box Club • 0 Comments

Boxman would like to thank all of the wonderful people that donated and bought items during our inaugural #Boxathon auction, held in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust. As a small (but well-formed) startup, we never imagined we’d raise the tidy pots of cash we achieved today, and we very much look forward to handing it all over to this wonderful charity.

Benedict Cumberbatch, Joe Sugg and Zoella donate to #Boxathon

by Jon Wilks on 18/06/2015 in The Box Club • 0 Comments

We’re really pleased to announce that our #Boxathon charity auction, in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust, is up and running. Since launching the campaign last week, we’ve had thousands of Benedict Cumberbatch and Joe Sugg fans lurching around the #Boxathon website, plotting their way to owning the Gucci sunglasses, Modalu bags, signed exclusive book pages, headphones and other knicknacks that they have so kindly put up for auction.

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6 freebies and giveaways for anyone moving house in London

by Jon Wilks on 13/06/2015 in The Box Club • 1 Comment

Feature image via Cassidy Hughes interior design & styling Moving house in London. It can be a tiresome faff, can’t it? At Boxman, we see a lot of weary (and dusty) faces when we’re out and about collecting and storing stuff for the capital’s nomadic masses, but – beyond helping them to get a bit more space-smart by packing and storing your precious bits and pieces – there’s not a lot more that we can do to help. Sure, you’re all welcome to borrow our office shower, but it might get a bit crowded.

Rent your spare room, make some cash – 5 tips from an expert

by Jon Wilks on 16/04/2015 in Changing situations • 1 Comment

Everyone loves a good statistic, don’t they? Here at Boxman, we’re as much a sucker for a stat as the next person. So here are a few that have caught our attention in recent days. Firstly, according to Matt Hutchinson over at Spareroom.co.uk, there are currently around 19 million potential bedrooms unoccupied across the UK. Secondly, new UK flatmates are brought together every three minutes on that same website alone. Thirdly – based on our own research – the average British home puts to waste around £30,000-worth of useable space each year. In short, there’s a lot of unearned income sitting amidst a lot of clutter across a lot of the country!

The Box Room

Better living in small spaces