Homes & gardens 


Bring the sun inside


There’s nothing quite like the warm days and nights of summer to get us thinking about bringing the great outdoors inside.


And, as home improvements go, a


balcony promises to add pounds to the value of your property, wow factor and keep you cool at night for a relatively modest outlay.


The word “balcony” comes from the


Italian balcone and it was here that this taste for the high life first took hold. Rising above the streets below, they are now popular at home and abroad – as an extension, to let in light, for drying clothes and getting a bird’s eye view of the world below.


Famous balconies include that used by the Pope at St Peter’s Basilica, and a certain 16th Century girl being wooed by her lover in Verona – although purists maintain that Shakespeare’s classic love


scene in Romeo and Juliet never referred to a Juliet balcony but a window at which she appears.


It is small wonder that many balcony


designs come from other countries after which they are named, such as the Maltese balcony — a wooden enclosed balcony.


German designers have also


incorporated steel and glass to make some stunning apartment statements, with companies including Velux providing an easy way to adapt


www.collins-windows.com


GREAT SAVINGS ON WINDOWS, DOORS AND CONSERVATORIES


your home. The Velux Cabrio balcony (pictured), for


example, opens like a traditional roof window, but also, in seconds, gives your loft space a place in the sun, closing flush with the roof when not in use.


Since most balconies are modest in height and size, you may be able to build your balcony as a “permitted development”; although you might need building regulation approval. So, the first thing to do is check with your local planning officer to see what’s required.


30.00 25.00 40.00 25.00 100.00 110.00


45.00 50.00 25.00


15.00 20.00


15.00


15.00 52.00


01304 374998 01227 706046


01233 779022 07875 525206


01622 629051 Mid Kent Living 53


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