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Disabled people trapped waiting years for vital home adaptations

As children , Rianna and Lauren Campbell-Thompson shared a bedroom. Lauren took the top bunk and Rianna, who has cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair, took the bottom. Eventually Rianna moved to the room across the landing. It’s a distance of a few feet, but one Rianna cannot cross – the landing is too narrow for her wheelchair. Rianna has not seen her twin’s room since about 2003. Instead, Lauren shows her photos. A lift connects Rianna’s bedroom to the living room. But the rest of the three-bed terrace in Bromley that has been her family’s home for her entire life – the twins are now 28 – is cut off from her. She loves to bake, but cannot get inside the tiny kitchen because the doorway is tucked away in a corner. To wash in the wetroom, Rianna has to travel down in the lift naked before Lauren and their mum, Lorna Campbell, get her onto a shower trolley and wheel her inside. Then they must get her upstairs again to be dressed. The family needs £100,000 to adapt the house into a prope

How to care for your skin in summer

  Summer has arrived and there is nothing more attractive than enjoying beach holidays and summer picnics. Summer is a time when lemon sodas become your favourite option than hot tea. This season shows its impact on your skin. The red hot heat, humidity and environmental pollution drain off the natural glow and make you skin dull, oily and damaged. Expert advice :  Vitamin C serum is a powerful antioxidant that hydrates your skin and protects skin from damage. Include Vitamin C serum in your skincare regimen. You can also add vegetables, citrus fruits to your diet. How Summer affects your skin: The sebaceous glands activity increases as temperature and heat rise during the summer month. Humidity makes oily skin more oiler and dry skin becomes more rough and flaky. Sun emits UV rays that produce melanin pigments. Too much melanin results in dark and tanned skin. The heat can cause more open pores that can be clogged with oil, dirt and bacteria. This can cause acne marks, wrinkles, skin

London startup Weaver gets $4M to build out a vetted marketplace for home renovations

  Weaver , a London-based marketplace and SaaS contract negotiation platform for matching homeowners/architects planning major home renovation projects with vetted contractors, has closed a $4 million seed round to expand nationally. The round was led by European VC btov Partners, with participation from FJ Labs, Enterprise Fund (a syndicate of former Atlassian & Docker executives) and Dr. Stefan Heitmann (founder & CEO of MoneyPark and PriceHubble), among others. The 2017 founded startup had previously raised $1.5 million in pre-seed financing from a number of angels — bringing its total raised to date to $5.5 million. Weaver’s platform matches homeowners and architects with appropriate contractors (using an algorithm), facilitating obtaining quotes and price comparison — without the usual friction from having to manually research and reach out to contractors. It is also intended to house key comms around the contract negotiation/bid process, through baked in messaging, docume

Motley Fool: RH wants to become a luxury lifestyle brand

  RH, the high-end home furnishings chain formerly known as Restoration Hardware, isn’t your typical home furnishings company. It’s a luxury brand known for selling things like $3,000 armchairs and $4,000 coffee tables. While the home furnishings industry is highly competitive, RH faces much less competition at the luxury price point than midrange retailers like Wayfair do. Along with its designer products , the company distinguishes itself with an enormously successful membership model that offers customers a discount of 25% and other benefits for a $175 annual fee. As of January 2021, RH had 434,000 members who drove 97% of its revenue in its core business. The membership program should also help cushion the company from economic volatility, as it essentially creates a built-in customer base. Management plans to keep growing the company by expanding abroad and widening the scope of its offerings. It’s opening its first hotel in New York City, and will make two Gulfstream airplanes an