Home Help: 8 June

QWe have just moved to London to be near our children and grandchildren. We are having our kitchen done up and we have chosen self-assembly kitchen units. Back home in Worcestershire there was a trustworthy oddjobman who would have willingly put them together. Our children have recently returned from abroad, and don't know who could do this. How can we find a trustworthy and inexpensive odd-jobman in the capital?

JS, London

A Contact a company called The Handy Squad. They can do everything from your to-do list from hanging pictures to assembling flatpack furniture and making bespoke joinery. Their call-out charge is £20 plus £20 per half hour. Reading through online comments about their service, favourable ones seem to outweigh unfavourable. Indeed, there's praise from Samantha Cameron and Loyd Grossman.

The Handy Squad: 0800-012 1212, www.handysquad.com

Q I have bought some very stylish but rather uncomfortable metal antique French garden chairs. I would like to find some pretty cushions for back support. They must be machine washable, too. Where can I find them?

JV, by email

A Cabbages & Roses sells the most delightful soft floral-print cushions – both the Hatley, and Tulips & Roses (shown above) are so pretty. At 55cm square they will squash into a garden chair nicely and give back support. They cost £45, plus pad at £8, and can be washed at 30C.

Cabbages & Roses: 3 Langton Street, London SW10: 020-7352 2444, www.cabbagesandroses.com

Q My daughter is getting married this summer and she wants her bouquet preserved. She tells me floral displays in glass domes are fashionable. This is a surprise to me as I associate anything in a glass dome as a relic from the Victorian era.

PD, Somerset

A Flower Preserve is based in Surrey – the company preserved Victoria Beckham's wedding bouquet. Company founder Teracy Meachen describes herself as a floral taxidermist. Courier the bouquet to her and she'll remove all things that make flowers decompose and encase them in a dome or frame. Prices start at £150.

Flower Preserve: 01372- 817373, www.flowerpreserve.co.uk 

Q Our family relies on Postit Notes and letters from the school to remember things. This looks untidy, so I'd like to replace them with an old-fashioned framed slate or blackboard paint.

GR, Suffolk

A Not On The High Street has chalkboards in different shapes and sizes. To buy the black paint, contact Rainbow Chalk. It comes in 250ml and 1 litre tins and you'll need two coats.

Not On The High Street: www.notonthehighstreet.com

Rainbow Chalk: 01279- 424491, www.rainbowchalk.com 

Email your design enquiries to Hugh St Clair at homehelp@lady.co.uk