It's out with the classic back breaking iron and ironing board and in with the sleek and modern clothes steamer. For even the most dedicated domestic goddesses, just the thought of all that ironing can immediately darken anyone's mood. Standing over the ironing board, ironing shirt after shirt is definitely not what we want to be doing in our spare time but now, thankfully, there is another solution!

More middle-aged people live alone than ever before and the majority of these are men.  Last year there were 7.7 million single households in the UK, that's 31% more than in 2001. Of those aged 16-64 living alone, 59% are men.

Every so often, history give us a Golden Age of exceptional change, creativity and progress. The Roaring Twenties was a decadent decade that unshackled old ideas and paved the way for modern ingenuity. Even a century later, the 1920s are still influencing today's fashion, film, art and interior design.

If you enjoy the cinema, then you know that some of the most famous co-stars for 2011 were animals and household pets.

How many dresses do women buy that they truly hope to only wear one time? Wedding dresses have the shortest shelf life in history, yet for many of us we hanging on to it is the norm.

Furniture is all around us. It is as essential to our lives as oxygen. Take a moment and have a look around the room you are in while reading this. Are you sitting at a desk? Or is your laptop resting on your knees as you sit in an armchair. Are there shelves on the wall, cupboards, a table or a sofa? All of these have been designed. Each of them started as a sketch on a designer's pad, or a flick of a computer mouse.

It takes a while for changes to happen in architecture. Many people move into houses that were built over 50 years ago to a formula that was the style of the time. A living room, a sitting room, the good room for Sundays with the family, a dining room and a kitchen, with the only variation being the room size depending on the house size.

It's quite strategic how every year the battle of the post-holiday bulge hits us right in the beltline. And if we don't fight back, it will eventually invade our wardrobes.

What will you remember about 2011?

The past year will be immortalised by international incidents, economic woes and heartfelt triumphs.

If you feel obligated to make New Year's resolutions this January, thank the mythical Roman king Janus.

New Year's is the oldest holiday in the world and we have his legend to thank for the "out with the old and in with the new" philosophy that makes us contemplate resolutions at the stroke of midnight.