I've spent many a Saturday afternoon popping down to Grieves when I've been doing a touch of DIY…read morearound the house. It's wonderful to have something like this just around the corner when you need a particular type of screw, tool or appliance to finish a small project. I've bought new light switches, wood stain, Unibond for tiling the bathroom walls and even cleaning products. The gentleman in here is very friendly and knowledgeable so just ask him if you're not sure what you need.

Useful shop that sells decorating material, such as paint, wallpaper and the like. It's not quite a…read moreDIY store, as it doesn't seem to have power drills and the like, but if you're simply decorating a room in your house, you'll probably find what you need here. The shop has the feel of a cross between a hardware store and a soft furnishings shop. I actually stumbled across Brewers via Google, after a fruitless search for a shade of white paint that only seemed to be available to the trade. Homebase completely failed me, since the barely pubescent Saturday staff weren't exactly the most knowledgeable, but Brewers was listed as a place that dealt in trade colours. After about 30 seconds of looking at paint on the shelves in Brewers, someone spotted my cluelessness and rescued me. He quickly found out what exactly I wanted, despite my vagueness, and gave great advice on what I needed to buy. There was a clear focus on what the customer wants, rather than trying to sell me more than I needed. A nice touch is that while I was waiting for my paint to be mixed up, I was offered a free drink from the vending machine. Ok, it's hardly fresh filter coffee, but it's still much more than you could reasonably expect from a DIY shop. I'm definitely shopping here for my decorating needs from now on, and avoiding Homebase like the plague.

So, uh, this is a paint shop, a shop that sells Farrow & Ball paint…read more Seems I have become middle class enough to turn to this brand to paint my house...but not middle class enough to have someone else paint it for me ;) The showroom is open, simple and strangely welcoming. The full current range of paints are offered up in a wall display and on colour boards on the centre island where you can mix, match and check if your desired colour scheme actually goes together. The thing that makes the experience 5 stars is of course the staff. They have all the time in the world to help talk you through colour ideas, schemes and the finish you are after. While they are happy to take the time to advise you, there is never a pushy sales edge to any of their discourse. You get advice and information, and they let you leave freely with just that, knowing you will be back once you have seen how good the paint is....and it is.

Lovely little shop hidden away next to Marylebone; Farrow and Ball are known for their gorgeous…read morepaints and wallpapers. They use traditional printing and manufacturing methods and as a result, their products are unique and high quality. Expensive, but worth it. Sales assistants are helpful and know their stuff; they also seem to really love the products they are selling (a bit of a rarity those days!) Style is fairly traditional, but if you are looking for authenticity and quality, you will probably strike gold.

We recently bought a home in Balham and I have been coming to this shop quite a bit for various DIY…read moreneeds and products. It is not big by any means but they have had the products needed on site for everything we've needed done, apart from one large toolbox, which I ordered for pick-up the next day. You can order you anything you need from an endless stack of DIY catalogs for pick up at their shop next day. I am new to DIY and the best part of going to Force is the professional advice the owner is happy to provide. He is very honest (even if it means selling you a cheaper, more appropriate product than an expensive one you may have been planning to buy from him). His advice is also clear, simple, and optimistic that you can easily achieve your DIY goals. So far he has never said he couldn't help us or something couldn't be done. He has always had a simple easy solution and the products to support it. In case you have a specific DIY need, some of the items he has helped with and provided the perfect products for include: 1) a new rubber liner for our shower splash guard (by the way, Home Base told us we had to contact the splash guard's maker, but Force had the perfect universal liner for all splash guards in stock) 2) fixing a shower head issue 3) replacing the Swiss plugs of our appliances with British plugs (we just came from Switzerland and have about 10 appliances that needed it) 4) relocating a light switch 5) Painting a built in shelf 6) Filling some wall damage in with the right filler 7) Finding the right drill and drilling to fix some items to the wall 8) Fighting a slug infestation 9) Reconstructing the inside of a fixed wardrobe with new clothes hanging poles Also, the shop seems to be well stocked with paints, bathroom equipment, yard tools, and, of course, your various DIY odds and ends. I have also been amazed at how cheap many of his products are. Additionally, he has often given me free small items to accompany my jobs when I make a purchase or he has offered to exchange a few of my smaller purchases for the better, more expensive version free of change when I am checking out. The owner of Force is simply a nice guy who's standing by to help you with anything you need. It's so nice, having just bought a house to have such a great shop around the corner to encourage and help with our DIY endeavors and I hope to use his shop alot as we make changes to our home. P.S. If you're concerned about parking, Force is right next to a massive Sainsbury's parking lot.

I have popped in to Force Homecare on a few occasions when at a loss as to where to find some help…read morewith small projects. I couldn't have been more grateful or pleased with the kind help of the owner. He was very generous with his time and advice on each occasion and even though I didn't need any big ticket items, he worked with me until my needs were sorted. If there is something that you need that is not available in store, it can be ordered right away. I would highly recommend this homecare store.