Nowadays most of us need to spend our money wisely, but it doesn´t mean that we want our home to reflect the world economy!

So how can we go about to make our house look fresh and up to date again?

Well, by using simple tricks…the ones we decorators use when our clients want to sell their house.

Firstly look around your home and start taking out all the clutter, especially all those things that have been standing and lying around for years without use. Invest in a couple of carton boxes and just put them in storage for now. You have to be quite rigorous with yourself. After a year you will feel different about most items and you might be able to make others happy ….

Secondly, re-think the way you have set up your spaces. Think outside the box and consider the way your needs are now. They might be very different to when you first started living in your home. Maybe you would like to change your seating arrangement or you could turn a basement area into a TV room for the (grand) children or a guest bedroom in a study with a sofa bed.

Thirdly, start by cleaning and repairing, nothing looks worse than broken, torn, dented and chipped (soft) furniture pieces. Often small things can make a big difference for example you could; re-varnish the legs of your dining room chairs, replace the dented lamp shades with new ones or re-vamp the curtains by putting a border in a different colour enabling you to hide the torn or sun-bleached sides.

Fourthly, look at your walls and floors, can you clean them or would some coloured paint, a simple wall paper, a large carpet make the whole room bright, interesting and fresh again.

Fifthly, invest in your existing furniture and decorative items. Think along the lines of reframing some old pictures, re-upholstering the headboards or the sofa with a stain-removable, chocolate-proof fabric. You could even paint and re-upholster a small bedroom armchair in a daring fabric.

Lastly, add a few well chosen eye-catchers these will make the whole look come together! Invest in new decorative cushions, some large candles, some decorative vases, a big painting or a new furniture piece for example a TV cabinet (to hide all the boxes and cables), a side table, a bookcase, etc.