You’re bored of your house but you don’t happen to have a spare 300k+ lying around with which to buy a new one or to completely renovate or extend your house. Or you might be totally happy with the general stricture and layout of your house but resent the monotony of its current interior, you want to make some changes to give your home a new lease of life, but you don’t know where to start. When you wander around and soak up the surroundings which are becoming too familiar and monotonous, you let out a long, weary sigh of disenchantment.

If any of these statements ring true: do not fear – we feel your pain and are here to offer a hand of interior revival. Before you begin tearing up your floors and chucking paint about, however, be sure to do some research. This is the first and probably most important step. Just because you know you want a change doesn’t mean you necessarily have an idea of what you want the house to look like. Look up other interiors and decide which style best reflects your vision and personality. How do you want to feel when you’re in each room? Do you want the same style throughout the whole house? Do you want themed rooms/areas? Before beginning a journey it’s important to map out a path, so record your ideas: make a list/scrap book/collage so you have some inspiration and know where you’re headed.

Once you’ve done this, it’s extremely useful to devise a time-based plan which you can use to order the remodelling you’re going to do and work out when you want to be finished. For example, if you’re doing one room at a time you can work out which ones you’re doing first and have a timescale set for each one. As well as timescale, it is advantageous to set out a budget – whether that’s for each room/outside vs inside/entire revamp – or all of the aforementioned: knowing your limits will help guide you and ensure you don’t leave yourself in the lurch with your piggy bank. During these early stages, it can also be beneficial to consult a professional, this way you can be reassured of the plausibility of your ideas.

Once you have completed all you research and planning, here are some steps you can take to give your home a facelift:

• Paint/wallpaper the walls
• Buy new furniture
• Fix anything that’s broken (it sounds obvious but you’d be surprised at the number of things we don’t even realise we’ve let slip!)
• Update your wall art
• Update your lighting – this can make a huge difference to the feel of a room, consider the versatility of dimmable switches
• Buy house plants – the greenery can’t help but liven up any room, plus many plants (such as aloe vera) are known to help repel free radicals
• Update your appliances – whether you just get the same in a different colour or go for a new matching set of kitchen appliances, this can have a huge effect on the feel of a room
• Change your fitments – while your living room and bedrooms can be updated with a lick of paint and new furnishings, rooms with fitments (such as the kitchen and bathroom) can be completely transformed by renovating the fitments
• Change the layout – often even when buying new furniture we tend to keep the placement the same – mix it up, play around with the layout of each room and see what feels best!

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Clare Louise