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Trade Secrets

Brighten up a dark room. Yellow will make it feel sunny, pink will create a dramatic, warm effect and orange will give it a warm and welcoming feel.

If a room feels claustrophobic, remove any picture rails and paper the walls with vertical stripes.

If a room feels too tall, make a feature of a picture rail or create the same effect with a paper border. Or try painting the ceiling to match the floor.

If a room feels very large, break up the expanse with scattered rugs or pretty screen.

For north-facing rooms, you need to create a feeling or warmth. Try shades of terracotta or sunny, warm yellow.

Natural materials such as wood or brick give a warm feeling.

Test out colour combinations on the back of an old cereal packet.

Save money on expensive wallpapers – use old sheet music, map, newspaper cuttings or comics.

When choosing wall paper, check how it looks by standing back away from it. You never really stand up close to the wall in your own room.

Paint shelves and storage units the same colour as skirting boards and picture rails to tie them in to the room and make them an integral part of the overall theme.

You can create an illusion of loads of floor space by painting the skirting boards the same colour as the floor.

To brighten up a dark hallway, paint the wall or door at the far end a sunny, bright colour. This has the effect of shortening the long corridor. A wall of mirror also lightens and brightens the space.

To plan a child’s room, get down on the floor and view things from a child’s perspective.

The more fabric you can your for curtains, the more effective they will look.

If your kitchen is very small, simply re hang the door so that it swings outwards.

Create the illusion of extra space by hanging a really large mirror on one wall (try to fill the wall space if possible.)

Spend the most money on the things that you use or touch the most – a chair rather than a poster for example.

Keep it simple – People often put too much into a room.

Emphasise natural daylight in a room by using curtain fabrics with a dark background.

For a toddler’s room try shower curtains instead of fabric ones. However grubby the little fingers that tug at them, the curtains will always wipe clean and they come in lots of fun designs.

To hang curtains effectively, use the wall space, not the window space. Measure 20cm above and 30cm either side of the window and hang your curtains in the space.

The armrests of a chair quickly get mucky so clean them up by rubbing with a loaf of bread.