Got a DIY question? Ask a designer

Popular sections

How to find the right bathroom flooring

Updating your kitchen on a budget

It's fairly easy to rejuvenate a kitchen without splashing the cash. Maximise the durability and restore the lustre of solid-wood worktops with a suitable oil, polish tarnished ceramics and remove limescale marks. If you have chips in your enamel sink, repair the damage with a kit from DIY shops.

And you don't have to start from scratch -replacing taps and cabinet handles (diy.com, grahamandgreen.co.uk, bombayduck.co.uk and chloealberry.com) will give a fresh look.

If your unit carcasses are fine, and it's just the doors that are dated, change them - justdoors.co.uk has a selection of styles. Repainting is a must, as airborne grease quickly builds up - remember to sugar soap the walls first. Crown (crown paint.co.uk), among others, does specific undercoats and one-hit paints for the trickier surfaces, such as laminate doors and ceramic splashbacks.

If you can't afford to change your worktop, just cover it. Tile it or bond on a top sheet of laminate (formica.co.uk and abet-ltd.com produce vast ranges of laminates that you can buy via plastics suppliers). If you're handy, then tiling a new splashback can be completed over a weekend. The beauty of tiles is that they're good value and are a quick way to introduce colour and pattern.

Back-painted glass also introduces colour. For a budget version, order clear toughened glass (firmanglass.com) and back- paint it yourself using normal oil-based satinwood, then glue in place with mirror silicone.

Storage solutions for a family home

As we buy more and have less time to clear up, our homes become increasingly packed. But it can all be tidied away by dividing it into three types of storage.

Firstly, quick-fix solutions. Tema Home's Kyoto coffee table (shop.temahome.com) has a sliding top so you can stash magazines and other living room bits, or choose one with shelf space underneath. Lidded containers, such as The Holding Company's natural material boxes (theholdingcompany.co.uk), are versatile options. For toys, flexible Trugs (plasticboxshop.co.uk) are cheap and cheerful, or go for MeBox boxes (mebox.co.uk), which can be personalised.

For the pieces you want to show off, choose display storage that looks good in itself, too. Shoes can be contained in acrylic boxes from The Holding Company, or Stacking Shoe Drawers from Store (aplaceforeverything.co.uk). Unto This Last has an inventive range of shelving systems that are design classics in the making (untothislast.co.uk).

Scan your home for dead spaces that might be transformed into hidden storage - alcoves, corners, behind opening doors, even staircases with drawers in each step. There are lots of built-in wardrobe and kitchen companies that utilise clever mechanisms to provide pull-out stores and access to corners, so that things are easy to reach, and these can be used beyond the bedroom and kitchen.

On the hunt for a statement door

For a brand-new door, Urban Front (urbanfront.co.uk) has lots of contemporary designs, or you can design your own at funkyfront.co.uk. The London Door Company (londondoor.co.uk) is known for traditional styles - just select your era.

Or you could just update your current door. By using bold colours and replacing brass hardware for satin chrome, you can make it feel sleek and cool. Internal doors can be reinvented with new handles; see Technoline (bauhaus-fittings.com) for modernist-style fittings, The Beardmore Collection (beardmore.co.uk) for stylish classics, Simply Door Handles (simply doorhandles.co.uk) for a wide online selection, and Chloe Alberry (chloealberry.com) for oddities.

For new internal doors, see Todd Doors' (todd-doors.co.uk) Custom Creations range, Kungsäter and Addera doors at Dooria (dooria.net), and Jeld-Wen's (jeld-wen.co.uk) Shaker, Avesta and glazed Meridian Hemlock designs.

Doors are subject to building regulations, so seek advice from your local building control. If you're renovating a Victorian house, say, you may need to replace all the original pine doors with fire doors.

Make my windows more private without losing light

The most common solution is probably to use frosted window film. Brume (brumebasics.co.uk) does a decent range of standard frosted films, as well as textured, coloured and graphic films. Cut-outs add design detail and allow you to peep out.

Tinted and mirror films from Solar Control (solarcontrol.co.uk) are also popular, but be careful with double glazing, as these films can interfere with the solar properties of the unit and cause the glass to crack. Lumisty (solarsheild.co.uk) is another specialised window vinyl that allows you to view through the window from a particular angle, while all other views are frosted.

For a more permanent option, glaze with patterned and textured glass. Pilkington Glass (pilkington.com) has the largest selection of designs. A little more James Bond is electric glass, which can be switched on for clear and off for frosted; go to DR Services (drservices.co.uk).

‘Pull-up' (or ‘bottom up') roller blinds (rather than the standard pull-down) mean you can control being looked in on without losing the direct light from the sky - handy if your home has street-level windows. Prêt à Vivre (pretavivre.com) and Eclectics (eclectics.co.uk) both supply them.

Venetian and vertical blinds are also nifty tools and can come in semi-translucent materials that don't block out all the light. See Silent Gliss's Vertical Waves, below (silentgliss.co.uk). With shutters, you can have acrylic panels incorporated into the frames -Draks (draksonline.co.uk) does this as a bespoke service - and Parma Lilac (parmalilac.com) makes
made-to-measure solid Perspex shutters.

Back to hot topics menu

Reinstating period details

Many old companies have either gone or reduced their ranges, and trying your luck in salvage yards can be like finding a needle in a haystack. Placing a ‘wanted' advert on salvo.co.uk may yield a lead, but a better solution might be to use a craftsman.

For plaster mouldings and ornate cast stonework, try Hornsey Mouldings (hornseymouldings.co.uk). If you need to replace missing banister spindles, there are lots of woodworkers around, such as Martyn Rogers (bespokewoodturner.co.uk). Any decent timber mill can copy skirting boards or picture rails by ‘milling' more wood to the same profile; try Whitten Timber (whittentimber.co.uk) or Gillsons (gillsonstimber.co.uk).

For carved wooden details, look at Wild Goose Carvings (buycarvings.com), and for missing cast-iron brackets and railings, contact the excellent James Hoyle & Son (ironheritage.co.uk). To match period fireplace insert tiles, Digital Ceramic Solutions can print replicas (digitalceramic solutions.com).

For oddities, enlist the help of a model-making company (2d3d.co.uk or aztec-modelmakers.co.uk), which can recreate almost anything.

How to create a focal-point fireplace

A fireplace is not in use roughly 80 per cent of the year, so must look good unlit, too. CVO Fire (cvo.co.uk) sells modern and classic styles, or try Ikon from Robeys (robeys.co.uk).

Manufacturers have also been playing with the ‘window' of the fireplace, creating interesting pebble configurations that suit modern schemes; see Bodart & Gonay (b-g.be) and Bellfires (bellfires.com). Rediscovered vintage styles, such as coloured enamelled stoves, are perfect as a decorative and functional focal point; go to stovefinders.com and lecalipel.com.

Traditional fireplace companies, such as Chesney's (chesneys.co.uk) do beautiful modern interpretations. For a smart fire screen, choose glass - try Real Flame (realflame.co.uk) - or eye-catching bespoke metalwork from B+D Design (bd-design.co.uk).

Making a small flat feel bigger

The trick is to choose dual-purpose furniture that doubles as storage or folds away during the day. Lighting, too, is crucial. Lit areas look further away than shaded ones, so flood the first and furthest walls you see when you enter a space to make the room appear larger than it is.

Think scale of objects, too: don't clutter the view with large ornaments. Keep in mind the visual weight of an object or image, and place it carefully so rooms feel balanced and not top heavy.

Distraction is a useful method employed by show home dressers to lead the eye of the prospective purchaser away from problem areas, so go for colourful paintings, fabulous furniture and flowers.

Choose furniture that's open, such as mesh or wirework, or has reflective surfaces. Small spaces feel better when you use luxe materials, so go to town with lacquers, pearlescents, mirrors, polished stone and metallics.

Sound-proofing your home

If you have noise coming from above, you could build a secondary ceiling using two layers of 12mm plasterboard over a timber frame, fixed to the walls but separated from the ceiling.

When laying flooring, specialist acoustic underlays can help, but it's best to choose a softer material in the first place. Carpet is probably the most effective solution, but if that's a step too far, then go for rubber, or vinyl, such as Amtico's (amtico.com), over a layer of Jumpax from Unifloor (unifloor.nl). Fill partition walls and cavities with mineral wools (rockwool.co.uk) and fit additional plasterboard layers.

The best solution for walls, though, is similar to the ceiling method, whereby a second plaster wall is floated off the existing wall or studwork, using special metal battens called Resilient Bars, available from Sound Solutions (soundstop.co.uk). Acoustic wall panels also contribute further to softening noise that arises from inside a room. See Offecct's shapely Soundwave panels (offecct.com).