THESE days, having hand-made or second-hand furniture and fittings in your home is far from naff – it's positively designer and, with some imagination and creativity, you can add unique features in your home for very little money.
Visit auctions. Obviously, I'm a great fan of buying property at auction but if this is too daunting, you can have great fun (and pick up some real bargains) by going to auctions selling furniture and homewares.
If you have designer taste but not the budget, try buying from artists and designers directly. Local art and craft fairs are good for this as well as websites such as www.made.com, www.notonthehighstreet.com, www.folksy.com and www.etsy.com.
Up-cycle furniture. Scout second-hand furniture shops, auctions and car boot sales for furniture and homewares at knockdown prices. Search online for tons of up-cycling ideas. Here's a few:
Use old magazines/newspapers/sheets of music or even old family photos to decoupage (using varnish and layers of paper) wooden items. You don't have to cover the whole thing – just a small area can look good. Start with simple, flat shapes such as toilet seats or kitchen chairs.
Bung some old woolly jumpers into the washing machine to create your own felt and use it to create cushion covers, place mats, doorstops, etc. Ask retailers for their old fabric sample books and sew together pieces in patchwork to cover sofa cushions and foot stools.
Pick up old broken tiles from shops and create a mosaic.
Even larger items such as bathroom suites and entire kitchens can be found advertised online. Consider items a bit further a field, since the savings you make could easily cover the costs of hiring a van. Apart from the obvious, www.ebay.co.uk, check out www.preloved.co.uk and www. gumtree.com. You could even advertise that you want a particular thing on www.freecycle.com. Check out www. theusedkitchencompany.com and www.kitchensynch.co.uk, which specialise in high-quality, second-hand and ex-display kitchens at discounts.
Get spraying. You can buy cans of spray paint in a wide variety of colours and even textures these days. Consider spraying drawers in the same unit different colours. Go for bold shades if the background wood is neutral. You can use stencils to create fun patterns or hire a paint-sprayer (www.hss.com or www. brandontoolhire.co.uk) to transform larger pieces.
You can often find perfectly decent curtains in charity shops. Shortening curtains is easy and you can make them bigger by sewing on a contrasting border. Check out www.thecurtainexchange. co.uk. for high-quality curtains (usually in designer fabrics). Some have just been used in show homes or interior designer displays. If the curtains are for display only, consider varnishing tree branches instead of curtain poles and cable tie the curtain in place.
Ditch the shag pile – these days there are so many options for flooring materials that are cheap, hard wearing, environmentally friendly and "healthy", so you don't need to go for carpeting. Some cheaper alternatives are cork, wood laminate and Linoleum.
Visit salvage yards, particularly if you are renovating older, period property. Salvage yards are great places to find architectural pieces that can give your property extra character. Try www.salvoweb.com/ directory
Interior designers use mirrors to make a property appear bigger and lighter but you can also use them for wall art. Customise frames with drift wood, bottle tops, beads and shells. Visit www.thefunkymirrorco.co.uk
Retro lighting is very "in" at the moment. Ask relatives if they've got old lights hidden away they no longer use and update them with a statement lamp shade. www.funkylampshades.co.uk or www.glow. co.uk