5 easy ways to revamp a room

When was the last time you revamped a room?

We moved into our flat in 2012 and five years and three babies later it’s fair to say certain things are starting to look a little tired. A bit like me.

Holes are starting to appear in bedding, the corners of cushions are beginning to fray and the other day a whole chunk of our bedroom lightshade – once a collection of cascading hummingbirds – fell to the ground owing to the fact it had become so brittle it broke.

The place has been crying out for some TLC for ages, so taking the hummingbirds as a sign I’ve started with our bedroom and a big declutter is now underway.

So far I’ve taken six bin bags of clothes to the charity shop, ear marked several boxes of books for a car boot sale and binned more junk than I care to admit.

Shoes and bags that were stacked between furniture have new homes in newly cleared-out cupboards, you can see the skirting boards for the first time in years and the whole room seems suddenly larger.

I can’t tell you how good it feels – every time I walk in there I feel like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders and although the rest of the flat still feels like a tip, this room has finally been sorted out.

It’s also been a chance to give the room a bit of a facelift, which we’ve done without breaking the bank and without undertaking any major work by changing a few little things here and there.

So if you’ve got a room in need of a little TLC or you’re looking for some interior inspiration I thought I’d share what we did.

1. Change the drawer handles. I took the handles off an old chest of drawers and replaced them with shiny cut-glass ones that sparkle in the light. It was a 10-minute job and cost under £20, but makes a huge difference.

2. Invest in new light and lampshades. As much as I loved our hummingbird lightshade it doesn’t look quite the same now a great chunk has fallen off it, so time for a new one.

3. Update photos in frames. We’ve had the same photos in the same frames for years, and while they’re still nice to look at replacing them with some different photos has made me actually notice them again!

4. Replace bedding. We seem to go through duvet covers every couple of years, with little holes appearing that gradually get bigger and bigger (I blame our cats clawing the bed). My first port of call is usually eBay, where you can pick up brand new sets still with their tags on for a fraction of the rrp price. My latest find is a Cath Kidston bedding set which a woman had bought new but was selling because she’d changed her mind on her colour scheme.

5. Buy some new cushions – or cushion covers. I was never really into cushions until I met Misery Guts, who (rather weirdly) loves a good cushion. Now I’m quite partial to swapping covers and changing things about.