Shop around for furniture carefully solid wood lasts a lot better than chipboard and looks a lot better though it is more expensive. I would recommend for those on a budget looking in second hand furniture shops, auctions and the charity furniture shops you can find them in your yellow pages. Another top place it to look is car boot sales but decide in advance how much you want to pay and don’t be lured any higher than you intended.

If you are on a budget and let’s be realistic most of us are, sometimes what is best is to buy furniture for a room one piece at a time. What I mean is to decide on the theme and slowly build up pieces that tie in with that. The alternative is to do up a whole room at a time and really blitz it which does mean that you have a room out of commission while it is done. I on one occasion was painting a room in the morning and letting it in the evening but I wouldn’t recommend it.