Adding Value to Your Home

A little time and money carefully spent will pay dividends when it comes to improving your quality of life.

Kitchen

The kitchen area is the focus of most homes and an attractive kitchen is one of the central selling points of any property. You can pay anything from €3,000 to over €20,000 for a new kitchen - but the secret is to keep the outlay in proportion to your home... you could never recoup installing a country-style kitchen and solid fuel cooker in a small, city apartment. If you're thinking of a new kitchen you could save money by doing some of the work yourself. Also, you could save space by moving your washing machine and freezer somewhere else and using the space for storage. In summary, draw up a wish list then set yourself a budget and stick to it.

Bathroom

Most bathrooms are small and demand careful planning to make the most of the available space. Creating a separate room for the lavatory and installing an en suite shower in a bedroom can free up space. Boxing in basins and putting up storage shelves will make a small bathroom look bigger, as will using large mirrors or mirror tiles.
You might also want to consider:

• Lowering the lighting
• Replacing a row of plain white tiles with Mediterranean-coloured ones
• Setting a low platform around the bath or installing a free standing bath
• Putting up a heated towel rail

Rather than spend a lot of money renovating your bathroom, you can also add to the value of the home by building a second bathroom.

Living Room

This is the room that everyone uses. Adults want to unwind, relax after work or watch a video while kids usually want to scatter and play with their toys here. So your living room should appeal to everyone. The secret here is to follow through the theme of the room (whether it's traditional, classic, modern or cottage) and spend your money wisely. You might want a new laminated floor, but you may be better spending your money on a new paint, fabric and some storage solutions.

Bedroom

A stylish bedroom doesn't need to conform to the style and period of the rest of the home. Here, anything goes from French chic with brass bedstead to cottage style with four poster, Swedish pine with futon to the William Morris Arts and Crafts treatment. Wall-to-wall carpeting is an obvious floor finish, although laminated floors or cushioned vinyl tiles are fine for padding around on with bare feet. When it comes to furnishing a bedroom, spend what you can on a good mattress and anything spare on practical storage. The separate dressing room is a long gone luxury, but consider instead space-saving concepts like built in wardrobes, slide-out dress and suit racks, and storage shelves which house a remote-controlled television and stereo as well as shirts and socks. Pay special attention to colour. Use yellows and pinks for a sunny start to the day, earth-coloured terracotta for warmth and comfort, blues and greens for a cool, fresh feel.

Halls and stairs

House plants? Every hall should have one. Everything from a pot of winter jasmine to a bowl of spring bulbs or even a container of lemon pelargoniums works wonders in the hall. Whether entertaining friends or selling your home, the hall is the first inside space visitors experience - so make it a pleasant one. Check the floor. Add a dash of colour with a cheerful rug or traditional Kurdish kelim. Burnish bare floorboards to a deep shine with beeswax; rejuvenate ceramic tiles with linseed oil mixed with three parts white spirit. For walls, especially in small, dark halls, use light colours and good lighting. (Half glazing the outside door will add to the natural light, but glaze with frosted glass for privacy). Halls suffer from the passing traffic of boots, bikes and wet umbrellas. Choose coat racks with an eye on their design as well as their function, and place them at least five paces from the door so the hallway doesn't feel cluttered. A young family has no respect for a fussy paint finish: put in a dado rail and finish the bottom half of the wall with washable wallpaper.