New year, new looks... for less Easy updates to help you start the new year with a fresh look

NEW YEAR, NEW LOOKS for less!

Start 2021 with a fresh new look with these quick and purse-friendly room updates

FIRE IT UP No matter how much we love old family photos, we can stop noticing them if they’ve been in the same frames for a while. Changing the colour of the frames will help you look at them with fresh eyes. Use masking tape to block out a section of the frame and paint it with a contrasting colour (we love using tester pots for this). For a luxurious look, apply a little gold leaf too.

Refresh a tired mantelpiece with a lick of paint. Choose a bold tone to make the replace the focal point of your room; bright yellow or sugar pink are Instagramfavourite colours and will give a room a sense of fun. For a more subtle look, choose a colour that matches your wallpaper or skirting. If you want to give your replace a complete makeover, paint the tiles and alcove too.

DIY leopard ShopMissElla on Etsy

LIVING ROOM

Pebeo Gold leaf akes, £8.15, Cass Art IN THE FRAME cushion kit, £15,

Velvet cushion covers in Teal and Yellow, £2.50 each, Primark

CUSHY NUMBER Change up the sofa with a new set of cushions. Shop around for a bargain or get creative and make your own. DIY cushion-making kits are a good starting point for a quirky piece. Once you’ve learned the ropes, you can start making simple slip covers too. Dunelm’s feather cushion pads will last you a lifetime, and you can switch the covers every season. Upcycle your old tablecloths or curtains and your new cushions will cost next to nothing.

CHINA TOWN Give old plates and dishes a new lease of life by hand drawing new patterns on them with dishwasher-safe marker pens. You’ll fall back in love with the plates you once cherished when they’ve been perked up with a fresh look. Try a oral design or a few delicate leaves. If drawing isn’t your thing, uneven polka dots are a huge trend this year and they’re super simple to do!

Uniball Posca pens pastel pack, £23 for eight, Hobbycraft Hayami dinner plate, £20; Hayami side plate, £14; Hayami mug, £14; Hayami bowl, £12, all Anthropologie

Argos Home Harlow stackable dining chair in White, £40 Quick dry satinwood paint in Goose Down, £18.95 per 750ml, Dulux

SWAP SEATS Changing up your dining room chairs can quickly refresh the look of your room, so look out for bargains in the end of year sales. Alternatively, renovate your dining room chairs with an on-trend dipped look. Create a sharp line with masking tape and paint the blocked-o sections in a colour that suits your style. Use this dipped technique to make mismatched

Brich Scand chairs in Orange Salmon and White, £24.78 each, Sklum vintage chairs look like a set.

DINING ROOM

SEW PRETTY A stylish tablecloth will give your dining table a new look, and you might have an old one in the cupboard. Use embroidery to cover up stains, or to create a new design. Iron-on transfers give you a clear outline that’s easy to ll in with stitches. Sewing on a new trim will make a plain tablecloth seem more expensive, and you only need to be able to sew in a straight line!

Hemstitched linen tablecloth, £89.99, Zara Home

Wall paint in Original, £41.95 per 2.5l; Chalk paint in Graphite, Chicago Grey and Athenian Black, £21.95 per 1l, all Annie Sloan

ENERYDA cup handle in brass-colour, £9 for two, IKEA

KITCHEN

Changing cupboard handles makes a big dierence to how your kitchen looks. A simple switch to minimalist brass knobs will give the cupboards a sleek, modern look, but for a more traditional feel, cup handles will help to channel that cottagecore vibe. COAT SEASON Transform your kitchen by painting the cupboards a bold, new colour. The trend

furniture paint in Antibes, for deeply dramatic blue and graphite grey kitchens isn’t going anywhere so it’s the perfect time to update your look. If blue or grey aren’t your thing, khaki green will give the kitchen a modern lift too. And, if these shades sound too dark for you, classic

HANDLE IT

GoodHome at matt country cream is a safe, but stylish choice.

£9 per 500ml, B&Q

Azulejo 15cm tile stickers, £16 for 24, Dunelm ON THE TILES If your tiles don’t lend themselves to stickers but you want a change, tile paint is a brilliant way to completely revamp their look for a fraction of the price of new tiles.

Geometric Emerald tile decal sticker set, £22 for 24, Sirface Graphics at Not on the High Street Pale Grey tile paint, £15 per 750ml, Wilko

STICK ‘EM UP Turn your tiles into a stylish feature by applying patterned tile stickers. We love the look of traditional Mexican and Portuguese tiles but buying and laying them often breaks the budget. Tile stickers update the look of your existing tiles quickly and cheaply, and you’ll be spoiled for choice when you start looking for colourful designs.

OPEN DOOR Re-painting internal doors is a simple way to introduce a new colour without re-decorating the whole room. Just remember to use a wipeable or washable paint as marks are bound to build up around the handle area. For a low-impact fun look, paint the very edge of the door for a surprising pop of colour each time you open it.

Blue Gravel and Cloud Burst standard matt emulsion paint, from £16 for 2.5l, Crown Paints Resistance ultra matt emulsion paint in Tuscan Sunshine, £44 per 2.5l, Graham & Brown

Tough & Washable matt emulsion paint in Duck Egg No. 900, £16 per 2.5l, Wickes Feature wall paint in Scrumptious, £14.50 per 1.25l; Easy clean paint in Powder Blue, £20 per 2.5l, Crown Paints

KEEP ON ROLLING If you love the look of wallpaper but can’t bear the hassle and expense of putting it up, patterned paint rollers are for you. These textured rollers quickly apply a delicate pattern to your wall, which looks just like hand-printed wallpaper. Choose a similar tone to the painted wall for a subtle look. You don’t need to stop once you’ve painted the walls either, drawer fronts, cupboard doors and even textiles can be decorated in this way.

HALL

The Painted House Wall applicator roller, £12; The Painted House No. 1 Patterned paint roller, £15, both Patterned Paint Roller on Etsy Fluy reed grass, £25, Hudson Home

PICK UP STICKS Even in January, there’s a wealth of beauty outdoors. Bring fallen twigs, sprigs of evergreen foliage or dried grasses into your bedroom for a fresh, low maintenance look. Make use of old jars and bottles as vases to display your nds.

PAPER ARCHIVE Keep your workspace feeling fresh and neat with stylish and versatile storage. These crates from Hema are the perfect size for holding A4 paper, and they fold at if you decide you don’t need them all the time. We love this set of rolling drawers from Argos too, it’s crying out for a bold paint job! Rico single storage unit in Pine, £60, Argos Wave hexagonal pencil Cambridge Imprint CHALK IT UP Get organised for the year ahead with a wall planner. Seeing all your upcoming projects at a glance will help you to keep on top of things, and there are plenty of stylish options to choose from. A chalkboard wall sticker creates retro, back-

Line an old bookcase with a patterned wallpaper to give it a bold new look. This wallpaper from Dunelm is self-adhesive, so all you need to do is cut it to the right size before sticking it down and enjoying your handiwork. Choose a design that really sets o your ornaments, like palm leaves for wood or an Art Deco style for mirrored pieces.

Gallery Set multi-aperture photo frames in Grey, £50 for a set of eight,

STUDY

STORE AND ORDER

pot in Indigo, £13.50,

Recycled folding crate in Grey, £5; White letter pack, £3.50, both Hema

John Lewis & Partners to-school vibes to keep everyone’s plans in check.

Planner chalkboard stickers, £38, Moon Wall Stickers HANG IT ALL Take the hassle out of creating a gallery wall by using a set of matching frames. This collection from John Lewis comes with layout templates and hanging instructions to help you create a well-balanced display. Going freestyle? We like to lay our pictures out on the oor to decide how we’re going to hang them before we start hammering!

FRESH LICKS We’ve talked about changing the look of your tiles using tile stickers on page 78, but for a more subtle look, paint your tiles with a chic design. Annie Sloan’s chalk paint quickly covers old tiles in a range of stylish colours, and is very hard-wearing once it’s sealed in. If you want to paint tiles in an area that gets very wet, such as a bathroom, use a specialist tile paint like V33 instead. V33 Renovation wall, tile and panelling paint in Loft Grey Satin, £24 for 0.75l, B&Q

GoodHome Poprock mosaic eect vinyl tile, £16.90 for a pack of 14, B&Q

Tiles in chalk paint in Olive, Athenian Black, Antoinette and Duck Egg Blue, £21.95 per 1l; nished with matt chalk paint lacquer, £21.95 per 1l; plaster-eect wall in Antoinette and Old White wall paint, £41.95 per 2.5l, all Annie Sloan

VERY TILEISH Update bathroom ooring with easy-to-apply vinyl tiles. These tiles are self-adhesive so you won’t need to get messy with glue. They’re easily cut with a craft knife so that you can get the perfect t. Remember to line the tiles up to the centre of your room, rather than a wall, for a professional look.

BATHROOM

SPLASH OUT Go bold with a patterned shower curtain. Shower curtains cover a large area in your bathroom, so they’re fantastic places for making a statement. They can also easily fold away if you don’t want them to dominate the room. We love this colourful Frida Kahlo design for bringing a bright, tropical feel to the bathroom.

Frida Kahlo shower curtain, £55, Courthouse Interiors

Squeeze the Day bath mat, £19.99, Red Candy Dichroic colour changing window lm, from £15, Abode Window Films

SCREEN STEALER If you have a shower screen you can still get creative with how it looks. Apply a clear, coloured window lm to the outside of your screen and it’ll give your bathroom a stunning wash of jewel-like colour. There are plenty of patterned options too, which will give the screen the eect of shimmering etched glass.