We have all seen the home improvement shows on Channel Four in the UK and marvelled at the fantastic homes they show buyers around. I don’t know about you but I am always impressed at how light and airy these homes feel, but the price tag of these homes is always a little to high for me! So I got to thinking about how I could create this light and airy feeling in my own home. So as a project I decided to re-decorate my living room as it a very dark room in my home and often felt smaller than it really is.

The first thing I did was to strip the dark varnish off the wooden furniture in the room, once this varnish was stripped off, I sanded the furniture down and covered in a light beeswax to preserve the wood but produce furniture which was lighter and not as austere as it had previously been.

The walls in the room were wallpapered in a floral pattern so I stripped off the paper and had the room re-plastered, this left me with a fantastic blank canvas which I painted in a pale yellow, and painted all the skirting boards and doors in a pure brilliant white. Already the room was feeling brighter but I wanted to complete the effect, so I moved the leather sofa into the study and bought a smaller chez lounge, which I had re-upholstered in light coloured cotton.

I knew that if I added to many decorations to the room it would start to feel cluttered and small again so I had to choose carefully, I bought a fantastic large overmantle mirror which I hung above the fireplace and it reflected the morning sunlight throughout the room to stunning effect.

Finally I really wanted a family portrait up on the wall but I didn’t want a formal photograph in a dark wooden frame on the wall, so I did a little research on line and found these great tips on creating a family portrait, and so I got a friend to take a photo of my family in our local park which I had printed on a canvas which now takes pride of place on the wall in my living room.

The finished room looks fantastic, light, airy and on a sunny day it seems to glitter in the sun – a great home improvement project which I am sure has added value to my home as well as producing a great room to enjoy.