Spruce up your bedroom without breaking the bank.

Sometimes it's nice to make changes without having to completely redecorate a room. Here are some ideas to help you spruce up your bedroom without breaking the bank.

1) Cheer up your bed with a new duvet cover and pillowcases. This need not cost the earth -there are some lovely bed sets available for bargain prices. I thought this one from Dunelm would warm up the bedroom during the coming winter months.

Or maybe something more masculine: (Dunelm)

2) If you have an upholstered headboard that has seen better days why not recover it yourself. Choose a fabric that co-ordinates with your bedroom scheme and then using a staple gun simply staple this over the existing fabric. Carefully tuck the corners in to get a neat finish and you will have given your headboard a whole new lease of life.

3) Sometimes little things make a big difference -and no more so than lighting! take a look at your bedroom light fitting -is it past its best? There are some lovely inexpensive light shades available from B and Q to add a bit of glamour to the bedroom! Here are a few of my favourites, and all at under £30

4) Dressing tables are often quite large, but offer very little storage except from another surface to clutter up! An alternative would be to turn a chest of drawers into a dressing chest -just put a mirror on the wall above it and place everyday essentials on the top. Be strict about what you leave out on display - other items could be placed in the drawers in small baskets for easy access, or even better in the bathroom cabinet!

5) Add some new wall pictures. This can really lift a tired bedroom scheme and can cost very little. you can use anything you fancy to brighten up your walls - samples of colourful wallpaper mounted in frames looks great and these can be changed easily when you get tired of them. A collection of picture postcards from holidays can be carefully mounted together to create a collage, or photographs of family, friends or places can be grouped together. If you are feeling creative why not buy a plain canvass and paint your own abstract painting for your bedroom using the colours in your scheme using left over paint or inexpensive sample pots. The beauty of this is that when you get fed up with it you can paint something else over the top!

These postcard pictures are from Ikea and cost only £2.50 for the set: