1 First, imagine your ideal day. Putting work and family commitments aside for a moment, how would you spend that day? Maybe you would like to be able to sit quietly and read for an hour, but don’t actually want to have to shut yourself in your bedroom away from the family? Or perhaps you love cooking yet have a tiny kitchen? Write down your thoughts and the response of other members of your household, as this will form the basis of your brief.

2 Make a list of things you have seen that you love and would like to copy. Don’t just take inspiration from TV shows, exhibitions and magazines. Visit art galleries and museums, as these can be the best showcases of how form, texture, colour, scale, lighting and space work together – not to mention acoustics.

3 Look around at your own space. What are its best features? Perhaps it’s a view? A friend of mine who recently built his own house designed a perpendicular window especially to frame the view of a church spire from a certain point on his staircase.

4 And what are its worst features? Ugly views, for example, will require clever window dressing, and if you’re on a budget you need to make that a priority.

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5 Avoid being distracted by the fun stuff like wallpaper or soft furnishings, but think carefully about basics. If you’re laying a new floor, this is an excellent opportunity to install floor-mounted sockets giving you much more flexibilitywhen it comes to arranging your sitting room furniture, for example, or if you are considering underfloor heating.

6 Do measure your rooms before you invest in furniture. Take a plan of each room to the store with you, along with your tape measure. Also, measure your doorways and stairwells so you can be sure any items of furniture you buy will get into your home in the first place.

7 Do not be shy of asking suppliers to provide large samples of fabrics or flooring, so you can be more certain of your decision. A large sample can give a very different impression from a small one.

8 When lighting a space consider how you want to use it: for example, bedside lighting to read by and overhead lighting to dress by. I can't say I'm a fan of those preprogrammed lighting systems but I believe in putting lights on different circuits and dimmers for easy controllability.

9 Remember when spending on any electrical appliances and gadgets the rule of near-instant obsolescence: nowadays new technology soon becomes old technology.

10 Do obtain references for tradesmen and look at their previous projects. Put your objectives in writing, which will form the basis of your agreement.

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