Economic gloom has changed our view of the place that we call home. It is no longer an investment but a comfort zone, where you can have cheap, credit-crunch-type fun on the sofa, watching a new supersized flatscreen television, wrapped up in a £195 John Lewis cashmere throw (in lacquer red).

The falling value of sterling, shares and property may be giving the nation the blues, but people are shutting out the world with blinds and insulating themselves with warm-coloured, soft furnishings: John Lewis's bestselling cushions are bright and beaded. At Marks & Spencer, there has even been demand for a television embellished with Swarovski crystals and a chaise longue similarly adorned. Both these items are now in the sale, examples of how the big discounts available at hard-pressed retailers are cutting the cost of “don't move, improve” cocooning. But John Lewis reports that premium-priced products such as the throw are also in demand.

In the property boom, experts recommended that the smartly turned home should ressemble a luxury hotel, anonymously chic in beige, taupe and moccachino.

This neutral decor was intended to appeal not so much to the occupants but to potential buyers, who would bid up the value of property that was a blank canvas. But a dearth of finance and buyers has made relocation more difficult, and sometimes impossible, obliging homeowners to stay put. The silver lining to this cloud is the opportunity to give full vent to your own interior design tastes.

Watching couples sorting through sofa fabric swatches in the furnishings departments, it is tempting to ask: “Do you really think you can afford that?” But, for the moment at least, some households are less crunched than others, including the 6.5million or so in England who own their homes outright without a mortgage. This represents 31 per cent of households.

Meanwhile, about 4.2million mortgage borrowers who have base rate tracker loans have benefited from successive cuts in the base rate. The typical monthly repayment on a £200,000 tracker loan is now about £380 lower than in January 2008. The saving would buy about 11 John Lewis zinnia blossom cushions (£34 apiece and decorated with 3D felt flowers).

For most of these borrowers, repayments will fall yet again next week if there is another reduction of the base rate, although Nationwide and some other lenders will not lower their tracker rates again.

Style historians may view the bright red throw as the late Noughties version of wartime scarlet lipstick, a sign of defiance in harsh times. But history also shows that, when housing markets start to improve, idiosyncratically decorated properties can get left behind. Just don't let the colour run from the cushions to the kitchen walls.