Home improvement is an absorbing and exciting activity for many homeowners, but it can turn out to be very costly. One of the best ways to manage a home improvement project is by setting your budget right at the start, and then ensuring you stick to it!

Many people choose to do some aspects of the project themselves to save money. Be as realistic as you can be when working out the costs of your project. Take a trip to the DIY store and pick up brochures and price lists; then sit down at home with a cup of tea or a cool drink and carefully work out what you need and how much it’s all going to cost.

One of the easiest areas to tackle yourself is the painting and decorating, so below we have outlined some handy hints to help you get the most out of the experience:

• Save any left-over paint for touch-ups later. You can also mix up left over paint from different rooms to make new colours.
• Buy masking tape to put around windows and carpet edges. If any paint gets spilt you can then just pull the masking tape up.
• If you find something you like the colour of – perhaps a piece of fabric or paper – take it along to your local DIY store. Most of them now offer an excellent colour-matching service and will prepare the paint mixture to suit you.
• Wrap paintbrushes in cling film at the end of the day. This way they won’t dry out over night and it also saves you the time of washing them.
• If you are using a roller to apply the paint to your walls or ceiling you may find that you get some spattering (small droplets of paint thrown off the roller during application). To avoid this you should work in sections, applying the paint in a zigzag "M" or "W" pattern and then filling in the pattern at the end.

Good luck!