• CLUTTERBUG
  Carol Bennett's top ten quick-fix tips:
• 1. Clear out clutter or, if you cannot bear to part company with it, hide it in wicker baskets or a nice chest. Woolworths sells large linen baskets for £20.
• 2. Change cushion covers twice a year. Velvet and chenille in jewel shades for winter, silk pastels for summer. Or sew new trims on to existing covers. V.V. Rouleaux has a good selection (www.vvrouleaux.com).
• 3. If you cannot afford to replace carpets, buy some bright rugs to cover worn patches, or have your carpets professionally cleaned.
• 4. Tailor-made curtains are costly but Habitat (0845 6010740, www.habitat.net) and Oka (020-7348 7090, www.okadirect.com) do reasonably priced ready-to-hang versions.
• 5. If your sofa is looking tired, put a bright throw over it in a rich fabric.
• 6. Changing your lighting can make a room look completely different. Overhead lights with Sixties shades are horrid. Use downlighters, fit dimmer switches or buy some good lamps with large shades.
• 7. Move your furniture around or swap it between rooms.
• 8. A lick of paint is a cheap way to transform a room but avoid strong colours in spring. Go for pastels instead. If a room is small, painting the ceiling, walls and skirting boards the same colour will make it appear much bigger.
• 9. Do not scatter accessories around the room, group them together.
• 10. Rooms need plants. If you are not the green-fingered kind, use fakes. The best are from Fake Landscapes (020-7835 1500, www.fake.com).

THIS WOMAN who came to dinner was staring at my living-room curtains. "Nice, aren't they?" I said proudly: "I've had them for seven years." There was an awkward pause and then she said: "Oh, you poor darling .., but you've been ill, haven't you?"

Now hang on ... seyen years is not old for curtains, is it? Well, is it?

After she had gone I looked afresh at the richly striped green, red and gold fabric, with bold tassels, which had cost a small fortune. Curtains are like politics: seven years is a long time.

It is very easy to flop out in the same surroundings year after year, which is all well and good if you live in an historic building but not so good if you are starting to behave like your parents, who had the same stuff for decades. Mirror, mirror on the wall, I am my mother after all.

Anyway, it was only when I picked up the latest homes and interiors catalogue from good old Woolworths that I realised that I could transform my home very cheaply. Three quid for a bright vase for the bathroom, £20 for new bed linen, a tenner for a huge aquamarine glass platter to serve cheese or just as a decoration.

There is a strong retro influence with the new spring/summer range, which has lovely pastel china and kitchen accessories.

Think Fifties glamour without the hard loo roll and outside

lavatory that went with the decade. Fionnuala Johnston, design manager at Woolworths, says: "If you flick through interiors magazines now, you'll see that the Fifties has had an enormous influence on today's homewares. People like the clean lines, but want stuff restyled for today."

Natural colours are big for 2005, she says, especially spearmint, blue and green with accessories made of wood and fake suede. She says: "It's a sort of English summer's day theme, really cheerful and breezy, but used against a palette of white. I travel a lot to Stockholm, Paris and Milan and saw that the designs of Charles and Ray Eames were still very popular. They liked naturals, sugared-almond colours and squared-off ceramics."

Carol Bennett, a leading interior designer in London, says that it is important not to see the spring makeover as a massive project every five years but to keep on top of your house and give it the occasional updated feel. "If your curtains cost a lot, then why should you change them? Keep the curtains and change the look with accessories." She did suggest, however, buying slightly more restrained curtains next time around. "Cream always works well, then you could alter the mood with cushions and vases." Every house, says Bennett, should be repainted every two years and decluttered every January because of the masses of stuff that accumulate over Christmas. If you do not want to spend a lot on a redesign, ask a friend with good taste to make a few tactful suggestions. Bennett says: "A house is not something you should look at every six months, it's an ongoing project. You need a running programme of repairs and updates, then you can make a difference without spending too much at once."

Woolworths: www.woolworths.co.uk