Room by room
Practical guides to improving, furnishing and finishing a home — kitchens and interiors, gardens and outdoor rooms, keeping the place safe, and the small decisions that make a room work.
Homeowner sets a fixed budget (e.g. $10,000) A $10,000 budget buys a cosmetic refresh, not a gut renovation. That figure covers new fixtures, tile, paint, lighting and a tub-to-shower conversion or acrylic…
Room has little natural light A north-facing window, a spot more than a few feet back from any window, or a room…
Homeowner sets a fixed budget (e.g. $10,000) Ten thousand dollars buys a surface-level refresh, not a new floor plan. At this budget,…
Doors and drawer fronts look dated or damaged while the cabinet boxes are still sound If the doors are chipped, warped, or…
Small living room or oversized furniture A living room that feels cramped usually isn't small — it's furnished with pieces sized for…
Free tool · runs in your browser
Put in the size of the room and how many coats you want, and it works out how much paint to buy — with the doors and windows taken off, and rounded up to whole tins with a little spare.
Open the calculatorWhat you’ll get
Corrections & suggestions
Products change, and what works in a small flat does not always work in an old house. If a guide is out of date, or there is a room or a job you would like us to write up, the editorial team would like to hear about it.
