Chic and cheerful...

WOULDN'T you like to wave a magic wand over your home and create a fabulous designer look without breaking the bank?

All you need is cheap chic. There are stunning accessories available in the high street stores and for quality and style they compare well with up-market design products selling for treble the price.

Start by joining the chain store gang. Larger branches of supermarkets and shops such as Asda, Sainsbury’s and Woolworths, and mail order companies are worth checking out in person or on the web.

Be choosy and pick just a few things you really love from each brand.

Overdoing it will make the effect bland, and there’ll be no disguising where it came from.

Then smugly reflect that you don’t need to be wealthy to have a wealth of style. Simply think ‘cheap chic’.

Sainsbury’s has something for every room and once you start, frankly you won’t want to stop and – a big bonus – it has an
excellent website.

Asda has a particularly good range of dark grey soapstone bathroom accessories plus tasteful bedlinen.

Woolworth is rapidly gaining a well-deserved reputation for its homewear which is a winning combination of style and rock bottom prices.

Matalan is virtually unbeatable for up-to-the minute kitchenwear, especially dining sets, as well as basics such as saucepans.

TK Maxx features homewear including products by high street names as well as designers. But be quick because stock changes fast.

Mail order catalogues can be boring but Kays has a good selection of fashionable homewear at sensible prices.

If you need help on how to display those high street finds to great effect look no further than the brilliantly illustrated book, Cheap Chic by Emily Chalmers and Ali Hanan. (Ryland Peters & Small, £18.99).

It’s packed with inspiring illustrations, and loads of tips on how to invest a modest budget and combine colours, textures and furnishings with confidence to create the home of your dreams

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