Research Redecorating While Enjoying An Online Bingo Game

Leave your bingo game on auto-daub while you check out colours and patterns

If you're thinking of redecorating then you should do you research first and you may even be able to combine it with a quick game of online bingo!

Interior designer and spokesperson for the Ideal Home show Linda Barker, who is probably most famous for transforming people's houses in Changing Rooms, suggests people study the looks that they like, whether these are in magazines, on the internet or in shop windows.

"Collect it over weeks and months, even years - people do it with their favourite sheets from magazines and swatches and colours, bits of wallpaper that kind of thing," she explained.

Ms Barker recommended arming yourself with plenty of information before you commit to spending any money.

You may want to get on the web to have a search for some inspiration, and if it's proving too taxing then you can always play a game of online bingo for a bit of a break.

Another good tip is to create a "look book" or a "mood board".

"It need not be elaborate at all but it just kind of helps people to focus their ideas. They can see a recurring theme or a recurring pattern that kind of thing," Ms Barker said.

She added: "Looking in showrooms and houses and getting recommendations and all that kind of thing is really important."

If House Beautiful magazine is anything to go by, 1950s trends are back when it comes to decorating. The publication said that the cult TV show Mad Men and the recession have helped to inspire a return to traditional home values like "make do and mend".

Retro-patterned fabrics, tailored upholstery and free-standing appliances are all becoming popular again, according to House Beautiful.

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