Some small changes or additions can turn a plain house into the stuff of dreams. Whether you’re going for romantic cottage or charming country styles, sometimes it’s the little touches that can make all the difference.

Picket fences scream cottage, even if you live in the middle of the city. Stick to white if you want something obvious or mix pastels and bold colors for a major impact.

Turn your porch into an outdoor room. Use vintage furniture (from benches and chairs to a hatch) as much as possible to add character. Choose weather-resistant materials and don’t be afraid to buy things at garage sales or discount centers –After all, these items will stay outside and probably end up damaged after a while. Add touches of color and charm by using pillows, eye-catching accessories and lots of potted plants.

Hang stuff from the walls. Old pots and pans, dried flowers and vintage collectibles (such as mirrors, watering cans or other small items) all scream cottage charm.

Take the doors off the shelves. This works particularly well in the kitchen. Get rid of a few cabinet doors and use the open space to display cookbooks, vintage cooking utensils or well stacked china.

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Ultimately, what your kid’s room will look like depends on personal taste (yours and eventually your child’s), although there are some basics to keep in mind when designing and decorating one:

Choose colors, furniture and décor that will grow with the child. If you go overboard with the cutesy designs, things will have to be changed as the kid becomes a toddler or a pre-teen. A way around this is to paint the room itself a neutral tone and then use bedding, curtains and rugs to provide personality and details.

Pick materials that are durable. Washable fabrics are a must, as are darker colors (whites and beiges will get dirty too quickly). Low-maintenance that are machine washable and will withstand wear and tear will make your life a lot easier.

Get plenty of storage at kids’ eye level. Trunks, large drawers and bins are great to help kids get organized. At the end of the day, if you don’t feel like picking up things, they can just be thrown into containers to be sorted out later. If you want the kids to do the organizing themselves, don’t choose furniture with high drawers or pegs they can’t reach or open.

Provide plenty of insulation. If you have hardwood floors, cover them with thick rugs or rubber mats, to prevent injuries when kids fall or play on the floor.

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Unless money is not an issue, there are some home improvements that just don’t pay to be made.

Don’t turn a bedroom into anything else if you plan on selling your house soon. A home office or a workout room may look good, but your home will be listed as having one less bedroom, lowering the selling price.

Don’t get a concrete patio. Deal with the grass or have a section covered in stone or a wood deck. Concrete increases temperature, reflects sunlight and will usually crack in hot climates. Also, it doesn’t look that appealing and you’re stuck with no garden, even if you change your mind.

Avoid bold finishes around the house. If you want bold, choose a striking wall color or bright curtains or rugs, which can be changed easily. Avoid carpeting, counters and other finishes that are too bold or too different. They may look great now, but chances are you’ll get tired of them at some point and then it will cost you a small fortune to replace them.

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While making a completely green house would probably require a major remodeling project and thousands of dollars, there are tons of small things you can do to better your home and protect the environment in the process.

Insulating the basement, attic and crawl spaces will ensure that you spend less money on electricity and gas to maintain optimal indoor temperatures. This also means less emissions going into the environment.

Installing lots of windows. One structural change that won’t cost you much but will save electricity is to have more windows put in, so you can take advantage of the light and the warmth of the sun coming in. Make sure you choose windows coated to protect against temperature changes.

Leave surfaces unfinished whenever possible. This will reduce the amount of formaldehyde and other chemicals in the area.

When possible, install containers outdoor to capture rain water. You can do this using a 50-gallon barrel, a cistern or even a fountain. You can use the water to water plants or to clean outdoor spaces. It will save on your water bill and conserve energy.

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• Not planning well enough. If you don’t have a budget and a clear idea of what you want to do and how much you’re willing to spend on it, chances are you’ll spend too much.
• Buying all new furniture. Whether you’re tired of the look in a room or the dogs have destroyed the couch, there are few times when you actually need to change every single of furniture in a room. In most cases, you can reupholster some pieces, paint others and add fabrics and linens to brighten up the place. Then buy one or two pieces that will really spruce up the place.
• Changing the floors before exploring options. If you’re hardwood floors are scratched or chipped, you may think it’s time for new flooring. Before you go that route, find out if the damage can be repaired. Paint, wax or even sectional rugs can all cover the damage or at least hide it significantly.
• Hiring a handyman for little repairs. Of course you need a contractor for major structural changes and a handyman to correct electrical or pipe problems. However, there’s no reason why you can’t learn to fix the smaller things yourself. Fixing a small hole on a wall, especially in a place like the garage or the basement, where perfection is not needed, can be done by everybody. The same is true of painting a room, replacing a switchplate or other small house repairs.

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If you can’t afford to completely redo a room, there are still things you can do change its look and feel. Most of these changes will cost you under $50 and some will cost you nothing at all.

• Paint the room. Choose a contrasting color to the one you had before, so it’s truly noticeable. If you can’t afford to buy paint for the whole room, paint one wall in a vibrant color and make that wall the center of the room.
• Change the curtains. A lively, flowery curtain will give the room a completely different feel than heavy drapery would. Play with options or choose whatever is on sale.
• Cover the floor with a rug. Simple rugs can be found at discount stores for as little as $20-30. Don’t worry about covering the whole floor either. Just place it in the center of the room or in the area you want to accentuate.
• Move the furniture. Simply changing things around will make the room feel different. You can also switch pieces of furniture with something from other room or use a side table as a nighttable or vice versa.
• Hang art on the walls. You won’t be able to afford a one-of-a-kind painting for $50 but places like IKEA sell posters ready-to-frame that look like the real thing.

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If you have a spare bedroom in your home, chances are is turning (or already has) into a catch-all room, where all the extras goes and no real order can ever be made of anything. If that’s the case, don’t despair. You can rescue the bedroom and convert it into an useful, organized room.

The simplest idea is to turn the room into a guest bedroom. This requires no additional purchases (providing you already had a bed and wardrobe or chest drawer in there). Clean up the items you don’t need, pack up clothing or seasonal decorations and you’re ready to have company over.

The second most useful idea may be to turn the room into a home office. Even if you don’t work from home, you can still use an office to help you organize paperwork and bills, to spend some time reading alone or to store the computer and other office equipment. An office needs a desk, a comfortable chair and a shelving unit or drawers to organize office supplies and other extras.

If you have kids, making the room into a playroom will allow the kids to play at their hearts’ content without you having to worry about seeing toys strung over the whole house. If company shows up, you can simply close the door and not worry about the mess. Also, having a specific room designated as a playroom will make it easier to child-proof and make sure it’s safe and free of sharp corners or dangers when the kids are jumping around.

If you need a storage room and there’s nowhere else your stuff can be relegated to, you can use the bedroom as storage, as long as you find a way to do it cleverly. Buy cardboard boxes or plastic containers where you can divide and store things according to season or use. Cupboards and drawer systems will take care of paperwork and other flat items, while you can use hanging bags to store out-of-season clothing or sport equipment. If you organize it well enough, there’s no reason why the room couldn’t serve as both storage and bedroom or office.

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If your house is in complete chaos, the idea of making sense of it all may seem overwhelming. However, there are some basic things you can do to get started in organizing and cleaning up your home.

STEP ONE: Prioritize

Look at what needs to be done and make a list with two columns: big changes and small ones. Big changes will include anything that requires purchasing furniture or driving to the library to donate a pile of books. Small changes will include organizing the kitchen drawers or clearing up the desk.

STEP TWO: Do it one room at the time

Things will get overwhelming fast if you think about everything that needs to be done. Choose one room and get to work on that one. Only move to the next one when you’re done or when the next step requires you to buy something or go out of the house. Start with the rooms that you use the most.

STEP THREE: Separate into piles

Divide everything that is lying around into three piles: everyday or often use, used seasonally, never used. Anything that goes into the third pile should automatically be put aside to donate or throw away.

STEP FOUR: Be ruthless

Discard anything that you don’t truly love, won’t use or is broken, especially if you already have a replacement and are just holding on to the older item “just in case it can be repaired one day.” It won’t, so let it go.

STEP FIVE: Find appropriate storing

Things will never be organized if you don’t have a proper place to store them. Whether it’s shelves, cardboard boxes or full pieces of furniture, having storage space means you’ll be more likely to put things away, rather than letting them pile in the corners.

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Buy a few good pieces of furniture. If you have lots of paperwork, countless books and piles of files, you need adequate storing space. A plain glass desk may sound appealing, but it will do you no good when it comes to organizing your office. Instead, buy a good desk with lots of drawers, shelving units with deep-set divisions and a filing cabinet that will accept thick files of all sizes.

Establish work zones. Make your desk a work center and store supplies and books in a different corner. If there are items, such as files and books, that need to be moved from place to place every day, get a few “transition” baskets and make sure things eventually return to their rightful place.

Keep frequently-used items handy. If you only use your scanner once a month, there’s no much sense in having take space on the desk. Instead, store it away on a drawer or cabinet. Printers, fax or other items that are used everyday should be near the computer and easily accessible.

Create a mail-processing area. A basket for incoming mail and a different one for mail that needs to be sent out is the bare minimum you’ll need. Keep envelopes, stamps and labels in a box or drawer nearby.

Do not allow non-office stuff to make its way into the room. It’s easy to let toys, magazines and empty coffee cups to linger around. You probably can’t expect to keep junk out of the room all the time, but make it a goal to get things out by the end of the day so they don’t accumulate.

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Small spaces present special challenges to decorators, as they often require non-standard furniture to fit into corners and crevices where “normal size” items would not. If you have a small room but little money to spend, though, there are still some things you can do to make the most of the space.

Buy furniture that serves more than one purpose. An ottoman can become a coffee table in a pinch and a bookcase can serve as a room separator if you live in a studio or need some privacy for your desk or work area.

Get rid of clutter. Nothing enhances space in a room like getting rid of things that don’t belong there. You don’t need to get rid of all your magazines, but throw away the ones you already read (or don’t plan on reading) and then arrange the rest on a nice basket in the corner. Or buy a TV stand with drawers and store your magazines inside.

Avoid making the room look too busy. Resist the urge of decorating the walls with a dozen small framed photographs and instead hang a single medium-size painting. Stick to just a few pillows for the sofa and choose flat ones that can be used on the floor as additional sitting if necessary. One large couch is better in a small room than three small chairs, as the second option would not only take more space, but also reduce the walking area considerably.

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