How to decorate without hurting purse or planet

First-time buyers can add personality to the plainest white box with judicious vintage buys and clever design, says Pattie Baron

BUYING YOUR first home may have broken the bank but you don’t have to sit on patio furniture for the next five years, nor do you need to go in big for the least sustainable option — cheap fast furniture where the race is on to see whether it will go out of fashion or break first.

Weston Homes enlisted Robin Daines, project design manager at GP&J Baker at the Design Centre Chelsea Harbour, to decorate its show home at Gun Hill Park in Aldershot (one-bedroom homes from £285,000, call 01252 759437) for a fraction of the six-figure sum such a project would usually cost.

Here are his tips for creating a beautifully decorated home, where the most expensive piece of furniture cost just £300.