Shaynna Blaze on how to add value to your home

Hi, I'm Shaynna Blaze, host and designer on Buying Blind.

You've moved into your home, and you can't do everything, but there's always a few simple things you can do that will add to your lifestyle. When you first move into your home, stay in it for a little while before you make too many changes, and work out how you like to live in the space and what is actually missing, and invest the money in those areas.

Do you like indoor-outdoor living? It actually might be worth putting money into your lounge room and your outdoor living space, so money invested into big sliding doors or bi-fold doors might be a better investment than a stone bench top in your kitchen.

I think one of the most neglected spaces in your home is your entry and your hallways. Make sure it's inviting and it doesn't have to be expensive. It might be a case of a new coat of paint, a rug and some great artwork. Look at simple ways that makes your house, a home.

It's so important to look at how your family lives within the house, and spend the money in those areas to make you feel good. Mostly, it's the dining area, the lounge or the open-plan living. Look at the furniture; I think your furniture dates quickly and ages very quickly. It might be a case of getting the sofa recovered, new cushions or a big rug to rejuvenate the space. Just adding a few key pieces into your lounge space, like a beautiful occasional chair, or a lamp, or a big piece of artwork, can actually make the space feel brand new with just those few simple touches.

Window treatments can date a house very quickly. They can be expensive, but it's an investment into the look of your home, so it makes sense to just go room-by-room and update the window treatments, rather than trying to do it all at once.

Trends come and go very quickly these days, so it's important to build a very basic, classic colour palette to your home, and you can do that with your flooring, a coat of paint, and then you just build it on there with a pop cushion or a new rug or a throw on the couch, to make it feel relevant. But if you do a good colour base on your walls and your couches, you can get a new look every six months.

When you're looking at your flooring like your timber floors and your carpet, I always say 'take your time'; it doesn't matter if your house looks daggy for a while because it's costly. Work out the colours that work well in your house in daylight, in night time, and then build the base of your flooring that will last at least 10 years. It's not something you want to rush into.

Don't underestimate the value of lighting in your home, and it comes in so many ways. Beautiful overhead pendants draw a lot of light, but look at pendants that have a lot of texture to it so it puts patterns on the wall, or you might actually have lighting that sits behind a beautiful plant or it sits behind a couch, so it actually creates an ambience in the room, and if you've got an open fireplace it's the best sort of ambient light you can have.

Investing in your home is investing in your happiness, so take your time and get it right.

If you found this helpful, visit suncorp.com.au/homebuyingguide for more tips.