Gone are the days when you had to go conservative colour-wise in the home in order to be fashionable and stylish. Sure, if you’re redecorating with a view to selling your home, you should probably shy away from huge prints in block colours installed above your leather sofas, but otherwise there’s no need to opt for earthy, neutral tones or the standard magnolia.

Really, it’s best to opt for colours that you know you can live with, and that you’re going to enjoy. If you already have living or dining room furniture and aren’t intending to buy new stuff to fit with the room, that may limit the options somewhat. Otherwise, there are so many options.

Neutral of course doesn’t have to be boring. Using light, simple colours is an excellent way to make your room appear larger. And earthy tones such as white, brown, gold and soft greens and reds, tend to go with most furniture.

For a modern, contemporary look, the key is white. White adds space and light. You don’t have to make your home look like a hospital though. White can be teamed with black or grey for stylish monochrome. Or, you can really make colours pop by going for solid colour blocks such as red or blue alongside white walls. The effect is clean, cool and calm.

If you’re looking for a cosy or rustic look, darker colours can work well. Browns, reds, oranges, purples and coppers all work well and can make rooms appear smaller.

Then, of course, you don’t have to paint the whole room at all. Wallpaper is more stylish than ever and you can pick up some great designs. It can look great by alternating walls in different colours or by papering one single wall with huge, loud designs that make a real statement. At the end of the day, if you love it and it’s unique to your own taste and personality, that’s all that matters.

If you have invested some of your hard earned cash in buying decent waterproof clothing, it is well worth taking good care of it in order to make it work efficiently for you for as long as possible.

Don’t be tempted to stuff your waterproof gear in a plastic bag at the bottom of your wardrobe. Whilst that won’t be disastrous so long as it is kept in a dry place, you are far better off hanging it up in the wardrobe, just as you would any other jacket or trousers.

By the very nature of the activities that you use your clothing for it is going to get dirty and it is that dirt which is going to stop the rain beading on the outside surface and is going to impact on the breathability of the garment. After use, make sure that you shake off any dried mud or use a soft brush and also clean any small areas of dirt with a soft cloth.

If clothing needs to be washed, make sure that you read the instructions carefully and do not on any account use non-biological washing powder. If you are reluctant to use the proper product recommended by the manufacturer then you could try biological soap flakes so long as they have no perfume, dergent or softener.

To keep your ladies waterproof jackets as waterproof as the day you bought them, you will need to re-proof the items at some stage. As soon as you notice that water is not beading properly, then is the time to re-proof. Just when that happens depends upon how often you use your clothing, how dirty conditions are and how much UV it has been exposed to from the sun. You can buy sprays to re-proof (although it is almost inevitable that you will miss the odd patch) or alternatively use a wash-in liquid which will give a much more even coverage.

TV style guru Gok Wan, whose TV programme How To Look Good Naked has been a massive hit with British audiences over the years, has unveiled a new fashion line that will go on sale exclusively at Sainsbury’s. The 36-year-old has designed a range of almost 30 designs, including a centrepiece item, a wrap dress in a stunning red shade, and Wan is hoping that the clothes make fashion more appealing and more affordable to Brits on a budget.

Wan stated on the day of the range’s launch: “With these clothes, I want women to flirt, flaunt, and celebrate their curves”. However, the range isn’t all about sexy dresses and low cut tops designed to show off the female physique; there are also more practical items in there that will appeal to more modest women. A number of cropped jackets are included in the range and fashion experts have revealed that the quality of the material used for all the items is second to none, despite the modest price tags attached to the items on sale.

It remains to be seen how much of a success the range is, with the clothes not officially going on sale until October, but the signs would seem to be pointing towards a very successful, long-term, and extremely fashionable partnership between Gok Wan and one of the biggest supermarkets in the UK.

If you’re counting down the minutes until you can dash to Sainsbury’s and get your hands on that red dress, divert yourself with some funny online videos of vic and bob.