New year, new home? If you can afford to, giving your home a refresh is an exciting prospect. As the needs of you and your family change, home improvements are a great way to usher in new chapters of your life. From renovating your loft to building a home office, the opportunities are endless for anyone looking for home improvement ideas in the UK.

Looking for some inspiration? Check out our guide to find out the home improvement industry trends that you can’t afford to miss!

Best home improvement ideas

• Eco-friendly improvements
• Loft conversions
• Home offices
• Garden refreshes
• Luxurious bathrooms
• Lively wall colours
• Floating shelves
• Wall paneling
• Kitchen islands

Eco-friendly improvements

As environmental concerns rise to the forefront, so do eco-friendly home improvements in the UK. Home-owners are looking for new and cost-effective ways to make their homes greener. This includes glazing windows, loft insulation, and smart thermostats that turn on and off when you please. If you don’t mind spending a bit more on your home in the short-term, purchasing some solar panels could help you save on energy bills in the long-run!

You can make even more eco-friendly improvements to your home by picking up some of our tips.

With a Peabody apartment, you can rest assured knowing that your home is built around green values. All of our new build homes are built to support sustainable living, making them ideal for homebuyers who want to protect the environment!

Loft conversions

Wondering which home improvements add the most value in the UK? It’s hard to look further than the loft conversion. According to property experts, a loft conversion could see the value of your home grow by 20%!

But the loft conversion adds more to your home than value. A loft conversion is a smart and stylish way to create extra space in your home - perfect if you have guests or children on the way. If you are lucky enough to have nice views where you live, a loft bedroom could become the most desirable room in your house!

Go for lively wall colours if you want some low-cost home improvement ideas.

Home offices

The impact of the pandemic can be felt in the growing trend towards home offices. While workers have started going back to the office, flexible working arrangements will continue to be a thing going into 2022. Moving away from their kitchen and bedroom spaces, homeowners are increasingly investing in dedicated home offices. Lacking the spacious room of your office? Make the most of limited space by using multi-functional furniture that can be folded away at a moment's notice. If you want to maximise productivity from home, building a home office is a no brainer!

Garden refreshes

Another offshoot of the pandemic was an increasing interest in how we use our gardens. Without the ability to venture out and even celebrate our birthdays outdoors, homeowners have had to focus on making their gardens into fun, multi-purpose spaces.

As lockdown turns into a thing of the past, this fascination with beautiful gardens is going nowhere. With an increased emphasis on patios, outdoor cabins and balconies, the desire to create an entertaining outdoor space is here to stay!

Need some inspiration? Find out how you can design your new build garden, with these top tips on how to design a new build garden.

Luxurious bathrooms

In 2021, bathrooms were one of the most renovated rooms in the UK! Now, homeowners want bathrooms that look like they are straight out of a hotel. The bathroom is becoming a space where people want to stick around and relax, rather than just to do their business. As attention to mental health and self-care is at an all-time high, this is reflected in the need for more spa-like spaces in the bathroom.

Lively wall colours

If you want some low-cost home improvement ideas, refreshing your wallpaper colours may be the place to start. As we spend more of our time indoors, the way our interiors look is more important than ever. For this reason, expect more joyful wall colours in 2022. Dulux’s Colour of the Year is ‘Bright Skies’, a peaceful and uplifting baby blue that will turn your home into a warm embrace.

Floating shelves

Adding floating shelves to your home is a perfect way to add some storage while pleasing the eye. You can place these pretty much anywhere in your house, from your living room to your kitchen. If there’s an awkward room in your home that attracts a lot of clutter, floating shelves are your saviour. Besides this though, floating shelves can be a good way to flex your decorative ornaments, photo frames, or vases of flowers. Best of all, it won’t set you back much if you learn how to install them yourself!

Wall paneling

Looking to really add some character to your home? Adding wall paneling could be the best way to give your home a fresh update. Wall paneling is a great way of lending a modern home some traditional charm and can be deployed in all kinds of rooms. From acting as a frame to your artworks to adding depth to your living room, there’s no limit to what you can do! Far from just adding a striking appearance, wall paneling also helps to protect the material of your wall, and make your home more insulated.

Kitchen Islands

A kitchen island is a statement countertop surface that sits in the centre of a kitchen - serving as both a place to prepare food and also to eat it! Kitchen islands can serve many purposes, from being a social place to invite guests and family, to stowing away kitchen utensils and ingredients. As well as being known for their multi-functionality, kitchen islands are a striking and visually appealing addition to any kitchen. If you don’t mind spending extra money, a marble kitchen island is to die for!

Eager to get your home-owning journey started? Peabody has a selection of lush new build apartments throughout London. Take a look at our property search to find your dream home!