The winds of change blowing through your home; you're ready to breathe new life into your decor, follow this year's trends and partake in hiving! With sound planning, a little inspiration from the current trends and a host of good tips, you can update your house or apartment so that it reflects your personality. Where do you start? Simply choose one of the endless variety of fabrics, colours, paintings and themes as your starting point, and let the adventure begin!

The first step is to decide the scope of your project: will you redecorate the whole house from top to bottom, or simply revamp a room? The kids are getting older and the bedrooms need to be rethought. Your living room has seen better days. Once you've made this decision, pick a decorating style - such as contemporary, country, eclectic or ethnic - which will serve as the basis for decorating every room in your house. Using graph paper, take the time to draw the floor plan, to scale, of each room to be decorated. Then measure your furniture and reproduce it on more graph paper, using the same scale you have for your floor plan. Cut out the pieces and position them on the floor plan to come up with the best furniture layout. The next step is to identify each room's traffic patterns and focal point: the fireplace or a window with a view, for example. Finally, determine your budget. Tip: when in doubt, consult our online experts.

Floors, walls and ceilings form the fundamental decor of your home, the backdrop on which you'll display your decorative elements. It is therefore important to carefully select flooring such as wood, ceramic, natural stone or vinyl and finishes such as paint, faux finishes or wallpaper, since they can give your rooms depth. Furnishings make up the soul of your decor and express your lifestyle. Choose pieces that match your style and also consider how the colour, texture and dimensions of each piece will fit into the room. Furthermore, the distances between furniture should be taken into account. For example, in the living room, you can encourage guests to converse by positioning facing sofas no more than 2.4 metres (8 feet) apart. You should also leave a space of at least 38 to 45 centimetres (15 to 18 inches) between the coffee table and the sofa.

Paint is still one of the most economical and effective ways to make your rooms come alive. A warm-toned colour can make a room seem brighter. Exploiting the psychology of colour will enable you to influence the mood of a room. And by playing with contrasts, you can modify how the eye perceives a room's dimensions. Far from being out of style, wallpaper is coming back in force. It creates effects that paint can't match. When choosing your colour palette, keep the 60-30-10 rule in mind: the main colour should cover 60% of the surfaces to be painted; the secondary colour, 30%; the accent colour, 10%. Tip: let the room's exposure guide your colour choice. Warm tones reflect the cold northern light, and cool tones absorb the warmer light that comes from southern exposure. Looking for inspiration? Test your choices with the SICO Virtual Decorator to find the latest colour trends.

Don't underestimate the impact of lighting in your rooms. The right lighting can work magic and create drama. Common areas and private spaces alike benefit from a combination of indirect light from overhead, recessed and wall lighting, and direct light from sources such as fluorescent lighting with reflectors. You can even add adjustable-intensity floor or table lamps, which allow you to adapt the room's atmosphere to the amount of daylight, your mood and your needs.

The world of fabrics offers almost infinite choice. Try combining colours, styles and textures to dress your windows or give your furniture a second lease on life. Curtains and sheers as well as blinds and shades will enhance not only your windows but your entire decor. Tip: install curtain rod supports in the bottom third of the space between the ceiling and the window. Calculate two to three times the curtain rod length to determine the required curtain width. If you can't afford to replace your furniture, custom-made slipcovers or reupholstering will make them look like new.

The art of decorating lies in set rules, but also in little tricks that can inject soul and personality into a decor. Bear in mind that decorative elements should always suit the room's dimensions. For example, a bouquet of long-stemmed flowers will counterbalance a high ceiling. You can add depth to a space by hanging a mirror on the right wall, between windows or along a narrow staircase. Remember that decorative elements look better placed in odd-numbered groupings. And mouldings will improve any room. For the final touches, be your own stylist - accessorize your rooms! Sometimes, you need only invest in cushions and picture frames in colours that pick up the main decor colours to create the spark that lights up your interior.

Obviously, you can call upon an interior designer to decorate your home, but if you decide to do the job yourself, RONA has put together several guides that provide sound advice on decorating trends. You'll find them an excellent source of inspiration! Also, don't hesitate to consult our online experts for tips and advice to help you transform your dreams into reality.