Wallpaper gives your home instant character, and finding the right one is a matter of personal taste. Like most decorating adventures, deciding on wallpaper requires some introspection before making a determined trip to the store. Even if you're undertaking this project with the help of a professional decorator, it's important to be honest about your tastes-after all, they're your walls, the same ones you'll be seeing every time you wake up and every time you retire for the night.

Apart from the all-important question, ‘What's the general feel I want for my home?', here are a few points to consider.

1. Plain or prints? Generally, plain wallpaper adds texture to your walls, creating a polished look in an inconspicuous manner, while prints play an active role in defining the vibe of a room.

Plain wallpaper turns walls into great surfaces for nearly all kinds of art pieces, while prints present the challenge of flexing your imagination. The goal is to hang pieces that complement your printed wall and avoid clashing colors or imagery that might make a room feel cluttered.

2. Why not plain and prints? While some professional decorators prefer one type of wallpaper to go up all over the house, there's no hard and fast rule against mixing it up. In fact, it's a great idea to use different kinds of wallpaper to create distinct corners in your home. One room might be done up in stripes of white and cobalt blue for a serene and masculine feel, and another might decked in ivory wallpaper with subtle orange shell prints for a cool and bright atmosphere. And another room might be done up in plain eggshell, the better for you to hang your art collection.

3. Play it up. The important thing to remember in dressing up your walls is that they have to end up appealing to you. Happy decorating!

Got a nice little balcony or a empty corner you don't know what to do with? Turn it into a sight for sore eyes by setting up your own pocket garden. A few tricks to get you started:

1. Some plants, like the cacti and the fortune plant, are made of sturdy stuff and don't demand a regular shower, so you are guaranteed of green sights even when you get sloppy on your watering duties.

2. Instead of large clay pots, opt for medium sized hard plastic numbers in terra cotta colors so that your plants are easier to move around. Keep the big ceramic pots indoors so that you can plonk your plastic-potted plants in them when you want your lush greens inside.

3. Most commercial gardens sell gray stones. Arrange some on the floor of your space and set some pots of green, leafy plants on them. For that tropical spa appeal, set up a screen of thin bamboo behind the plants and against the full length of the balcony wall.

4. If you're feeling extra involved in setting up your pocket garden, have it outfitted with a sand box that you can fill up with soil and on which you can start a little herb row.

5. Or better yet, hire the services of a contractor to execute your own Zen garden of bamboo, stone, and perhaps a little homemade water fountain.

Apart from the old floor to ceiling mirrored wall, here are other space-maximizing tricks to make the most out of your small living space.

1. Divide and conquer. One way to create a feeling of more room is to actually cut it up-to make a bedroom, a living area, or a dining room-by bordering sections using accordion room dividers or low shelves that act as dividers and double as a TV rack. Whatever it is, go for those done in light, neutral shades and avoid dark hues that might make your dividers look like heavy pieces of furniture.

2. Slim is in. Thank God we live in the 21st century, where slim is definitely in-from portable computers to flat-screen TV sets, you can rely on current technology to save you some space. Invest in a thin screen and set it up on a swivel rack mounted on the wall so you can bring it out when you want to catch some shows, and fold it right back against the wall when viewing time is over.

3. Shelf life. Shelves are great storage facilities for all your clutter. Free up some space by depositing your clutter into neat storage boxes that can fit comfortably into sections of the shelf, then label each box accordingly for easy access.

4. Lighten up. "Open up" your cramped quarters by adapting a neutral palette. Light colors generally create a feeling of largeness while dark ones heavily define space. If you have a couch in chocolate brown upholstery, cover it up with a beige or cream slipcover.