Tell Direct Line what you would do to your home to create your ultimate Home Plus. Three lucky Mumsnetters will be given £1,000 to fulfil their creative urges. NOW CLOSED

[MichelleMumsnet]

Direct Line have asked us to find out what Mumsnetters would do to their homes to go the extra mile to make it a "Home Plus". What would you do with £1,000 if you had the choice?

Here's what Direct Line say, "We know that a home is more than just a house, that’s why our Home Insurance Plus policy has additional benefits to cover more of the things you love. And right now there’s 20% off when you buy online!

(Discount applies when you buy buildings and contents together. Minimum premiums apply. New customers only. Underwritten by U K Insurance Limited)

We want to hear what your ultimate Home Plus ideas are – what would you love to do to your home to go that extra mile and make it a Home Plus Home?"

So, what is the craziest idea you've had about renovating your home, but just haven’t been able to justify the cost for? Perhaps you have always wanted to have a jungle themed bedroom? Or mimic the beach complete with beach hut, sand, 'sea' and palm trees in your back garden? Whatever it is, we'd love to hear it.

Three lucky Mumsnetters will be selected to carry out their idea and will be given the £1,000 they need to do so! The winners who are selected must be willing to provide before and after pictures of the area of their homes they choose to renovate with the £1,000 prize. The renovation work must be done and the pictures must be provided by Monday 11th August. Photos will be posted on Direct Line's hub on Mumsnet and may be used in further marketing material by them.

Thanks and good luck,

MNHQ

I'd fit a wood burning stove and lintel. I should have done it years ago but was persuaded by my minimalist DH that it wasn't needed. I could stare at a real fire then rather than the storage boxes that currently sit in our fireplace!

We would love this money to do up our spare bedroom in a vintage theme for our 7 year old daughter. We are currently having fertility treatment to try for our 2nd child and are hoping that soon we will need our small bedroom back!

8 years ago this summer my DH was diagnosed with liposarcoma in his leg, he had an operation to have a rugby ball sized tumour removed from his leg. We were told we had 6 weeks before treatment started to try for a baby - our 7 year old is our 'miracle baby'! Subsequent infections and treatment have meant that we are now having to go through the assisted conception route for our 2nd child - we are currently on day 4 of the dreaded 2 week wait!

Our 7 year old would love a kind of velvety/vintage look bedroom with a chaise longue, canopy bed and dressing table - it would be great to get some help to make this happen!

I'd love to split my dcs room so that they both have their own private space as they are boy girl siblings. I'd love to put a room divider in and let them decorate their own space or a more realistic version is to rework the space they have by putting in bunk beds and proper toy storage and a reading corner. I'd move out their wardrobe as we have plenty of room in ours and it would be a proper haven. It's not been decorated since we had dd 6 years ago. It's needs some patch plastering, painting, old boarder removing (and then probably more plastering), this thread has made me realize how much needs doing to it to make it a room they can enjoy. Currently they can't play in there as there's really not the room with two beds and a wardrobe. It's a small house and this would make the biggest impact, in fact I would try and add some sound proofing if possible as we have noisey neighbor (does it work both ways), there's so much I would love to do. In fact this thread has made me realize just how much difference this would make. Having them both couped up in our small living room results in a lot of fights.

I would like to update our bedroom and take out the fitted wardrobes to create a more usable room. They are not in the best place. This would hopefully create space to play the guitar and have more effective storage space.

I would get the stupid pipes sorted out in the roof that some idiot has made go ALL AROUND the loft hatch, so that you cannot get in there, and then have some pull down steps and flooring put in to make the huge space usable. That way all the extraneous stuff'n'baggage Ive accumulated could go up into storage (but still be accessible) and it would free up the whole of the rest of the house. Meaning, in fact, that we would HAVE a house!!
I would probably even have room to sew up there!!

I would create a "Parents Retreat" - a small secluded quiet space with a cosy 2 seater to snuggle together to read, watch movies, chat, snog, recharge, regroup and ultimately reclaim our relationship from the demands of managing 4 kids, 2 full-time jobs and an elderly housebound MIL....this would be somewhere high in the house off the bedroom with a small balcony with a double hammock to chill and stargaze....

I would turn the study into a man cave for my dp- store all his football memorabilia in nice cabinets and get a vintage desk.

We have just spent many months and all our money, moving house so we could be lucky enough to have a bigger, sunnier garden. We moved in a month ago and I'm so glad to be here, but my dream is to create a beautiful tropical-feeling garden.

Currently, the garden is a strange narrow shape due to an oddly-placed fence. It is half dirty concrete patio slabs and half yellowing scrubby weed-ridden lawn. I'd move the fence to create a wider space, and smarten it up with modern paint so all the panels matched! Then I'd add stylish thigh-height raised beds with lush planting and bamboo screened areas.

There would be a big, welcoming L-shaped rattan outdoor sofa with comfy cushions and, come dusk, the plants and features would be highlighted by solar uplighters. Pretty tealights in lanterns and a firepit would make it somewhere friends and family want to enjoy until bedtime. All this lovely sunshine we've been having makes me feel I could actually achieve my dream Maldives-style garden!

I live in a not so roomy terraced house, so we all share the one living room. Under the stairs is open, and the hall is an ok size. I would love to build a reading nook under there (for the kids, not me). Big comfy bean bags, good lighting and a beautiful bookcase.

We would love to make one of the bedrooms into a playroom with a nautical theme - build a beach house on stilts and have a book nook with display bookshelves with storage underneath and stars and sole black board paint, a dressing up area etc
Oh please pick us!!

I have to share my room with dd. I'd love us both to have our own space till we can afford to either extend or move.

I want to rip out the useless built in wardrobe and do something fancy and cosy for dd.

Then get a new bed with lift up storage so it can go flush to the wall.

I'd then get a room dividing shelf unit and two single free standing wardrobes ensuring the room stays light and we have space for everything.

It would hugely increase storage and give her space to play with her friends and toys in, as all they can do at present is sit on my bed

I can easily do that on £1000, including some nice paint

Scratch that, I decided against the lift up bed after discussing it ages ago and realised a normal bed with slide out toy boxes worked out loads cheaper

I would buy one of those waterproof TV's for the bathroom! Imagine, slipping into a tub of bubbles and watching Corrie with a glass of wine. Bliss.

Change my front door as it whistles when it's windy. Or a new pation door, which is sticking and means my son can't let the dog out for a wee, the mournful crying wouldn't be a loss ...

Underfloor heating in the downstairs bathroom!

Our bedroom has always been the forgotten about room; the children's rooms are bright and fun with plentiful storage and ours is just make-do. Our curtains are drab and the wardrobe is a real hicklety picklety set of shelves which are no good for anything and cupboards which are an awkward shape. The wardrobe is built in so we've never been able to justify the expense of changing it but I would love to be able to have it made to measure with shelves, compartments, drawers and hanging spaces. The shelves are so deep and tall that we just end up shoving clothes in there and once they're in they rarely come out. It's what we look at from our bed and although this sounds quite a simple job it's not something we would do unless an opportunity like this arose. It would transform our bedroom and our lives - no longer having to rummage through the wardrobe for things in the morning and not having to have clothes stored in two other rooms because there isn't enough space for them. If there was money left over I would love to have new bright curtains which have some colour of the garden we look onto and glimpses of the roses which grow up the back of the house.

We have a lovely big hall with a high ceiling and stained glass panels, (traditional tenement flat) but it is looking a bit neglected and tatty. I know exactly what I want to do. I really love Scandinavian decor so would work inspired by that. I think the simplicity would be a good contrast to these floor to ceiling stained glass panels which made us fall in love with the house but now are not being done justice.

We would need to repair the plastering, repaint the whole space white and make a massive feature wall of floor to ceiling shelving. The shelving is very important! I saw a wall like this on Wallander so know it will look good.. Also we have boxes and boxes of books, ornaments and pictures (nice Danish stuff to tie up the theme) needing unpacked. They really need to move because they are taking up the spare room, which means dd has to share with us.

So a beautiful hall that would free up room in the rest of the house would be a dream come true

I really want to be able to do something with my living room.
It currently consists of a giant sofa, tv and a toy mountain.

I'd like to be able to make my own storage shelves consisting of square and rectangular mini units filled with funky boxes to hide the toys. I'd the space to be somewhere I can enjoy in the evenings as well as adding a small study space. Giving me somewhere to study for my degree.
I'd also really love to DDs room a make over. I'd like to paint a castle onto the wall with fairies flying round it. On the opposite wall I would create some sort of storage master piece which her bed slotted into, storage cubes above and single wardrobe on either side

Opps got so carried away forgot the creative bit... Both love toy story so I would love to give them a themed room based on that really. With one of the beds gone I could have a couple of different areas based on different toy story backgrounds, probably one being buzz's space ship and the other being the 'strange planet ' he's landed on.

We really need to do our hall, landing and stairs - all the walls need replastering / skimming (all currently uneven and without skirting) and we need some tough old paint to ensure that all the comings and goings don't ruin paintwork on the way out.
The creative bit it because there's no windows, I would love one of the light tunnels you can get to get natural light into the space.

I would really like to install a downstairs loo, great for when we have visitors and saves kids trailing up and the stairs when they visit. This would be especially useful for when someone is taking a bath and there is a constant stream of knocking on the door to use the only loo in the house.
Thanks for reading.

We have got some open stairs which would not be allowed by present planning laws. They are a bit of an eyesore in our Victorian terrace. I would Like to replace staircase and make the area underneath into a stylish seated areawa with storage and shelves/hooks/hat stand. If I couldn't afford to replace them, I did have a crazy idea about filling in the gaps with books so that the staircase also became a bookcase!

Oh forgot to say I'd like to wallpaper the new downstairs loo with old recycled maps to give you something to read while addressing your call of nature. Thanks

I live in a conversion flat on the first floor, we share a garden with fire-escape type stairs down to it, which are quite hazardous so my kids (18 months & 4) very rarely get to play "down there". I have often thought about building a large Juliet balcony from my kitchen with a curly slide down to the garden, I would have a beautiful canopy over the balcony with lanterns over a little bistro table for hubby & I with steps next to the slide so the kids could come back up.... Or maybe just a slide

I live in a conversion flat on the first floor, we share a garden with fire-escape type stairs down to it, which are quite hazardous so my kids (18 months & 4) very rarely get to play "down there". I have often thought about building a large Juliet balcony from my kitchen with a curly slide down to the garden, I would have a beautiful canopy over the balcony with lanterns over a little bistro table for hubby & I with steps next to the slide so the kids could come back up.... Or maybe just a slide