Even a tiny bit of home improvement can give you a huge amount of satisfaction…

Let me explain.

I did a kitchen refurb two years ago.

I saved and saved and sold my soul to the mortgage company (it’s OK, I’ll have paid it off by the time I’m 109, then I can go shoe shopping – if I still have feet) and bartered with construction people and lived in a dusty hellhole for months.

There was knocking down of walls, putting up of other walls, a whole new configuration.

I have pretty tiles and a tiny glass roof that lets in light.

Put a paintbrush in my hand and suddenly I'm Michelangelo (Getty Images/EyeEm)

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The kitchen is unrecognisable – people tell me it looks lovely and this makes me happy, yes.

But the other day I bought a new toilet seat and every time I do a wee I exclaim to the boyfriend how lovely the new toilet seat is and I secretly keep opening the bathroom door and staring at this fresh, clean addition, because, yes, it also makes me happy.

Happiness is a brand new toilet seat (Compulsory Credit: GAP Interiors/Mark Scott)

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For me, the small things that beautify or improve my house give me satisfaction.

I painted a 6-inch stretch of mouldy bathroom skirting board the other day and it was like I’d created a rival to the Sistine Chapel.

I practically heard angels singing.

My green tap makes my heart swell every time I use it.

When I put together a TV stand, I thought I was ready to join my dad on the building site, I was so smug.

See, it really doesn’t always have to be about the big things.

Your home is akin to your lover, you have to take care of it, make it feel adored.

Every so often, you do need a grand gesture like a weekend away/a different kitchen, sure, but most of the time it is just a series of small gestures that keeps the love alive, like flowers/flowery wallpaper.

Or a cardigan/sofa cover.

Or an aftershave/plug-in air freshener.

Or some new make-up/a lick of paint.

Or cleaning the house/telling your boyfriend he stinks.

It’s a love affair – I actually tell my house I love it on a regular basis (not weird), but sometimes I show it the love too, you know, with the new toilet seat. I guess I’m just an old romantic…