With a million monthly Google searches for 'interior design', our desire for a stylish home has been on the rise during the pandemic.
Many have used the long periods confined to the house during lockdown to get creative and redesign how they use their space.
After the year we have had it is hardly surprising that home spas, games rooms and offices are emerging on top of most people's DIY lists.
We caught up with some of the many local people who have spent their time at home making some remarkable transformations.
Alison Best teaches art in Coleraine College and has always had a passion for interiors.
Lockdown gave her the time she needed to really indulge her creative side, making over most rooms in her detached home in the village of Ballybogy outside Portrush.
RESOURCEFUL: Alison transformed her hallway and built extra storage space
A spare room, which was used for dumping unwanted furniture, was transformed into a studio which she now hopes to use to create interiors for others. It has also doubled up as a home office for remote teaching. Not afraid to roll up her sleeves and do-it-herself, she has also panelled her hallway and bedroom, as well as doing all her own wallpapering and painting.
Alison (50), who is married to Andy (49), a PE teacher, is mum to Ella (17) and Ethan (16).
Their four-bedroom detached house is a real showcase for her eclectic style and design talent and pictures of its transformation on Instagram recently caught the attention of RTE producers of Home of the Year who are considering featuring it in their next series.
RESOURCEFUL: Alison transformed her hallway and built extra storage space
Alison explains: "Because I was at home and couldn't go anywhere and had more time on my hands, I just felt I needed to do something.
"I have always been passionate about interior design and I am always footering about at it and doing something.
"It was hard in the first lockdown because I couldn't get paint and any stuff I needed because the shops were closed so I had to make do with what I had and think of different ways of doing things. We had a back room downstairs which was where we dumped everything and you could hardly get through the door.
"It hadn't been decorated in the 18 years we have lived here.
RESOURCEFUL: Alison transformed her hallway and built extra storage space
"I gutted it and painted it and wallpapered the ceiling and painted the skirtings and door a very dark midnight blue. I had a unit made years ago for my daughter's bedroom which was in the garage and I brought it in and upended it to create a desk and storage space. I ordered a piece of MDF for the top of it and that took ages to come because the shop had to close. When it reopened I was so excited.
TALENT: Alison, with hubby Andy and their children Ella and Ethan, brought her artistic flair to bear on her home makeovers
"The studio is at the back of the house with two windows and it's a really quiet space to work. All my art stuff, which used to be scattered all over the house, is now in one place and it's a lovely space to be in. It has also worked well as an office for teaching remotely rather than the kitchen table."
When normality resumes, Alison hopes her new space will serve as the base for ideas to create interiors for others. She adds: "I was asked to do an apartment in Portstewart just before the first lockdown which I loved and hopefully I can do more in the future."
See her style on Instagram @alibest2
Andrew Jones joined many thousands of others across the country when he turned his spare room into an office during lockdown.
As the pandemic has dragged on, what started out as a simple workspace has evolved into a space to relax as well for the management consultant who has turned it into his own "man cave".
REINVENTED: Andrew Jones turned his spare room into an office, and found a use for all his old pictures and boy’s toys
Andrew, who usually works in London from Monday to Friday, has been housebound in Belfast since just before the country first locked down last March.
Married to BBC presenter Kim Lenaghan, the couple live in a period semi in east Belfast which they have been lovingly restoring since moving there in 2018. Andrew says: "Our spare room was used as a dumping ground before the pandemic.
"I feel very lucky that I had it to use as an office space as I know many people have had to work from their kitchen tables.
"I wanted a proper space I could work from and close at the end of the day and leave.
"I cleared the room and painted it and I had an old admiral's desk in the garage which I tidied up and put new handles on."
REINVENTED: Andrew Jones turned his spare room into an office, and found a use for all his old pictures and boy’s toys
However, as Andrew got snooping among the boxes in the garage, suddenly his new office became the perfect space to display many of his "boy's toys" which hadn't found a home since the couple moved in.
He explains: "I had a few vintage James Bond posters which I put up on the walls and a model classic car collection which I was able to put in a display cabinet.
"These were boxes of stuff from the attic and garage that weren't allowed in the rest of the house so my office evolved into my man cave where all my boy's toys are now on display.
"Because I love James Bond movies, Kim bought me the leather tub chair from The Spectre movie which now sits beside a standard lamp and that has become my reading corner.
"If it hadn't been for the pandemic I'm pretty sure the junk would have continued to gather in the spare room and some of my most prized toys would no doubt still be in the attic."
Lyndsey and Neill Brett from Magheralin cleared out 12 years of junk from their attic to transform it into a playroom as a Christmas present for their 12-year-old twins Isaac and Reuben.
The couple, who live in a detached house in the village, created a space their boys could escape to and relax after a long day of home schooling.
RACK ‘EM UP: Twins Isaac and Reuben with their mum Lyndsey in their new games room in their converted attic
With two family holidays cancelled because of the pandemic, Lyndsey says the extra cash they saved gave them the opportunity to do their attic conversion.
"Any other year we wouldn't have had the money but with two summer holidays cancelled we thought it made sense to use the money we saved and do the room for the boys before they get any older," she says.
The first challenge was clearing out a rather packed attic.
After 12 years in the property, the amount of boxes stored had filled this very large space.
Lyndsey admits she had to be ruthless: "Clearing it out was the hardest bit. I had kept all the boys' baby stuff and it had to go. We filled two full skips with memories and junk.
RACK ‘EM UP: Twins Isaac and Reuben with their mum Lyndsey in their new games room in their converted attic
"We got contractors in and they put two Velux windows in, heating, lighting and they floored and plastered it.
"They started in the middle of October and, while the boys knew it was happening, they didn't get to see it until Christmas Day."
The room is now a cool teenager's annex with a pool table, table tennis, games consoles and a bed settee.
Lyndsey adds: "We haven't seen the boys since Christmas Day. They just love it. Their desks are in their bedrooms so we didn't want game consoles in there to distract them and when they have finished their school work they can go up to the attic and relax and play.
"When things get back to normal we thought it would be a great place for the boys to have their friends for sleepovers so we are hoping that will happen for their 13th birthday in April."
