Tricks and tips on making precious stuff last a lifetime

Give the things you love a new lease of life...

Buff up your cold-weather clothes
Find an alterations service to repair linings, mend moth holes and adjust dresses and skirts to fit this season's styles. Look for a shoe repairer who will give boots and shoes a second chance. Several offer a postal repair service if your favourite heels need deluxe TLC.

Buff up last season's coat with a clothes brush, and leave Sticki-Mitts by your front door for an instant spruce-up as you leave in the morning. Add unusual buttons to give an old coat a new twist.

Polish leather bags to perfection with leather cream, and send them to a leather repair specialist.

Care for your furniture and surfaces
There are so many delicate surfaces in modern homes, from granite worktops to slate fireplaces – cleaning everything you love can become a headache. But Flash has introduced Flash Clean & Care to cope with a wide range of surfaces in your home, even delicate ones. Its brand new formula is gentle enough to be used on all surfaces without compromising on sparkle. Even items that need special care will benefit from its new formulation.

Interior designer and TV expert Naomi Cleaver gives Flash Clean & Care the thumbs up: ‘With so many types of modern, often delicate, surfaces in our homes today, people need to take care how they clean. Flash Clean & Care enables the nation to really care for and achieve brilliant results throughout their homes, even on delicate surfaces.

Add new sparkle to old jewellery

• Clean silver by leaving it for a few minutes to fizz in a glass of warm water and Alka-Seltzer.
• Buff gold and platinum with an old toothbrush, warm water and a squirt of washing-up Liquid.
• Or use a jewellery cleaning machine which cleanses using sonic waves in just a few minutes.

Put old furniture into rehab
Use fabric with flair and add a blast of originality by re-covering old furniture, rather than taking it to the tip. Sign up for an upholstery class to learn how new fabric can transform a battered footstool or a dining chair.

Think small, but beautiful. Use an offcut of an expensive, fabulous fabric you love to make a cushion.

Lavish love on your linens
Don't store linens in your airing cupboard. The heat will eventually discolour them. Keep in a blanket box or cool cupboard, and layer with lavender bags and cedar balls to ward off moths.