CHANGING Rooms, DIY SOS, Trading Up, Ground Force, the list of television shows designed to inspire homeowners to expand their imagination is almost endless.

Nowadays, whether you live in a cottage or a bedsit, one's abode is no longer a functional place to lay your hat but a caterpillar waiting to metamorphose into a soaring butterfly - eat your heart out Anna Ryder Richardson.

Many will settle on jumping aboard the lick-of-paint bandwagon.

But, on the other hand, thousands are going the whole hog, knocking down walls and creating new spaces to improve the appeal of their home.

"I wanted to increase light and space," said Jan Gilson, who has spent over a year and around £15,000 transforming her Edwardian terraced house in the Arboretum by knocking four bedrooms into two and extending her kitchen.

"Opening out the walls is also far more conducive to modern day life as we now like to have family areas and sociable areas for friends, whereas dads used to have their own space, women had their sewing rooms, etc."

Re-organising your home's layout may sound daunting, but it's actually easier than it first appears.

Start by taking a long, cool look at the shape of your home. For example, although interior walls play an integral part, removing some can give you a layout to suit your needs.

Building new ones can also create a different use of space.

One of the easiest ways to change a room is by removing a wall between two rooms to create a dramatic feeling of space and light. It can also give a cramped floor plan better freedom of movement.

Mrs Gilson did just this, turning four pokey bedrooms into a four-year-old boy's Thomas the Tank Engine haven with an archway into a toyroom and a spacious, relaxing bedroom with an en-suite bathroom.

Many choose to knock the wall down between the living room and dining room, or combine the dining room and kitchen.

And if you are lucky enough to have a separate porch, there is also the option of combining the living room and entrance hall.

You may be able to block up a now-redundant doorway, freeing an additional area of wall against which you can arrange your furniture without stopping people from being able to walk freely around the house.

The feasibility of the conversion depends on whether the wall in question is load-bearing or not.

Although you can carry out some preliminary investigations yourself, it is wise to call in a surveyor to assess the technical requirements and ensure that the conversion will be correctly carried out with no risk to the structure.

Whatever you want to achieve, this task is much simpler than knocking rooms together. You can generally build the necessary timber-framed partition walls in a day, although repositioning the radiators, light fittings, switches and socket outlets in the new walls may take a little longer.

Always make sure that each new room has adequate natural light and ventilation.

They are not allowed to share a window and rooms that are to be lived in must have an openable window and good ventilation.

You may need a new window in one of the rooms to provide this. Kitchens, utility rooms, bathrooms and toilets do not have to have a window, but once again they must have suitable ventilation.

If a newly-partitioned room contains a fuel-burning appliance, you will need to check with the fuel supplier to check that the room has adequate ventilation. This is to make sure the appliance is able to operate efficiently and safely.

Cost might be a stumbling block, but bearing in mind that buying a new property also hits the bank balance where it hurts, it's worth considering in the long term.

"I didn't do it as an investment, I just wanted an old house with plenty of character, but not the dark, poky rooms," said 48-year-old Mrs Gilson.

"But, although its value initially went down, now it's finished, its value has soared by far more than if I'd left it as it was."

Of course, you have to know what you are doing.

Removing the wrong wall could reduce your home to a pile of rubble and those who do not have the patience to live in a temporary building site, should think carefully before launching ahead.

FOR BUILDING MATERIALS AND ADVICE IN WORCESTER:

n Bradfords Building Supplies Limited, Tolladine: 01905 723535.

n Bullock Buildbase, Diglis Trading Estate: 01905 354160.

n Premier Timber & Builders Merchants Ltd, Basin Road: 01905 769333.

n Travis Perkins Trading Co Ltd, Shire Business Park, Warndon: 01905 756604.