APRIL is National Home Improvement month sponsored by the National Home Improvement Council.

Some 43 per cent of homeowners in England and Wales quizzed in a recent Halifax survey said they planned to carry out home improvements in the next 12 months, with 55 per cent expecting to spend more than £1,000.

People also admitted that they spend more time and money on decorating and improving their home than their parents did. Of these, three out of five adults said one of the main reasons for this was the fact they had easier access to finance and were more aware of ways to pay for the improvements than their parents.

More than half - 56 per cent - of homeowners who have made improvements in the past year, paid for them from their savings. A further one in 10 paid for them via a further advance, remortgage or secured loan, with an additional six per cent opting for an unsecured loan.

Nick Robinson, head of savings at the Halifax, says it makes sense for people to use their savings at a time when interest rates are low, but he warns that they should be replaced as quickly as possible.

"One of the best ideas is to treat the money as a loan from yourself and arrange to make regular transfers to restore your savings."

For those without savings, or who would prefer not to dip into them, Halifax is currently offering unsecured personal loans of up to £25,000 with a typical APR of 9.9 per cent. On loans of £20,000 or over, the rate falls to 7.9 per cent APR. As an extra incentive there are no repayments for the first three months of any loan.

Another way of financing home improvements is to take out a further advance on your mortgage. Care should be taken when doing this to ensure that the correct term for the loan is chosen. Some lenders tend to spread the further advance repayments over the full life of the mortgage and as such you could be paying interest for up to 25 years.

Currently the Halifax is offering home owner loans of between £3,000 and £25,000 at a typical APR of 5.6 per cent. These are available for any purpose with repayments spread over anything from three to 25 years.