With most people spending much more time indoors this year, it has never been more important to feel comfortable at home. The Lifton Home Lifts team look at the top five home improvements to make a property as comfortable as it can be.

1. Create a space for outdoor living
Our gardens and outside spaces have never been so important. Now is the time to think carefully about how you can upgrade your outdoor living space. By building a deck, investing in some quality patio furniture, and adding a shade sail or pergola, you can create a whole new room in your home, ideal for family time or taking a solitary break. Create a BBQ area with herb pots, preparation table, and even a bar area, and you can make a fun indoor-outdoor haven for relaxed evening dining and maybe even socially distanced entertaining.

2. Reinvent your garage space
If you have a garage, either single or double, chances are it is not used to store a car. Most garages are glorified sheds, used to house unneeded old pieces of furniture, seasonal decorations or gardening equipment. A garage is often a hugely valuable space and with a little thought and work it can be used to provide the space needed for a new hobby or activity.

By selling unwanted items, putting gardening tools into a shed, or storing treasures in the loft instead, you can free up the space, which with a lick of paint can be used for any number of activities.
You could turn the garage into a gym with a cross trainer, exercise bike or rowing machine and weights. You could create a dance studio by fitting a mirror wall and laminate floor. Or you could even build a woodworking studio. Making yourself a place in your own home that you can escape to for a hobby can add a whole new dimension to your home.

3. Add a home lift
In a busy life filled with dashing around the home, what could be more luxurious than your own home lift? For the ultimate in home comforts add a lift traveling from your hall to landing, living room to bedroom, or even cupboard to cupboard. Home lifts are perfect for people with busy family lives, who need to move washing and shopping around their homes, as well as those less steady on the stairs or those with mobility issues. Adding a domestic lift can give your home a comfortable, opulent feeling where all your needs are looked after. There are also home lifts big enough for wheelchair users.

4. Refit your kitchen
Most people spend more time in the kitchen than they realise, and in modern homes, the kitchen is often the central hub where the daily action takes place. A kitchen with a difficult layout can be frustrating, and surprisingly can even lead to someone walking far more over the course of a year, simply because the key appliances are in the wrong places.

Take time and care to redesign your kitchen adding convenience and comfort into the plan. Is there space for family dining? Is there room for a sofa or a place for someone to relax or work while someone else cooks? Think about where the fridge, oven and sink are positioned, as the most used elements of the kitchen they should all be within easy access. Finally think about lighting, and make sure that it is bright enough for cooking tasks, with a dimmer option for entertaining.

Most good kitchen fitting companies can provide advice and expertise to remove the guess work from the process, but have a good think about your specific needs to make sure your kitchen works as hard as it can for you and your family.

5. Redesign a room
Spending more time in your home can make you realise which areas are very comfortable and function well, and which rooms just don’t work for you. Solving this problem might be as simple as a decluttering and redecoration project. Alternatively you might have the vision to change the purpose of a room entirely. The small box bedroom may not be used any more, but might make a perfect peaceful study.

The conservatory might never get used as a quiet reading room, but could be an ideal yoga space. Or the underused dining room may even benefit from a transformation into an art studio. By giving your house and lifestyle real consideration, you can create a home that works perfectly for you, where you make use of all the space available in the best possible way.