It is a truth universally acknowledged that whatever you do to your home you are always increasing its value; that every pound you spend on your home will be added to the asking price when you come to sell. That seems reasonable enough, but sad to say the truth is very different. Not only will you never get your money back on some ‘home improvements’ - and do notice the inverted commas there – but it is possible to do things to your home which actually manage to reduce its worth.

Some home improvements – such as a new bathroom, a state-of-the-art kitchen or a loft conversion – will add a degree of extra value to your house, but others – such as an outdoor swimming pool – may, surprisingly, not add a penny. Going beyond that though, it is indeed possible to achieve what should be the impossible, and actually reduce the value of your home.

Natalie Havelock of property specialists Strutt & Parker has firm views on the subject; ‘Bad DIY can be disastrous. There’s no substitute for being honest about your own abilities and not trying to over-step that limit. If you can put up a row of cup-hooks, fine. If you’re not really up to installing a new staircase then don’t try it. Get the professionals in. You don’t do your own dentistry or surgery, so you’re no less of a person for admitting that you’re not really a master carpenter.

‘Unfinished DIY is also very off-putting. Anyone viewing your house will get the message that you don’t really care about your home, or that you’ve been defeated by it. That will raise questions about what other home improvements hurdles you might have fallen over. Again, if you’re really not up to the job, get a professional to do the job properly.’

Following fashion can also be a very bad idea so far as your home is concerned. As Natalie Havelock - who is based at Strutt & Parker’s London office - says, ‘Fashionable shoes are one thing; you can always drop them through the door of the local charity shop once they become strictly last season, but something that you have done to your home is rather more permanent.’

One example is decking. Thanks to all those home improvement television shows, adding decking to a garden was the thing to do a while back. The home improvement programmes recommended it endlessly, as did the all the garden make-over shows. Nowadays, unless it has been done really well – or with more than a touch of originality – decking can look more than a bit passé. The same can be said for water features, which were once every gardening programme’s dream solution.

Inside the house there have been rather over-blown fashions in the flooring department. The guiltiest party is laminate flooring, which arrived just a few years ago and made a very big impact. Unfortunately quite a lot of it is aging quickly, and can be a real turn-off for prospective purchasers. It’s also true to say that many laminates don’t really wear well, and what was an acceptable wood or tile effect when it was laid might be looking a lot more like genuine plastic now.

Beware of design features which are too idiosyncratic. You might have adored the effect after you re-built your sitting room as a harem in an Arabian palace – or the drama of your bathroom now it’s decorated in Scottish baronial style – but what will someone else think? It’s not just the expense for a purchaser – and home renovations can work out surprisingly costly, which is always a factor for a buyer – it’s the upset, the mess and the fuss as well. Buying a house that someone can pretty much move straight in to is a very attractive prospect. Few people really want to undertake major works at that point, and given two homes of equal appeal, the one that offers the simpler move and the easier life will always be preferable.