How to … get young people decorating

For a young person who has been homeless or in care, decorating their first tenancy can be a bigger challenge than for older people or those with a family. But decorating can brighten the environment, give them a creative outlet and encourage them to look after their homes.

Help Argyll and Bute, based on the Cowal peninsula in west Scotland, is a charitable company that has been running a pilot since March 2003 in which design experts give 50 young people one-to-one advice about decorating on a budget. Project manager Janet MacKellar says: "Young people think getting their own place is the be-all and end-all but when they get it, sometimes they don't have the skills to look after it."

Help Argyll and Bute provides support for 16- to 25-year-olds who lack a traditional family support network. "We'll show them how to cook and clean because there's nothing you can take for granted," MacKellar says. "People learn by watching other people and you cannot assume they have had the chance to do that."

The first thing to look at when considering whether to set up such a scheme is potential demand. Do you have a known number of young people about to take on their first tenancies and who are likely to need help?

Then, tenants must feel involved in the project from the outset. MacKellar says calling the project Changing Rooms captured clients' imaginations. "Young people are about instant impact," she says. "When we said: 'It's a Changing Rooms project' they already had a picture of what it was about."

Equally important is finding the right person to play Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen. They need both a flair for design and the ability to relate to people from troubled backgrounds. Help Argyll and Bute's staff came from unlikely directions. One was a social worker who had previously applied to work for them and had been studying art in the interim; recruiters also raided a pile of CVs sent to Argyll and Bute council's community education department, and took on a woman who had previously worked on community art projects.

MacKellar ran three workshops of six people, but says this will not always work. "The first workshops worked well, but when we looked at the names for the next one, we knew the tenants might not come because they either didn't have the confidence or didn't get on with the others," she explains.

One-to-one sessions are more likely to succeed. On the first visit, the only instruction may be for the tenant to tidy up. Take inspiration from TV shows like Life Laundry, which encourage people to "de-clutter" their lives, and this should become more appealing.

Experts helped tenants plan their rooms with an emphasis on colour

If the first trip kick-starts a clear-up, MacKellar advises returning the next week. On the second visit, her experts helped tenants plan their rooms with an emphasis on how to use colours. They also learned techniques including painting, stencilling, tiling and mosaics and were given about £80 each for materials or furnishings.

Tenants had about three hours with the experts, with the charity's support workers also present so they could continue the process afterwards.

This sort of project does not have to cost a lot. MacKellar used a £5000 grant from the Scottish Executive's Home Point fund, plus about £3000 from the charity's own funds.

You might convince local businesses to give you trade discounts on supplies – in return for guaranteeing custom – and firms may be willing to pass on less popular or second-hand material at low prices, as MacKellar found with a carpet supplier.

She is convinced her project is worth it.

"It has made a huge difference in giving young people motivation," she says. "Once they've seen what they can do, they're up and running.