Dubai house price hike leads to increased DIY

Property prices in Dubai are rising by about 40% year on year according to recent research by the investment bank Al Mal Capital.

The overall impact is that many owners are settling down in a new environment and starting to add more personality to their homes, according to experts.

As many of the expatriate community stay longer in the UAE they are starting to transform their accommodation into their home.

"As it becomes more expensive to buy a new property in the UAE, we are seeing a massive increase in the number of people coming to us with their own ideas for improving their homes. They have been living in a new property for the past four or five years, and they are ready to bring some colour to it, with their own personal design,"

said Sunil Gudur, Chief Manager of Al Gurg Leigh's Paints.

To respond to the demand for a more experimentalist approach to a new personal style of living, Al Gurg Leigh's Paints is conducting a massive expansion of its Dulux Decorator Centres (DDC) throughout the GCC.

Customers can get free consultation advice at all Dulux Decorator Centres, with thousands of colours and paint styles to choose from. Customers can walk into a DDC store with their choice of fabric, wallpaper, or any colour from an image and get the paint to match, using a special colour-scanning device.

Amna Saqib, Colour Specialist, Dulux Decorator Centres, said:

"Colour plays a vital role in the world in which we live. Colour can change thinking and actions and cause reactions. It has both physical as well as mental attributes and can raise your blood pressure or suppress or stimulate your appetite. It is vitally important to get the right colours for your home."

An exclusive computerised tinting system allows customers to get the exact colour they require with up to 20,000 shades available, making the design very personal, and with My MousePainter - people can upload pictures of their own home and see how it will look with a new colour.