"In the past, we just painted the walls white and polished the floor. We never thought about using marble, wallpaper, not to mention cornices or reliefs on the ceiling," said the 80-year-old Shanghainese.

"The era of white walls and dark red floors is gone for ever," said She Xiangao, deputy secretary with Shanghai Interior Decoration Association, "Now Shanghainese pursue diversified styles of decoration."

His words were echoed by Shen Qiushu, an official with Advanced Concepts Interior Design and Decoration Company. "In the past, people would send us a photo cut from a magazine and ask us to copy it. Now Shanghainese hire a professional to design for them according to their personal interests and careers."

A scholar usually focuses on his study, a businessman likes a luxurious living room, while a new couple would choose romantic decoration, with warm colours and chic ornaments.

Since home is no longer just a place to sleep, Shanghainese are putting more focus on a leisurely atmosphere when they decorate their living quarters. Small bars and fish tanks or plant corners are also set up.

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the city has built another 14 million square metres of residential housing every year and about 25,000 families move to new apartments each year according to the association's statistics.

Calculated at the average expenditure of at least 40,000 yuan ($4,837) per family on interior decoration, the total expenditure in the city reaches 10 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) every year. The large market is now shared by about 3,500 enterprises specializing in interior decoration and design.

Shrewd Shanghainese still put price at the top of the agenda according to She. The average expenditure on interior decoration of a 50-square-metre apartment ranges from 40,000 yuan ($4,837) to 90,000 yuan ($10,883). Most Shanghainese are more willing to buy national namebrand materials rather than imported goods.

"But the general trend is moving towards a higher grade," said She. "Most of our client's expenditure averages 100,000 yuan ($12,092) and some even reach 400,000 yuan ($48,368)," Shen said.

Some imported goods, at three or four times the price of local goods, still gain a market share, such as aluminium and wood windows from the United States, frameless windows from Austria and heat-absorbing curtains from the Netherlands.

"Compared with foreign decoration, local design levels are not much lower than that of advanced countries, but the workermanship level is not so competitive," said She. "Originally most of the decorators were farmers and they are not given systematic training. So the rate of complaints about low-quality decoration is always around 2 per cent."