TRANSFORM your home into a glasshouse with transparent style. The latest trend sees colourful glass being used to decorate and accessorise your home. Glass is one of the most versatile materials around. You can find everything from vases and glasses to lighting in the stores and there is even a glass teapot set on the market.

But why stop there? Pull out all the stops and fit in glass features all over your home. Let your imagination run free by thinking of glass bathroom basins and floors.

Catherine Slessor, author of See-Through Houses, loves the beauty of glass.

"Crystalline and ethereal, glass is one of the most magical materials on earth," she says.

"It reveals spaces and transmits light, energising and animating architecture."

And she says using glass in walls, screens, floors and staircases can create powerful contrasts of light and shadow, opacity and transparency.

"The range of glass now available -- translucent or clear, textured or coloured -- can create a compelling variety of effects, depending on the character of the space," she adds.

"The unique quality of glass is its ability to transmit daylight. Sheer glass walls bring light into space, dematerialising the boundaries between inside and out, and allowing occupants an intimate relationship with their surroundings."

Glass incorporated into floors can have a stunning effect. It can allow natural sunlight to flow through spaces and pass through interiors and accessories, giving glimpses of lower levels from unusual angles.

Slessor says: "The notion of incorporating glass into floors might seem, slightly incongruous. Yet it makes possible the transmission of light into windowless or underground spaces."

If flooring sounds too complicated, try installing glass in your lighting. You can keep it easy with a wall or panel light or you can go a little bit further with a ceiling light.

Always at the cutting edge, Ocean's edge glass pendant light, £125, is sure to become the focal point of conversations because its unique design is stylishly different.

The lamp holder is a spun aluminium reverse cone and the light is projected down onto a clear glass disk onto which is etched a pattern. You can then adjust the disk with its steel cable supports. This has a dramatic effect as the glowing glass disk seems to hang in mid-air.

Alternatively, you can opt for their cubic frosted wall light, £55, or their 3ft long panel light, £169, which is a feature in itself.

With its slim size, it's ideal for a tight space and would look perfect in a doorway, to frame the entrance or the ceiling of a long corridor.

Or why not put some glass in your bathroom? A basin like Ocean's frosted glass one, starting at £295, will enlarge and enhance a confined setting, making it look more spacious and brighter.

But you don't have to stick to the clear, colourless variety.

Author Elizabeth Hilliard loves using coloured glass in her home.

"Coloured glass is a great asset in contemporary decorating to help manipulate space," she says.

"Coloured glass has many appealing qualities, in particular its radiance. When light shines through it, it comes alive, casting brilliant colour onto other surfaces.

"And well-presented coloured glass items are always an eye-catcher in the foreground, especially when lit artificially or placed so that natural light emphasises their glowing colours."

Not everyone has the time or money to change their home into a glass haven, so a cheaper and quicker alternative is to dot some glass accessories around your home.

For something unique, take a peek at the yellow teapot, £120, and matching cup and saucer, at £43, from Bowles & Linares. Be sure to invite all your friends around so that they can marvel at it -- and your trendy sense of style.

House Of Fraser have a coral coloured glass vase for £15 or you can splash out on Vessel's Fidji hand-made glass bottle vases by Kosta Bodo. From £90, it's a splurge for those who can't resist treating themselves.

Stylish storage jars are getting increasingly harder to find. The Natural History Museum Shop has launched a new range of replica Victorian specimen jars.

Available in clear or amber glass, they are an unusual way of introducing a little piece of history into your home - prices start at £4.99. Used in Victorian times to store eye of newt or fish specimens, you can use them to store bath-crystals, balsamic vinegars or herbal oils.

For an affordable but chic look, you can do no wrong with glassware on your dining table. Marks & Spencer's beautiful coloured glassware creates a simple but effective impact.

Prices start at £10 for an indigo bubble bowl and the range includes a cylinder vase, £12, and matching carafes, £15.

Nina Campbell also stocks pretty pink swirly tumblers at £22.50 each.

Perfect for the summer, these are just the items to indulge yourself with.

So defy the seasons and make sure that summer isn't over just yet with some see-through style.