do up — renovate
phrasal verbB2IELTS 6+neutraloccasional
To repair, decorate, or improve a building, room, or object to make it look better or work better.
Say it like a native
Textbook They intend to refurbish the property extensively.
Native They're doing up the old house.
'Refurbish the property extensively' is estate-agent formal; 'do up' is conversational.
Pattern: do up + noun
In use
- They bought an old house and spent months doing it up.home
- If I had more money, I would do up my apartment to make it more comfortable and modern.IELTS speaking
Common mistake
✗ They did up with the kitchen.
✓ They did up the kitchen.
'Do up + place' — no 'with'.
Common collocations
do up + property— the house, an old flat, the place, nicely
Don't confuse it
'Do up' (renovate) is broader than 'repair', which only means to fix something that is broken.
Related
- do up (fasten) — Another meaning of 'do up' is 'fasten'; compare the examples to keep the meanings separate.