Sitting room nightmare. !!!!

doelani

We have 2 living rooms so lets call one the " sitting room" This has always been the "good" room and children only allowed by invitation lol. When we moved into out house 9 years ago this room was decorated red and gold. Now we have decided time to change, once we started to take off wallpaper realised how grubby it had got over the years. We really do not want to spend loads so at the minute looking like this............

Decided on brown and cream wallpaper, big bold flowers on chimney breast.

Decorating budget......£200.....includes somone doing it as I am unable and hubby has no time. This is set in stone and will not change.

Now will we or won't we replace the carpet? Still like new but it is deep red/maroon colour will not march wallpaper but...........we can recycle it into a bedroom that needs carpet replaced. If we replace only buying a cheap one about £120 as room not used much , ahve looked at wooden floor but to get one that is good quality is going to cost about £250 plus floor will need sheeted as it is floorboards and uneven. So carpet at £120 or wooden floor at £250 ????

Now the suite..........decided we want a corner suite and have seen a cheap one in ikea, approx £600 and we have same rang in other room and it is comfortable, problem is only colour to match is beige....:rolleyes: ok will still be an adult only room and in 9 years noone , even adults, have eaten or drank in this room so beige SHOULD be ok, but something is stopping me , I have never had a light coloured suite before, have wanted one but always held back.............alternative is a leather suite at £1000+ So £600 or £1000+ for a room that may only be used once a week when we need to escape the kids or when hubby wants to escape Eastenders :rotfl:

We have a fire surround and electric fire in this room that is wayyyyyyyyyyy to large, once we removed it to decorate we realised the room it was taking up. So have looked and seen a smaller one including fire for £250 which will go with new wallpaper etc. Old one is really ugly, has tiles with flowers on it and just to fussy, gett he hint I do not want to bring this fire back inot the room lol so £0.00 to keep exisiting fire we hate or £250 to change it?

So lets see................

Suite................£600 or £1000+
Floor................£120 or £250+
Fire place .........£0 or £250

How much is reasonable to pay for a room that only a few people in house can enjoy ? I would add we are doing this over next few months as will be paying everything cash so decorating next week, carpet end of month, suite next month hopefully.

Other issue is we have suite and fireplace we need to get rid off, I was thinking of charity shop ( we have one locally) or should we try to sell? They are good quality just may not be to everyones taste. We have storage ok for them as have a large garage so guess trying to sell is the best way to go.

helpppppppppppp I am driving hubby mad, wish I had not puleld that first bit of wallpaper off.

ailuro2

you can justify it if you're likely to move in the future, but if you're only going to use it occasionally then go for the cheaper options.

I'd not exclude the kids from any room, but that's just me!

doelani

ailuro2 wrote: »

you can justify it if you're likely to move in the future, but if you're only going to use it occasionally then go for the cheaper options.

I'd not exclude the kids from any room, but that's just me!

We will never move, here for life lol

I know what you mean about the kids but they have the rest of the house and this is " our " space. With 5 teenagers and a grandchild a few nights a week we need somewhere to escape to. I know I am a bad mummy lol


thanks for reply

DaisyNelson

Maybe selling the suite and fireplace will raise a bit more money, so you can up the budget a bit and have more options. Obviously, if you can't find any whose tatse they suit, then a charity of offer on Freecycle would be the next best option.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

doelani wrote: »

Decorating budget......£200.....includes somone doing it as I am unable and hubby has no time. This is set in stone and will not change.

£200 seems a bit optimistic, you're going to need paper, emulsion/paint/varnish, and

all the other wee bits and pieces, and a man to pay, unless you have a friendly

neighbour.

What size of room is it, quite large, or just a wee cosy 'retreat'?

doelani

[Deleted User] wrote:

Hi,



£200 seems a bit optimistic, you're going to need paper, emulsion/paint/varnish, and

all the other wee bits and pieces, and a man to pay, unless you have a friendly

neighbour.

What size of room is it, quite large, or just a wee cosy 'retreat'?

£200 is cheap but person doing it is only charging £75 for doing it and paper is £120 and have paint, so glad I did not throw out that extra paint last time.

Just wish it was all done lol

KT1985

I would be thinking of a few other options:

A decent quality laminate for the floor- we got ours from a big shed and love it- I am laying some today in fact.

do you need a fire place, or is your central heating adequate? We have a new system and find we don't need a fireplace as well, so have bought a gel fire, and tiled the space myself, just for looks really. You could just tidy up the fireplace and buy an iron grate and keep flowers/fairy lights in it...?

Re the suite, even if no one eats or drinks in there, it is still going to get dirty- colour transfer from new clotes is a nightmare. However, if it is more like a 'show' room, ie no one but adults even dare enter, then you should be fine, provided that the covers are washable.

Nothing else to suggest really as our situations are different, my house is being set up to be hardwearing all over!

Steel_2

If you get the wooden floor be careful and have someone come and give you some advice. We always wanted in the living room and were told that, as we had a small budget (around £200) some cheaper woods could warp very quickly if the planks hadn't been seasoned correctly and if the humidity in the room is too high. This person didn't think our floor or room was suitable. We've now decided to go for an veneered wood floor instead of a solid.

Take advice before forking out.

ormus

we did ours a few yrs ago.
the laminate floor/underlay cost less than 200 quid. (BQ)
decorating cost about 100 quid. (emulsion and white gloss paint).
fireplace was SH at 100 quid.
new gas fire was 99 quid. (BQ sale).

all DIY apart from the fire which was installed by a mate for a drink.

[Deleted User]

Hi,

ormus wrote: »

was installed by a mate for a drink.

that's the kinda mates I like, cut out the cowboys. :rotfl:

Steph998

I have just come back from a friends house raving about her 'real wood floor'....which turned out on closer inspection to be linoleum! I could not believe it, I really had to get down and feel to see that it was not real...it was totally amazing, and we are going to use it in our next project. It was from Next , £10.00 per square metre..but there are cheaper ones out there which look as just as good. ( Compared to B&Q laminate....the really cheap ones are awful, they are an unatural yellowy orange colour, and warp and bulge really quickly)

http://www.next.co.uk/shopping/homeware/flooring/13/2

http://www.housecharm.co.uk/catalogue/14105/Vinyl-and-Linoleum.html?&catID=14105&prodModel=&priceMax=&priceMin=&keywords=&filter=&filtered=&tog=ASC&sort=1&offset=10