Just moved house...

Naetha

...and the house needs a bit of TLC to modernise it. Structurally and everything, it is fine, its just the decor isn't to my taste. We're talking flock wallpaper, wall mounted fake candlestick lightbulbs, fitted chipboard and melamine bedroom furniture etc etc etc.

Now although you may think that the money-saving way of dealing with this would be to do it ourselves, but me and my husband are no good at DIY, and are more likely to demolish the house than remove the wallpaper etc. What would be the best tradesman (blatant sexism of course...) to get in that would be able to do most of this stuff?

Would a painter/decorator be able to remove and then fit new light fittings, or would that require an electrician? Would a decorator be in the position to remove fitted furniture?

And of course, the obvious conclusion to this...does anyone know a good painter / decorator that would do this work in the Bradford area?

Thanks!

olly300

Removing stuff is easy if a bit time consuming. I helped do it as a child and am currently doing it now. (Took down a large fitted wardrobe in one evening and spent a week ,about an hour a day, removing wood chip wallpaper on my own.)The children in my family want to help me do it as well!!

I suggest you and your husband plus some eager friends' or relatives do the removing yourself. Ask around there will be someone happy to show you, particularly if you are female, how to do stuff. You just need to feed them or give them some drinks.

Then once you removed the stuff you can have a firm idea of whether you need a plasterer or just a decorator. Then you can ask the tradesman what other skills they have as well. Lots of tradesmen can do joinery plus plastering etc.

ixwood

I find it shocking what people will pay others to do. Just get cracking and have a go at things. Unless you're REALLY reckless you won't do any harm.

Have you got a handy friend/relative to help?

I'm almost done restoring an old cottage. I'd never done any DIY before, but there's lots you can do yourself with a bit of hardwork. And patience.

Oh and get yourself a good DIY manual. I got a which one for christmas once and it has absolutely everything in there. I lot of DIY fear is not knowing what to do, so it really helps. You lookup what needs doing, see it's only x number of simple steps, see what tools and materials are required, think "Is it really that simple?" and just do it.

As well as being (a hell of a lot) cheaper, it's very satisfying, you don't have to deal with cowboy tradesmen (and their bodges) and you also pick up the skills you'll need next time.