Making a room "bearable" whilst waiting to make it "yours"

Kaz2904

TBH, if I had to decorate it and do massive renovations anyway, then I would just leave it as is for now. Otherwise you're spending money that you don't "need" to in the short term. I just left mine with all of it's horrific non matching patterns as I know that had I painted it white or magnolia, DH would have then left it at that thinking it was OK when it really wasn't!It's taken us 8.5 years mind you, to get to the point where we are almost finished the renovations and I will have carpet throughout the house .

lessonlearned

laurel7172 wrote: »

, c

Horrible as my own memories of the fad may be, I have picked up hints from my daughter's Youtubing that it may be on its way back. All things change, and I suspect a preference for understated walls (NO paint effects, NO wallpaper of any description) now shows my age.

But I reckon every generation is cured of wallpaper/artex/paint effects the first time they have to remove it.

How true, sooner or later the wheel turns full circle and stuff comes back into fashion. Wallpaper, special paint effects, coloured bathroom suites, 50's kitsch have all come and gone several times. 70's is very "retro" and cool just now.

Money - how big is the room, you might be able to pick up some end roll of carpet big enough. Even if you can't you can get cheap carpet with a foam back (no underlay needed) for around £5sq metre from places like Carpetright. Even cheaper on fleabay. As long as you aren't laying it on the stairs you should be able to get away without spending money on grippers etc. It's an easy DIY task, you don't need any special equipment, just a Stanley knife or an old pair of large scissors (you will ruin the scissors though).

Agree just paint over the wallpaper for now. If any of the paper is peeling away from the wall you can just stick it back with a bit of PVA glue. Save the stripping till you are ready to decorate properly. You might think the walls are ok but I can almost guarantee they won't be. Once walls have been papered they invariably need a re-skim to get them back to a smooth enough finish for painting. Alternatively you might get away with a good quality lining paper.

It's often a good idea not to go the whole hog and go straight into refurb/redecorating mode. It can often be a better idea just to live in a house for a few months before you start work so you can decide what you really want.

It's always a good idea to live with it for the first winter so you can work out how much light you get etc, where the sun falls, which colours would work best. If you rush into it you can make expensive mistakes.

In the meantime, to make it bearable a few gallons of paint and some cheap carpeting will work wonders. That way there is less pressure to complete it all at once.

I've done this several times. White or cream walls, cheap neutral carpeting and then just bring it to life with rugs, paintings, posters, plants etc and your own personal bits and bobs.

A good tip for cheap and cheerful light fittings is those large paper ones. I'm currently renting and the previous tenants took all the light fittings leaving just bare bulbs. I bought some paper shades from Wilkinsons - £1-20 each (ASDA, IKEA, B&Q also stock them).

I have to say I loathe magnolia with a passion because it can make north or east facing rooms very dark. I usually use a soft creamy white.

Beware of going too cheap with stores own label paints though, they often need more coats because they don't cover so well. I dislike Wilkinson's emulsion for that reason, although B&Q own label isn't too bad. (I believe some B&Q is Crown anyway).

Dulux is a reasonable quality paint and B&Q often have offers on them. They recently had Dulux on at 3 for 2. Don't forget you now also qualify for your 10% discount at B&Q.;) (Wednesdays).

Happy Painting.

Just noticed your signature re estimated renovation costs. Sounds like a project. My DS1's new house has turned out to be a bit of a "Money Pit". Luckily he is young, strong and fit and is a keen rock-climber with a head for heights so he can do most of it himself to save money - even the roof and guttering.

laurel7172

I agree completely about not stripping the walls until you can afford a skimmer to come and sort out the result. The walls don't have to be in poor condition for removing wallpaper to make a mess of them-the paint below often comes off in rather random fashion, leaving the walls very uneven.

Horrible fireplace-if it's your sort of thing then MDF firescreens don't cost much, are available in a range of shapes and could be painted to your personal taste. If the issue is that it's brass or similar, spray-on stove paint will camouflage that, though the results will scratch easily (the paint never gets hot enough to set really hard).

Squoozy

Blimey, this thread has made me think maybe my taste is really old fashioned! I always have magnolia walls throughout the downstairs, apart from the kitchen, which is white. I have loads of paintings and photos on the walls, and I find keeping everything the same colour makes touching up and painting odd walls really easy. I have wooden floors, which were the orginal floorboards, and it was the best decision I ever made to get rid of the carpets.

I agree with others about painting over the wallpaper for now, and I also agree about lighting, which can make a real difference. I also think a bookcase can add a homeliness to a room. I have two really cheap pine bookcases that I painted white. People always think they were really expensive but they hardly cost anything, and they look lovely filled with books and with a lamp on the top.

Can you afford a nice pair of curtains? Also, this may sound silly, but really clean windows and skirting boards can really brighten up a room, so I would paint the window frames and skirting if you can (use emulsion for undercoat, its cheaper). I think it would be easy to spend too much money on trying to make the room look nice without feeling that it really is, so be careful not to over spend on accessories. A basic painting job can go a long way to making a room look better.

Good luck with your room and the whole house project, its hard work but exciting to have a whole new house to do up!

Davesnave

When we arrived here, the living room was burnt orange, bedroom was blood red and the carpets hummed; not that softly either!:rotfl:

We cleaned the better carpets, spent £400 on cheap stuff to replace those that were too bad and painted the rooms that simply couldn't be lived with. Other than that, we've left it. Our excuse is that we had acres of wilderness and barns to sort out, but we knew it would take time to decide what we really wanted to do. Even then, we got it wrong and binned one set of plans.

It's essential to just live in a place for a while, not only so that you learn what's bad, but also what might be lived-with after all, because we can all spend on stuff which is nice, but not necessary or money-saving. For example, solar panels may do more good in the long run than a swish set of bi-fold doors that face east.

The most important thing to find is good, fairly- priced tradespeople, and in a new place that also takes time. I remember meeting a nice lady who, hearing that we needed sheep fencing, said, "My Mr Whassisname is ever so good, and he only charges £30 an hour."

My Mr Thingamyjig was found a few months later, and he's ever so good as well....and still charges just £14 an hour!

moneyistooshorttomention

laurel7172 wrote: »

, c

Horrible as my own memories of the fad may be, I have picked up hints from my daughter's Youtubing that it may be on its way back. All things change, and I suspect a preference for understated walls (NO paint effects, NO wallpaper of any description) now shows my age.

But I reckon every generation is cured of wallpaper/artex/paint effects the first time they have to remove it.

You mean I might be getting fashionable again with my paint effects? :rotfl: Who'd a thunk it?:rotfl:

I remember stripping woodchip wallpaper off my last house:eek: and know exactly what you mean by "cured" of it:(.

Much of the wallpaper in this house is sorta "raised" looking and that's quite apart from the anaglypta:eek: on many of the ceilings:eek:. Some of that wallpaper has become a bit "worse the wear" condition courtesy of maintenance work done so far...hence (between "raised type pattern" and that I am having the thoughts about removing it even at Temporary Fix level).

I am becoming a bit of an advocate of inspecting the house "with a fine toothcomb" to see exactly what sort of state its in for myself and that's part of my reasoning in thinking of removing all the wallpaper now. That and a friend of mine pointed out that I would save money on costs of hiring a decorator if he wasn't charging me for hours worth of removing wallpaper, as well as the actual painting itself. I am reckoning on the initial Proper Redecoration being done by a decorator (rather than myself) in order to ensure that all the "prepping" is done properly at the outset and I can then redecorate the house myself in the future when it needs re-doing.

But, I think my amateur/never mind the prepping painting would do for a temporary bodge job for now....before I get to the Perfect Painting stage with a decorator.

Good point re the giving everything a good clean. Thankfully, the window surrounds are already upvc, as the house has most of its doubleglazing already.

That's a good point re the walls might be a bit scarred by having just had wallpaper on them and as to whether I might need them re-skimming before the decorator can do a "proper" paint job on them. Might be another good reason to remove the wallpaper before doing an amateur Paint Job for Now myself. I could assess the exact state of the walls rather better with wallpaper off than on.

'Course there's always the current fashion for "rustic" looking walls (ie walls that have had wallpaper removed and are VERY obviously in need of replastering, but they've just been painted and left.......). I think this house is too modern though to do such "character" as that somehows...I like the look of Shabby Chic, but don't think I'd do it myself and tend to think its more something for those that haven't ever had shabby shabby they've had to put up with ever iyswim...

lessonlearned

Squoozy wrote: »

Blimey, this thread has made me think maybe my taste is really old fashioned! I always have magnolia walls throughout the downstairs, apart from the kitchen, which is white. I have loads of paintings and photos on the walls, and I find keeping everything the same colour makes touching up and painting odd walls really easy. I have wooden floors, which were the orginal floorboards, and it was the best decision I ever made to get rid of the carpets.

I wouldn't call this look old fashioned at all - rather it's become a "Timeless Classic". I tend to go for a version of this myself. I like art on the walls and a neutral background shows it to it's best advantage. Definitely prefer wooden floors over carpets too.

My comment really was about magnolia - mainly because it seems to suck up light so much - especially the really cheap own label brands beloved of landlords up and down the land. It really is worth paying just a little more and going for a warm white from a good quality paint range. I mentioned Dulux because it's a good quality medium priced range with good coverage and if you can snaffle it up when it's on offer then all the better. (I'm not on commission honest:rotfl:)

If dark north facing rooms are a problem then Dulux do a range called "Light and Space" which really works well. It does cost more than your standard emulsion but it contains light reflecting particles which are very effective at bouncing light around.

I_have_spoken

If you make it 'bearable', it'll be left like that for at least 5 years

moneyistooshorttomention

I_have_spoken wrote: »

If you make it 'bearable', it'll be left like that for at least 5 years

In the case of the lounge it might blimmin' well have to be, as I am guessing it will take £5,000 or so to get it Done Properly.:rotfl:

moneyistooshorttomention

LessonLearned

With you on the "warm white" front. Wishes these paint manufacturers would do cheapie large cans of white paint in some shade other than magnolia or brilliant white.

(Now wondering if I could mix in a tester pot or two of some other colour into a large can of magnolia to "warm it up"....thoughts?)