How much decorating did you do once you moved in?

sterl1ng

Did you spend quite a bit on making your place your own? How long did it take?

While I'm in planning stages on how I'd like the place to look I don't want to go crazy. For the past decade+ I've been stuck in magnolia walls, which have only ever been painted twice in all the years I've been in my rental flat, I have a rusty bath. To be introduced to colour is quite a big step....not to mention rustfree bath!!!

I was so overwhelmed this weekend looking at swatches and bath units in homeware stores. Never realised how many shades of colour you could get to paint a wall! Then you get matt/silk/eggshell - its all double dutch to me right now- and don't even get me started on sofas and household appliances.

I want to pay as much towards mortgage in first two years as fast as I can so don't want to go too crazy and was thinking freecycle or secondhand goods. Perhaps lick of paint with furnishings as we don't have anything at present.

Pixie5740

When I bought my first flat I hired a painter & decorator to paint the hall, the living room and the two bedrooms. I did this as the previous owers thought that peach and mint green were a good colour combination :eek: I also had to get some vinyl flooring for the kitchen as it had no floor covering.

I painted the bathroom walls myself about 6 months later.

I did that amount of decorating as the place was a total midden when I moved in. It was only a 2 bedroom flat but I had to empty the vacuum three times when I first cleaned it, then took a Rug Doctor to the carpets.

I found that my enthusiasm for decorating started to wane as time went on and life got in the way.

Mrs_Z

I think unless you spend £££s all in one go, making a place to feel homely will be an on-going process. You usually start with one room, then move to a next and then refresh kitchen/bathroom and before you know it, it's time to start all over again. There is no need to spend lots of money, lick of paint and a feature wall can do wonders. Also if you are a crafty type, you can pick up second hand furniture quite cheaply and customise them by painting, stenciling, etc.

Worry_Wart

My purchase has been delayed by several months so to pass the time I've been photoshopping the photos I took of the place and playing around with colour, and browsing design sites. I've lived in magnolia hell for a decade so I can't wait to let rip.

I'm sure when I come to sell my house, I will get a mention on the "look at this" thread, as my taste is far from bland!

liviboy

We purchased our first house in February but haven't yet moved in from our rented flat as, although the house was in an OK condition we jsut had to make some changes...but as my uncle is a joiner and his friend was a carpet fitter the job became massive - only finally being completed yesterday so we can move in on Saturday!

The house had laminate flooring throughout - including on the stairs - so the first thing to go was that - it is now completely carpeted excepting the kitchen and bathroom.

Every wall has been painted - the living room had some fairly hideous wallpaper on one wall so that is gone and the living room and dining room have been given a lick of magnolia (HUGE difference!) while the bedrooms have been given different colours.

The stair spindles/banister etc were a brown wood stain colour which has been sanded and painted white.

Because of the laminate the skirting boards and door facias were in poor condition down low so these have all been replaced.

In total it has cost just short of £2000 including carpets - but it has been so much easier doing it all in a completely empty house and without having to worry about spills. My uncle has provided his services for free and only charged for the actual skirtings, etc and likewise with the carpet fitter it's been a very good deal.

We knew the house needed a little work when we bought it - but didn't expect to see it ripped half to bits - but have to say looking at it last night it's so much nicer and feels like ours now!

If the walls hadn't been so badly painted I'd have probably left them and if I didn't have a joiner and carpet fitter in the family/close friends then it would certainly have been done bit-by-bit. But consider the cost of doing things like this - the good thing is now that it's done it won't (hopefully) need done for a wee while!

Dan-Dan

We concentrated on the kids rooms and ours first, then took our time with everything else , one green room for the boy , dont ask , pink for the girl and fawn colours for ours , done and dusted , other stuff like plastering the frontroom , hallways etc has to be done over time and bit by bit

The whole house has been in need of it though , proper state

elsien

I've been in 12 years and there's still one room I haven't got round to....
When I viewed the house I thought the downstairs was liveable in. Until moving in day when with all the furniture and pictures gone it looked a lot tattier than on first impressions. So I whacked some paint on that pretty much straight away.
The other rooms I did as and when they started really bugging me, however as my priority is generally necessary house maintenance and holidays, the money for decorating is generally a lot further down the spending list than other things.

anselld

I prefer to stick to one room per year (two max).
If you do it all at once it will need doing again all at once.

phoebe1989seb

We've been in our current place (the sixth place we've owned) three years in May and it's nearly half way to being finished. It was a fairly big project though

No going in and repainting the walls for us, as most had no plaster 'cos the PO had stripped them back to bare stone, which might be ok in small quantities but not everywhere! No floor coverings either - just bare concrete downstairs and replacement boards upstairs. The ground floor had no lighting......think the PO lived by torchlight, lol!

There was no functioning kitchen, which at least gave us the opportunity to choose where to locate it and build a new extension to house it - the PO had been using a small annexe kitchen till he ripped that out when he began to renovate, then he became ill, had to give up and sold the house as *half-finished*.....barely started, more like

Only things we haven't had to do are new roof (thatch!) and oil heating as both were done by PO......although we did have to get the boiler moved as he'd had it fitted in a collapsing and leaking outbuilding :mad:

So far we've spent around £80k on the work, but on our first home we spent a lot less, even though that too was a bit of a project. We did live with second hand furniture for a long time - I've always enjoyed browsing second hand/charity shops/flea markets etc - and to this day most of our stuff is bought on eBay, but then we prefer *old, interesting* stuff to brand spanking Preloved is also a good source - when we had to replace our £2000 range a few years back I found the same model there for £250

katejo

Mrs_Z wrote: »

I think unless you spend £££s all in one go, making a place to feel homely will be an on-going process. You usually start with one room, then move to a next and then refresh kitchen/bathroom and before you know it, it's time to start all over again. There is no need to spend lots of money, lick of paint and a feature wall can do wonders. Also if you are a crafty type, you can pick up second hand furniture quite cheaply and customise them by painting, stenciling, etc.

I have been in my current house for 8 years and I am still going from room to room. I waited 6 years to refurbish the kitchen. Personally I don't understand people who do everything at the beginning and borrow more money to do so. Firstly you need to live there for a while to see what is best. Secondly I have to save up for each individual improvement. i couldn't bear to borrow more on top of the mortgage.

plumfin

We bought a house that needed nothing doing to it - the previous owners had decorated it with care and it is lovely! The doors will need doing in the next 12 months, as will small bits, but the lack of work required was a huge incentive to us. I appreciate most people want to stamp their personality on the house but I quite like the old owner's personality!