Refurb on the sitting room

givememoney

In the new year we plan to decorate the living room, DH is going to upcycle the dark mahogany furniture by rubbing down and painting it in a light colour. We plan to have new carpet, curtains and sofas.


Obviously would like to spend as little as is humanly possible, but we don't do this often so I feel we can't cut corners with the stuff so we are inclined to spend quite a bit on the furnishings.


If anyone can give any tips on where to go for good quality but at reasonable prices, I would be glad to know.


We live in London by the way.

jc808

'upcycle'?

phill99

jc808 wrote: »

'upcycle'?

Thats what the trendy middle classes call 'giving old stuff a lick of paint'.

givememoney

Crikey didn't realise we're `trendy middle class` but can cope with that.

jc808

OH you want to paint the furniture

right

Horace

Instead of wrecking your lovely mahogany furniture with a lick of paint, you could add colourful accessories instead. A great place to look for curtains etc all at reasonable prices is Dunelm Mill especially when they have a sale on. You can buy ready made curtains or custom made ones (all mine were custom-made and bought when the sales were on).

trailingspouse

Don't paint the mahogany!!

Have you any idea how hard it is to get hold of? You can't just go and buy it any more. We needed a new centre piece for our mahogany dining table. It took our guy a whole YEAR to source a suitable piece for us, and he ended up using the top from an otherwise wrecked antique table, which he then had to cut to size and polish to match the original.

Instead of painting it, why not have it French polished? If you don't like it, sell it and get something else. But please - don't paint it!!

These DIY designer programmes have a lot to answer for.

As to quality/value for money, the best bet is to look around the 'real' shops for ideas but then go online to see where you can buy it cheapest (factoring in delivery costs etc).